[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Happy Tuesday to you. We've got a lot to get to on our show today. Arkansas Basketball Portal News with Zvonimaravisich leaving the program. We'll talk Razorback baseball a little bit later. They're in action tonight down in North Little Rock at Dickey Stevens Park. Gonna play Grambling State. We'll discuss that with Christina Long later in the show. Anthony Christensen's in studio with me right now, though. Big Z heading to the transfer. I don't know that I would say I'm surprised by this news. I'm not really ever surprised when anybody transfers anymore. There's over a thousand players that have gotten into the transfer portal in basketball just in however many days. Like, what, a week?
[00:00:45] Speaker C: Yeah, a little over a week.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: So, you know, it's. It's a.
I don't know, Wild West. Yeah. I just don't know what you'd call it.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: It's.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: It's college basketball. When I was a kid, you knew what to expect from a team year to year, and you got to know players if you're a Duke fan. You got to watch Grant Hill progress from his freshman to his senior year. Christian Laettner, Trajan Langdon, Shane Battier, Langdon.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: What a poll.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Elton Brand, if you're a Razorback fan. Todd Day, Corliss Williamson, and they might leave after their junior year, but they weren't going to leave to play at Kentucky. They were leaving to go try their hand at the NBA. And you just don't get that anymore in college basketball. I would really be interested, Anthony, to look at, like do a 10 year side by side of maybe the last 10 years in college basketball and the 10 years before that. How many players played at Arkansas in the last 10 years and how many played here the 10 years before that? And I'm guessing that you're probably going to have three to four times as many players in the last 10 years because everything has changed. Hardly anybody stays anywhere for more than a year. You know, coaching changes exasperated some. It's. All of this comes to mind when I think about Zvonimiravisic transferring. Maybe it's for the best. Maybe the coaches wanted him to go. We don't know.
But I guess what I come back to is just nothing ever surprises me.
[00:02:14] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I mean, I wasn't super surprised by it. I think you're right in saying that you're really not going to be surprised by anybody entering the portal nowadays. Just Because, I mean, it's just kind of the way the way of the landscape works. And, you know, that's just. Just the way. The way that it is. I mean, he'll. He'll. He'll have no shortage of suitors. I'm sure. You look at his. His skill set probably needs to be a little bit more physical, you know, add some. Some muscle to himself. But, you know, he's. You know, he's got a lot of. A lot of skills you want in a modern big man. I mean, he's a good passer, good shooter, good rim protector as well. Sometimes not as physical as he needs to be, like I said earlier. But, yeah, he'll have no shortage of suitors. But there's. Yeah, it's. It's a lot of movement.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: He looks to me like a player without a position that makes sense, like Arkansas. I don't know that they ever quite figured out what is he. Because if he's a wing, sure, he can spot up and shoot, but you got to be able to put the ball on the floor. And every time he put the ball on the floor, it felt like. I mean, it was like watching a new cult run. I mean, it was just kind of fumbling all over the place. You saw that in the Texas Tech game in the sweet 16 on a drive or maybe two drives in that game. But I just. That's the challenge, I think, with him, is what is he defensively? I think, you know what he is. He's a shot blocker, but he's not real physical, a real physical rebounder, and he gets pushed around a lot.
It's just.
He's a good player. He did some good things for Arkansas this year, but I think the inability to find a role for him, like a consistent role, led to a lot of inconsistency in his play.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's fair. I think, you know, you look at the. Just the way they were using him at the start of the season was completely different to where they were using him midway through SEC play, which was completely different to how they were using him at the end of the season.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Some of that's out of necessity.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you had Jonas Adu kind of come on really late and really play, I thought, really well down the stretch, kind of end of. Or kind of SEC tournament, NCAA tournament. Jonas Adu was good. And then you look before. I mean, Savannah Mirvisic had a stretch of a few games where he's dropping 20 points per game, and he was really shooting the ball well. But you look at, you know, kind of the off season, how did they want to use them? Well, we don't want to shooting threes. We want him inside. Well, then come into the season, he's hitting threes against Troy. Okay. We want to get him five threes a game. And it just kind of changed a lot. And I'm not sure that, you know, they really knew what his best position was or even if he knew where his best position was. So, I mean, it was kind of a.
It was a tough ask, I guess, just because, you know, he. He is a good. He's a guy with a lot of different skill sets. He's versatile, you know, can use him in some different ways, but you don't really know what the best way to use him was. And, you know, I guess that's kind of the. The challenge for his next coaching staff, wherever. Wherever that may be, is to get the best out of him, because you can definitely see there's a. There's a good player there. He's. He's got a lot. A lot of skills that, that you want in a big man, like in today's modern college basketball landscape. So there's. There's a player there for. For someone to. To. To get. Yeah.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Well, you think about Arkansas and their real challenge at the end of the year, and really not just the end of the year, from the time SEC play began on was being physical rebounding. And I just don't know that if you bring him back, I think he could get better in those areas, but I don't know that he's the answer in those areas. You know what I mean? And so you lose Adu, we don't know what's going to go on with Trevin Brazile. He's one that I think is kind of like that.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: Yeah, you don't really know which way he's going to bulk up a little bit.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: And, you know, if he's. If he's going to be a true inside presence, for him, it's a loss for the program, but I think that for him, it reminds me of some of these football players that people kind of got up in arms about leaving. It's like, I think that you can replace him. I think that you can replace the production, the overall production that he gave you. When you take the pluses and the minuses and everything and put them all together, I think you can replace that production, be it. Well, I guess it has to be through the transfer portal at this point.
[00:06:40] Speaker C: Yeah, no, for sure. I would. I would Agree with that. And I think you're going to see Arkansas and you kind of look at the players that they've already kind of been contacting. You can see they're kind of looking with. With an emphasis on. On the front court, just because they. They need to be more physical. They need to be better. A better rebounding team. I think the. The final two games of the NCAA tournament, they gave up 40 offensive rebounds, if I'm not mistaken. Something like that.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: So six on one possession.
[00:07:07] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, that was like, mesmerizing to see. It was kind of like, whoa. They just keep getting the ball.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:07:15] Speaker C: Grab it.
But I mean, you look at, you know, some of the guys that they.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Are, they're, you know, 50 offensive rebounds.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Okay, 28 and 2250.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: All right. My math.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: There's a reason I'm a writer.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: But you look at, you know, some of these guys that they're contacting the transfer portal. I mean, a lot of them are big. I mean, like a guy like Nick Pringle from South Carolina who, you know, is physical, gets on the boards. You know, guys like that, you know, and that's not me saying they're going to go out and get Nick Pringle. It's just somebody they've reportedly talked to in the portal by any means. But I just. As an example, they. They need to be more physical up front. They need to get somebody who's going to be able to get those rebounds and limit second chance opportunities or give Arkansas second chance opportunities. And you, for his size of Vladimir V. Sit wasn't necessarily that guy. At least this season, maybe he gets there, you know, wherever he lands. But yeah, I think that's kind of where you're going to see them. At least one of the areas they're going to emphasize in the portal.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: I wonder if it's going to be easier with Caliper, because this is really. I know we had last year, but last year was such a unique situation in how he came in a little bit late in the process. And I wonder if we're going to be able to tell with him who they're really targeting in the portal. And what I mean by that is when Muscleman was here, it was like you went into the portal, AR contacted.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: You, and now it's that way at USC.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Is it really? Yeah, it doesn't surprise me.
[00:08:43] Speaker C: Always see the. The USC on the. On those little contact lists. I'm like, I remember that.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah. But, you know, I mean, it was like Arkansas contacted 70, 80 players in off season. It felt like.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: When they could only add eight or 10.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Yes. And sometimes that's a good strategy. Right cast. Cast a wide net and sometimes you're, you're just kind of like putting feelers out there, kind of learning about what this player or what even what this staff does, you know, kind of learning and kind of growing and everything like that. So. And you want to have options. I think that's good. So far from what I've noticed and obviously I was only here for I guess a little bit of a. An Eric Musselman off season because he left pretty, pretty quickly after I, after I arrived. But yeah, I think you're, you're very much more able to see, I guess what kind of player Arkansas is targeting this offseason versus last offseason. I think you're, you're looking at wings and you're looking at bigs for, for the most part I would be surprised if they didn't go out and bring some guards in and stuff like that. But yeah, I think that, I think you're seeing a little bit more of a targeted approach. I don't know that that's the right way to put it, but that's the best way that comes to my mind.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Of course there's a lot of personnel decisions that have to still be made. You know, do the players who still have eligibility, are they coming back? Boogie Flan to do Thero. They've got decisions to make about the NBA draft. I think Fland that seems like a no brainer to me. That's.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: I would be at least. I would be shocked if he didn't at least declare.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: I saw something yesterday where he's like a second round projection right now.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Kind of. Late first, early second I think is most, the most part heroes in that same area. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: I mean so it would be a surprise I think if either of them came back, you know, but D.J. wagner, Billy Richmond, what a Trevin, Brazil do Carter, Knox, you know, again, I don't pretend to think I know anything about what these players are going to do because. And it's unfortunate going back to what I was saying earlier, I just don't feel like you have the attachment to the team that you had at one point in time.
And I think over time that's going to erode the fandom in your program. I really do. I think that, you know, you're just not going to see people. People still show up to the games, they'll still watch, but they're not going to have the same care factor, the same maybe passion.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: Yeah. You're not able to connect as much, I guess.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, I mean it's, I tell you what, it's hard for me at the beginning of every year. It's like, okay, I got 12, 13 new players to learn right here. And I'll be honest with you, I mean sometimes it takes me well into the season before I, you know, see a number one. And I'm not thinking he's the number one from a year or two ago. It's, it's, it's very interesting. Get the latest breaking news on all razorback
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[email protected] you've been tracking who all Arkansas is looking at in the portal. Who are some of the names that you think are legitimate targets? Not to say that they're illegitimate targets out there, but like who are some of the prime targets you think they're going after right now?
[00:11:59] Speaker C: They're having a zoom call today with Keyshawn hall from ucf. You know, he's a high, high scoring, high rebounding kind of wing who you know was part of an up and down UCF team that was kind of on the NCAA tournament bubble until late in the season. Which that UCF team being on the NCAA tournament bubble kind of points to how weak the bubble was this year. But it's no disrespect to UCF is just kind of, you know, doing what they, what they needed to do but obviously didn't end up getting in. But you know, he's a really good player, good wing who can shoot and rebound. You know, he's, he's got a zoom meeting today with Arkansas, has another one with LSU as well and also apparently had some with Kansas and Auburn as well. So there's, there's that there seems to be some smoke around Merez Johnson from, from Illinois who had six and four when they played against each other on Thanksgiving. You know, he's a high upside freshman who shot 64% from the field. Average 7 and 6, 7 points in 6.7 rebounds. So almost 7 and 7. But he, these are guys who are going to be high in demand. Yaxel Lindenberg from, from uab. I mean I personally, personally think he's a guy who's going to get drafted. I think he's that good. You know, he averaged 17 and 11 playing in the American Conference was down this year, so not necessarily the best competition, but 17 and 11 is really good. So I think those are the three that immediately come to come to mind. They're hosting a Swain from. From Xavier on a visit, I believe, to. Or they're working on setting up a visit with him, if I remember seeing that report correctly. So those are kind of the. The main guys. Let me pull up Xavier's Ken Palm real quick, just because I like to. I like to give good information.
Yeah. Dalen Swain from. From Xavier. He is apparently reportedly going to be setting up a visit with Arkansas and another one with Kentucky. And, you know, he's one of the better players in the Big east this season. In the Big East. That was good. Not necessarily as good as it has been in the past couple of years just because UConn was a little bit down. Creighton wasn't as good as it typically was, but still got four teams into the NCAA tournament. I think. So, yeah. I'm probably rambling. Sorry.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: No, I mean, it's good information. I. I found it interesting what you said, though, about the player that you think could end up being drafted because that's a wrinkle in all of this.
The. The portal closes April 22nd. Right. I'm looking at draft dates here. The, the deadline to apply, the early deadline for the NBA draft, April 27th. And then you've got May 29th that you have to get out of the draft in order to retain your college eligibility. And then as Isaiah Joe showed us a few years ago, there's another little wrinkle that. Where he pulled his name out of the draft in order to keep his eligibility. And then like a week or two later, he got back into the draft because there was still an open window for him to do that.
I would not want to be a coach and deal with all of these. Didn't they have a player. Was it. Was it Nelly that they thought might go pro last year, that they were.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: Kind of waiting to see what his Jonas A. Do. One of those two.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Of course, Trevin Brazil was in the draft process last year and this came out. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of moving parts.
And, boy, you can see why their hair is all gray. You know, like, you watch. You're watching. I was watching the other day, Todd golden and John Shire, they're both. I think they're in their 30s.
[00:15:33] Speaker C: They're both in their 30s. Yeah. Two coaches in their 30s and two coaches in their 60s in the final Four.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Right. Well, I was in the 30s look like they might be in their 60s with the way their hair is graying real quick. I mean it ages you. I feel like this whole process does. And then for those coaches who are.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Still playing, you got to deal with this and games.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah. You got to deal with going to the final Four and all the, you know, the hoopla that surrounds that.
Boy, I just, that's a lot to. That's a lot of, A lot of.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Moving parts, earning the paycheck.
I mean, good for, good for them, I guess. But yeah, I can. It's. It's hard to keep up with sometimes just as a reporter some. So I can't imagine what it is like to be, to be a coach.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: I almost feel like they probably have a better feel for it.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: Oh, I'm sure.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: You know, because I mean it, I don't know, I don't feel like maybe things move as fast for them. Like it's, it's maybe moving more in slow motion.
[00:16:25] Speaker C: Yeah. And I guess sometimes, I mean they've, they've been in it for a couple of, I mean off seasons with the, the, the landscape looking the way it is. So maybe they get used to it and. Yeah. I don't know real quick.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: I mean this isn't, you know, a huge news, but. Kashmir Chavis and Malik Mellow.
[00:16:43] Speaker C: Sanchez.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Mello Sanchez. I'm sorry, I was thinking about Malik Thomas who's playing the McDonald's All American game.
[00:16:47] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Mello Sanchez and Kashmir Chavis are both moving on.
[00:16:50] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, two guys who, I mean, Melo Sanchez was an all conference player in the Pac west and in Division 2 for Hawaii Pacific. So he'll. I'm sure he'll land somewhere good. Be that back in the Division 2 ranks or in a mid major role somewhere. And Kazmir Chavis was also a three star prospect coming out of high school who, who is originally committed to Washington before the coaching change happened there. So I'm sure he'll have some suitors as well. So I'm intrigued to see where those guys go.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: I look back on when they committed last year and how we covered that, thinking that they might play a role in what, Arkansas? They never saw the floor. I mean like, you know, a minute or two here and there, but it's. So it's interesting to see how things change this year. Do they target more players? Do they go with more than a seven, eight, nine man rotation?
[00:17:40] Speaker C: You have to remember they've got 15 scholarship spots now because of the, the roster change or the roster rule changes. So do they try to fill all 15? Do they? Because I'm, I'm fairly confident in saying that they're probably going to target more than nine guys for, for a primary rotation just because of the injury problems they had, not just with their rotation guys, but Melo Sanchez missed time in the summer. I mean, you had, yeah, just some different injuries. Obviously Lawson Blake was out for a long time. So I would imagine that they're going to target more guys than what they did last year. So it'll be interesting to follow just from, from that perspective, for sure.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Anthony, good to have you back from San Francisco. You can read his coverage @wholehog sports.com when we come back. Christina Long is going to join me here in studio. We'll talk Razorback baseball and this game tonight in North Little Rock. But first word from our sponsors at Kendall King.
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[00:19:01] Speaker B: Welcome back. When tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass, serving their community since 1971, committed, professional and versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. Come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonville glass.com Razorback baseball in action tonight at Dickey Stevens park in North Little Rock. It'll be a 6 o'clock first pitch raisebacks playing Grambling State, second time these teams have played this year. Arkansas won 14 to 3 in seven innings back on February 25th. This game's going to be streamed on SEC Network plus now it's going to be a little bit different stream than you're used to.
They're going to take the travelers in house media, so to speak. So this looks different than the stream that you'll see say like on an SEC network plus that's produced here on campus in Fayetteville. I don't think they're gonna have as many cameras so they're gonna take that stream and then they'll put Phil Elson's play by play from the radio broadcast over the top of it. So just so you know, it's gonna be a little bit different than it usually is when you watch it. But finally, I mean, last year was the first time that they got the games on the, you know, onto the SEC network. Plus from North Little Rock before then, everything, basketball and baseball down there was essentially blacked out. The only way that you could see it is if you were in attendance. And the only way you could keep up with what was going on was if you were listening to the radio. Very, you know, 1980 type feel to those type of games. So Arkansas and grambling. Tonight, Tate McGuire is going to throw for the Razorbacks. Grambling. It's always an adventure when Grambling plays Arkansas because you never know who they're going to throw. And like when they came here in February, they said they were going to throw one guy and then like an hour before the game they changed their mind and went to another. And from what I've heard, they're not going to announce a starting pitcher today until basically the time they get to a ballpark.
[00:21:03] Speaker D: Sure. Sounds like. Sounds like what they would do. No, the TV thing is interesting. My dad was asking me yesterday, like, is this one actually on tv? Because this is with Phil's broadcast. Is that what they did last year? Okay, I was remembering that. I had totally forgotten that they did that until you said that. But yeah, I remember. You know, I like, you know, listening to Phil a lot. I like his calls. I think a lot of people do. So it's like, I don't mind listening to Phil.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Well, and this isn't to disparage the people who do TV play by play by play at all, but I like listening to radio play by play. Give you an example. Last night I'm sitting in my office working and I've got.
I'm not a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but I think John Rooney is a phenomenal play by play man. And I love listening to him do call games. So I've got him going and I've got like a women's basketball game up on the tv. I just like listening to radio play by play. It is, it's a, there's an art to it. The ability and what, you know, what they teach you in, you know, in school, I guess whenever you're going to be a play by play announcer is that if you're a TV play by play guy, you let the pictures tell the story themselves and you're just kind of narrating what people are seeing. You're a radio play by play guy. You're painting the picture for everybody. Because they can't see it. And I love that art form.
[00:22:19] Speaker D: Yeah, you get so much more detail and you know, I think Phil does a really good job of that. I went through a phase in high school where I would, you know, when I was like doing homework, I would turn on minor league baseball broadcasts of like usually I would find like a former Razorback that was playing. So like, I think I, I listen to a lot of like Ben Intendees games whenever he was at like some obscure. I listened to like some Brian Anderson games like when he was playing in some Florida. I don't even remember them now.
Yes. And so I would just put those on while I did homework. And now I listen to like movie scores and stuff while I work. I can't listen to stuff with like lyrics now, but I used to just put on like random baseball broadcasts while I worked because it just, it was very soothing and it was something easy to have like in the background. And then when I wanted to tune, tune in for, you know, the players at bat that I liked, I could tune in. So anyway, yeah, I think I kind of like this little broadcast thing. I think it's interesting that it, it did used to feel very throwback like when you, when you couldn't see it on, on SEC Network. But yeah, it's, it's interesting how some of these Little Rock broadcasts have to go because basketball. Remind me what the deal is with the games at Simmons Bank.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Well, you're saying Simmons Bank.
[00:23:27] Speaker D: Is it not called that anymore?
[00:23:28] Speaker B: No, no, no, it is. This shows my age. I still call it Altel Arena.
[00:23:31] Speaker D: Oh, okay. Yeah, I remember when it was. Yeah, yeah, but the joke was always.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: That it was all tell arena and you took your Altel phone in there and you couldn't get a signal. That was.
[00:23:40] Speaker D: That's hilarious.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: And I went from that to Verizon.
[00:23:42] Speaker D: And they couldn't broadcast out of there for a long time. Right, but they can't.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: It was. Well, I mean it was the same basically what happened in north Little Rock at baseball and basketball was the same thing that they, they could stream a game out of there. They didn't have built in streaming capabilities there like they have built in when, when Arkansas launched or when the SEC network launched. All the schools in the SEC spent millions of dollars in this infrastructure to make it where they could stream from anywhere on campus. So they've got, you know, lines running from the softballs stadium to the arena to the baseball stadium and so on and so forth. Arkansas spent like $8 million to get everything you Know, they built a new production room down in the basement of Bud Walton arena, which is really nice, state of the art type, you know, production room at the time that it was built. But in order to stream a game from North Little Rock, they would have had to paid an outside company to come in and basically run all of that for them.
And so, you know, that's gonna be like a $50,000 per game. And so you have to make the decision, is it worth paying $50,000 to put our game on the Internet or do we want to just save that? And I also think there was a thought process there too, like if it's not on tv, more people are gonna buy tickets and they're gonna come there for that. But I think basically it was, it was just the value was not there to stream this one game, this one baseball game, this one basketball game. And then a couple of years ago they got some sort of piece of equipment from the SEC network that basically helps them do that. And now TV could have gone in. TV used to go in and televised these games at Dickey Stevens all the time. Like Cocker Sports Network would, would televise it. But then when the SEC network was launched, they made it to where they had the broadcast rights for these games because it's technically considered a home game, it's not a neutral side game. So they've got the broadcast rights for these games. And so it took those, some of those third party TV networks out of the equation. A lot of moving parts and complications to it. But that's kind of, I guess, a short dish story about why they didn't do it.
[00:26:07] Speaker D: There's so much I don't know about broadcast operations and you fill in so many of the gaps because you understand how it works. So it's hard to derail us. But it's just interesting, something crazy some of the ways some of these SEC network, especially the streaming only broadcasts work. I was watching the Texas Relays, the track meet that they were at last weekend, and I turned it on and it had been going on all day and I tuned in kind of in the afternoon and the screen just said, you're your. It gave me the. Your event will be in shortly. And I was like, the event's been going on all day. What are you talking about? And then it cut on all of a sudden and showed a couple of races. And then it went back out. And before it went back out, it showed a message that was like, we are not allowed to show high school races. And the Texas Relays has Professional college, high school races. And so they have to cut the broadcast when the high schoolers come out, and then they can put it back on for the college races. And I think some of the pro races, too, but they're not allowed to show the high school. So it was really weird. It was something I never would have thought about.
[00:27:00] Speaker B: And when the Longhorn Network was launched. We're getting way off topic.
[00:27:03] Speaker D: Yes, I'm sorry.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: We can talk about baseball burrowing down this rabbit hole. When the Longhorn Network was launched, I think they wanted to televise high school football games. And they were. I think they were basically told, no, this is, you know, all the other schools in Texas and that recruit against the Longhorns, you know, threw a fit about it.
[00:27:21] Speaker D: Yeah, I bet.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: So I guess that kind of fits in. Fits into that, too.
[00:27:24] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, anyway, Razorback baseball.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:27:26] Speaker D: Sorry, everybody.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: You play tonight. That's no April Fool's Show.
[00:27:29] Speaker D: You can watch it.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: 6:00 at Dickey. Stevens mentioned Tate McGuire's throwing. You know, Dave Van Horn, he made comments last week about you got to win one to lose one. Well, I mean, you look at what happened at Vanderbilt over the weekend, and they used some pitchers who they threw against Missouri State, but basically the bullpen guys against Vanderbilt were either limited against Missouri State or they were off limits. And, you know, you wonder about how does that change? And I know Ben Bybey didn't have a good outing against Missouri State last week, but you wonder how does his outing change against Vanderbilt if he throws 50 pitches as opposed to throwing 33? Dylan Carter, he pitched well in the ninth inning of the Friday night game. How does that go differently if he threw 40 pitches instead of 20?
And so I think that there was a level of validation to what Dave was saying last week in that Missouri State, you know, or after the Missouri State game. He had a great quote, though, the other day asking about this after Sunday's game. And he said, as much as we have great fans, they've just got to understand sometimes when you play four and five games a week, we just don't have enough guys. Sometimes it just depends on how it goes. We got to take care of their arms, keep an eye on pitch counts. Body language will tell us a lot. Technology will tell us a lot about if a guy needs a break. And, you know, they're going to treat this game tonight just like they treated the Missouri State game. He said that there are going to be some players who don't make the trip tonight or they may make the trip, but they're not going to play. And you know, I would suspect that even a very drawn down, watered down Arkansas roster is going to be able to handle Grambling State. But that ballpark, there have been a lot of close games in that ballpark against teams that you would think, why aren't they beating them by a lot more? You know, it's three to nothing against Mississippi Valley State or two to one with a walk off against a Grambling or a UCA or something. And I don't know, it just, it feels like every time they go down there, maybe not every time, but most of the time when they go down there, the games just are never quite what you think they're going to be.
[00:29:30] Speaker D: Why do you think that is? Like, what do you think it is about going down there and going to that venue?
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Well, Bubba made some good comments on the podcast yesterday. He said that for one, it's the only time each year and Arkansas will actually do it two times this year because they're going to play up in Springfield and it'll be a similar situation. But it's the only time each year where they get on a bus and they bus to a location and they play on the same day. Like whenever they go to Vanderbilt or Georgia next week or whatever else, you know, whatever other road trips they make. Arlington, they'll go in the day before. They'll get used to the field.
You know, they'll have a night in the hotel and then they'll, you know, they'll have a normal game day routine. It's a different game day routine when they go down there. I think that's number one. And then we'll play a sound bite here, Sydney. But you know, part of it's the park. It's a big park. And the way that the park is positioned and the time of year that Arkansas typically plays there, you typically have the wind blowing in from the outfield. And when you've got teams like Arkansas's had in the past that are, you know, kind of home, I shouldn't say home run or bust, but, you know, there have been some, you know, certainly there have been some games where it feels like it's home run or bust with, with Arkansas in the past few years, it's a hard park to hit home runs in. I think you can probably count in 12 games that they played there, maybe on one hand, but certainly on two hands, the number of home runs they've hit in this park. And Dave Van Horn talked about this the other day. Here's his sound bite. I asked him about taking a better lineup to north Little Rock this time and how it might affect the night's game.
[00:31:01] Speaker E: It would be nice if there was a nice west or northwest wind because if it's out the south, it's in baseball lingo, it's a graveyard. You can't hit it out of there hardly.
But yeah, it is what it is. You know, it's the same for both teams. And I enjoy going to Little Rock fans down there. They get super excited to come watch us play and you know, they have a good time before the game, during the game and probably till they close session stands at seven after the seventh inning, to be honest with you. So yeah, it's, it'll be good for our guys. You know, we won't take everybody.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: We'll.
[00:31:37] Speaker E: We'll probably leave some of our starting pitchers home and anybody that is maybe not available unless they just really want to go and go down there and get their early free game and play and come on back and then get ready for SEC play games.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: And SEC play is against Missouri this weekend here in Fayetteville.
[00:31:58] Speaker D: Yeah, it's, it's a win. It's a sweepable series.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Well, you know, the, the forecast does not look great this weekend.
[00:32:05] Speaker D: Oh really?
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I'm looking at it right now. Friday is 100% chance of rain. It drops down to 90% by Friday night.
[00:32:12] Speaker D: Perfect.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: And then Saturday a 90% chance of rain and then it drops down to 60% by Saturday night. So it may be one of those weekends where you spend those first two days and this can change. Obviously we're still a few days out, but it may be one of those weekends where it's like, let's just try to get one game in over those first couple of days and then if you got to play two seven inning double headers on Sunday, as non ideal as it is, you may have to do that, right?
[00:32:39] Speaker D: Yeah, I hadn't even looked at that. But yeah, it'll be, that'll be something to track. We might have some, some delays out there this weekend. Might be fun. But no, I mean, we've talked about how, you know, it feels like kind of the beginning of this SEC slate has been good for them, has been favorable. Obviously the Vanderbilt series, we talked last week about how that was going to be a tough test. They passed it even better than I thought that they would.
And you know, I think Missouri, Missouri has just struggled so much and it's not new. I mean, they're just not, they were not an SEC ready baseball program. I don't think they're serious about baseball. I, you know, I liked their coach when he was down here last year. We talked to him a little bit, you know, came from Memphis. But I just, you know, it's a very, like I said, it is a sweepable series. And I think if you can't get all the games in, it's. It's not like, you know, missing out on some games against some of these bigger opponents they're going to have down the stretch.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: And by the way, one other north Little Rock Note, 12 games there, four have gone to extra innings, so. Oh, wow, there's that. Maybe they'll make five tonight. I tend to think Arkansas is going to be able to beat Grambling fairly easily, but again, the ballpark, it can be a little bit of an X factor, and that's something to watch. All right. When we come back, more Razorback sports talk. But first, another word from our sponsors at Kindle King.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: We're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King Soapbox and Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shop Cart. We are design.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. Razorback football back on the practice field today. Spring break is over. Raisebacks still have nine practices. Is that right?
[00:34:29] Speaker D: Left nine, including the spring game. Yep.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: So what do you expect to see this week?
[00:34:33] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, it'll be kind of back to the usual. It was nice to have kind of that break. I think after spring break, you know, you expect to see a few guys back from injury. There's been a couple of if, you know, they haven't had any major, major injuries. Campbell will remain out after he had surgery. I think David Okey is a guy that they're hoping to get back on that defensive line. There's a couple guys that have just kind of been banged up, you know, out there in. In green jerseys that they're hoping to have back. It doesn't seem like anything major. Sam Pittman doesn't seem to. To think any of the injuries they've had so far are severe. So there will be some guys kind of back in action. I think after spring break, it kind of starts to heat up a little bit where it feels a little bit more, you know, I guess more real because you're actually, you don't you don't have that break coming. And. And it seems like they kind of start to. I think they take that break to kind of evaluate what they've seen so far and then kind of change some things going into the next three weeks. But, yeah, I mean, it's crazy. It feels like we've been at spring, spring ball for so long, but then there's actually still quite a bit left.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: And it. But it's going to be real fast, real quick. I mean, It's. They got nine practices left and they got 19 days to do it.
[00:35:33] Speaker D: Yeah. And the portal will open before the spring game. I think it opens on the 16th. Right. And spring is the 19th.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: Is that right?
[00:35:40] Speaker D: Okay, so it'll open and. Yeah, so we'll have to. Have to keep an eye on that. I don't know. You know, you see a lot of guys leave after the spring game. I don't know if they'll see any go.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: Before Arkansas tried last year, I think one of their goals in how they planned their spring and when they scheduled their spring game was that they. And they weren't the only team that did this. I think a lot of them did. They played their spring game on a Saturday and then the portal opened on Monday. And that was strategic because they wanted all of this out of the way so they could focus on that.
[00:36:08] Speaker D: Right. The portal is different this year. I. I want to say the dates changed or maybe they just made it shorter, but yeah, they. It'll open on the 16th and, yeah, springing 19th. So I'll be curious kind of how that plays out. I. I don't know. You know, you'll definitely see some guys go. And then they, they have a few things. They want to get mostly on the defensive side out of the portal. But I would expect them not to hit the recruiting super hard until after the spring game and when they kind of know, you know, they've got to make some cuts, too. Like, you'll see some guys going that, you know, are. Simply because they need to make some cuts to get to that roster limit.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Okay. So Bubba and I, yesterday, we talked nothing but baseball on the podcast. And so there's some events that happen over the weekend that I want to get to. First one, you covered Sunday's softball game that finished a sweep of Kentucky, Arkansas's first softball sweep in two years.
[00:36:53] Speaker D: Yeah, which I. Until I realized that, I mean, I had forgotten that they hadn't swept anybody last season. I was really kind of surprised. Surprised. But, yeah, their first sweep of the season, first sweep since the 2022 season or 2023. And so it was. It was an exciting series. I mean, they are doing really well offensively. And then that. That Sunday game was interesting because they. They had gotten a lot of really solid offense out of the first two games. They had run ruled Kentucky. They have a program record for run rules now. I believe they're at 17 this season. And then they had a little bit more of a pitcher's duel on Sunday, and they were able to win that way, too. So that was something that we talked to the. To coach Diefel and to the players about afterward was, you know, how much confidence does that give you that you can win in these different kinds of ways.
They have a really hard schedule remaining. I mean, they really don't get a break after this. Kentucky was not ranked, but still kind of right with Arkansas in the SEC standings. Had a similar record entering the season or entering the series.
But they. They don't really catch a break for the rest of the season. And that's kind of the nature of SEC softball. It's similar to baseball, where you just. There might be a couple of series that you look at as like, okay, that's where we can get some. But then, you know, you really have challenges down the rest of the schedule. But this is a really good offensive team. I think they have some really good pitching as well. Robin Heron has been really exciting. You can pretty much count on her doing something special whenever she's in the circle.
And so it was fun to get out there. I hadn't gotten to go to a softball game in a long time, and it was. It was fun to get out there.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: Kelsey music through the first pitch.
[00:38:19] Speaker D: Yeah, she did. She did a pretty good job. She kind of just went with the underhand toss, which is also what I would have done, but. But no, it was cool. I'm excited that she'll be here.
[00:38:27] Speaker B: Does anybody throw a softball? First pitch, overhanded.
[00:38:30] Speaker D: Well, I didn't. She didn't do the full arm. She didn't do the whole thing. She just kind of tossed, which is exactly what I would have done. I would have been worried that I would have just like.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: I feel like anybody who's about 35 and above would be worried that they would rip the rotator cuff if they.
[00:38:42] Speaker D: Tried to go to. I did a first pitch. He threw his shoulder out, and his, like, kind of needed surgery for a while.
And also, it was not a good. It was not a good pitch. It was very outside.
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Okay. Kelsey music, by the way, she's supposed to be on our podcast a little bit later this week. We believe that's going to be Thursday, that she's going to be. Joining us here on our podcast, the new Razorback women's basketball coach, Kendall Todd, who's a golfer for the Razorback women. She had a historic performance over the weekend, an 11 under 61 in the final round of the Clemson Invitational, and that tied the NCAA record for the lowest round in the history of women's college golf. This was a.
This was a big story that kind of flew under the radar, I think this weekend.
[00:39:26] Speaker D: Totally. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't on my radar, which is. Which is my bad. But I mean, she. She really did a great job. I. In one of the magazines we did earlier this spring, it was kind of a spring sports preview. I talked to Shawna Taylor, the women's golf coach, and, you know, Maria Jose Marin has been their star. You know, the sophomore, really amazing player, really highly ranked, and she's been their star. And she, you know, draws a lot of the attention from people like us who kind of pop in on golf every once in a while to check in on how they're doing. But she had mentioned Kendall to me as someone kind of to watch. There's. There's a lot of really good players on this team. And, you know, they've been ranked number one for a lot of the season. They're number two now. They haven't placed worse than third in any of their nine tournaments this season, which is really crazy. They've won four of them, I believe. And they came runner up in. In Clemson. And then they have the SEC Championship coming up in a couple weeks.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: And Maria and Kendall are both playing in the Augusta women's event this week.
[00:40:21] Speaker D: Yeah. Which Maria has done before. I don't know that Kendall has. I don't think she has, but yeah. So that's also a really exciting opportunity. I remember talking to Maria. Chip wrote a story about Maria for the magazine last year in her time at Augusta. So it's a really cool opportunity for them. Arkansas tends to send some really good athletes to that.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: And then noticed yesterday that John Daly II won an event for the men. He ended up first at the Columbia Spring Invitational. The Razorback men were second at this event, but he had rounds of 70 and 69 for one at a par for the. For the tournament, and that's his first collegiate win.
[00:40:58] Speaker D: Oh, wow. I didn't even see that. That's really cool.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: So, big weekend for Razorback golf.
Texas Relays. You Watch those over the weekend.
[00:41:07] Speaker D: Yeah, watch that.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Big weekend for the women.
[00:41:08] Speaker D: Yes. So it was just the women's team. The men's team didn't compete there. It was the first outdoor meet for them. Some, some exciting results for them. I mean, it's kind of an odd meet. They had a few entries that ended up sort of, that ended up scratching, but they had, you know, a couple of records, they had a couple of collegiate leads, a couple of world leads. Rachel Glenn matched the fastest time in the world in the 400 hurdles, which is just a really, really tough race. She, she's been, you know, on the Bowerman watch list, has been, I think all season. So she's, you know, one of their top athletes and just really fun to watch.
They set a collegiate record in the 4 by 800 relay. So it was 8, 16, 12, which beat the previous record by a little under a second.
So they had a record setting day. I mean, the track team is so exciting because it feels like every time you watch them you're going to see some kind of record fall, whether it's a program record, a collegiate record, a meet record at an event like this. You know, that's, that's been around for, you know, almost 100 years. So, so it's, they're, they're crazy. They're super fun to watch. And then, yeah, they'll have an outdoor meet here in Fayetteville in a couple of weeks.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Jocelyn Roberson, Arkansas gymnast, All American. They are in the regionals. Is it this week?
[00:42:16] Speaker D: Yeah, they start on Thursday, Thursday. And then if they advance the regional final, then they'll compete again on Saturday then.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: You got me all out of whack talking about TV and baseball. I knew I had more baseball to talk. I wanted to mention this. Zach Root or an SEC Pitcher of the Week yesterday. Of course, he threw that great game against Vanderbilt over the weekend. Seven and two third innings, three hits, three walks, didn't allow a run, 100 pitches. Against the Commodores. He shared the SEC Pitcher of the Week award with a Texas pitcher, Ruger Riojas, who also had a big game last week against Missouri. Seven shutout innings, 10 strikeouts, two hits, no walks. And this is the second time that Zach Rude has earned a conference Pitcher of the Week award. Also won one in the American last year when he was pitching at East Carolina after he had a big game against North Carolina early in the season. Also, Arkansas baseball still ranked number two in the polls this week. And we talked about this a little bit with Mike Rooney yesterday, based on the D1 baseball poll. We use the coaches poll as our poll of record, but both of them have the same 10 teams in the top 10, just in different orders. And there's eight SEC teams in the top 10, eight of the top 10. The only two that are not in the SEC that are in the top 10. Florida State's number four, Clemson's number seven out of the ACC. The rest of it, it looks like this. Tennessee number one, Arkansas number two, Georgia number three. And as I mentioned yesterday, that's Tony Vitello, Dave Van Horn, Wes Johnson, they're all on the same Razorback baseball staff in 2017 as the head coaches. Now, those three programs, Texas is number five, LSU number six, Alabama is number eight, OU is number nine, and Ole Miss is number 10.
[00:44:00] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Half the league is in the top 10 of the national rankings right now.
[00:44:04] Speaker D: Unsurprising, somehow. And yet crazy. Is that. Is that the most they've had? I mean, because I can ever remember.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: Being in the top 10.
[00:44:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Simultaneously there. I mean, there have been plenty of times where there's been six teams, even seven, but I don't know that.
[00:44:18] Speaker D: Everyone look at the full top 25. It's usually full of SEC.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: Well, I mean, this week, 10 of the top 25 are from the SEC. You've also got Auburn, number 17, and Vanderbilt, after they lost to Arkansas, fell from 13th to 20. Florida fell out of the rankings. And that's the crazy thing is you got 10 teams in the top 25 out of 16 SEC teams. And two of the teams that are not ranked are maybe the two teams that everybody thought was going to have the best year. Texas A and M and Florida.
[00:44:46] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. Which it's been crazy how both of those seasons have shaken out, especially Texas A and M. I think that's been a surprise to just about everyone.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: They're both one and eight in the sec.
[00:44:54] Speaker D: That's crazy.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: And what's interesting to me is how the SEC this year, like, there have been a ton of sweeps. Arkansas swept twice.
Well, actually, all four of the teams that are at the top of the standings are all 8 and 1. They've all swept twice.
[00:45:09] Speaker D: South Carolina got swept again this weekend by Tennessee.
[00:45:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, South Carolina, they. They drew a short straw here early in the season. The type of teams that they've had to play had to play OU to. Oh, you obviously in the top 10. They had to play Clemson earlier. I mean, that's four teams in the top 10 who South Carolina's played in the last five, six weeks have Florida.
[00:45:27] Speaker D: And Vanderbilt or not? Vanderbilt, Texas A and M Played Missouri yet? Will they play Missouri?
[00:45:31] Speaker B: No, and I don't know if they. I don't know if they'll get to play them. I do know Vanderbilt plays Florida this weekend, so that's going to be a get right weekend, I would think, for one of those two teams.
[00:45:40] Speaker D: Definitely.
[00:45:42] Speaker B: Okay. That's all we got today. We hope we see you on our website, wholehogsports. Com, for our latest Razorback coverage. I'll be in North Little Rock tonight for this baseball game. We'll have coverage from that on our website. And we'll be back with podcast tomorrow. Hope to see you then.
