Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Seems like this week is going on forever. Just one more day till Arkansas plays Tennessee at the NCAA Fayetteville super regional. We'll hear from the head coaches today on our podcast. But first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: At Kendall King, 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 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 Shopcart. We are design.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: I got an email yesterday from the Razorback ticket office telling me that Razorback football season tickets are available. You can get upper level season tickets for $290 or lower level season tickets for 460. This is not a promotion. I'm setting you up for something here. I was also. Now, I kept that in mind as I was looking at the ticket prices for this weekend's super regional against Tennessee. Keep in mind, season tickets for Razorback football games, that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Six games in Fayetteville in the 290 to $460 range for one seat for six games, one ticket to Arkansas Tennessee on Saturday.
One one chair back seat.
The cheapest you can find Right now on SeatGeek is $199 plus fees down the left field line, 206 down the right field line. If you want to sit anywhere between the dugouts, you are going to pay on the secondary market between $342 and $893 for one seat to one game in which neither team can clinch. This is insanity how high these tickets are going for on the secondary market.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Yeah, if I bought a ticket to this game, I wouldn't be able to afford rent or groceries.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: They could put an infield at Razorback Stadium and fill it up this weekend. I really think they could. I think there is that much interest in this game. But both locally and I think there are going to be a lot of people coming over here from Knoxville and, you know, they're either going to pay 10 grand or they're going to sit outside the stadium. But there are going to be a lot of people here who are trying to get in and it may be kind of hard for them to get in unless they want to Pay, you know, 893 for this seat behind home plate.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: Yep. So if I If I were looking for a ticket, I'd be. I'd be getting a drone out watching from a little drone cam.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: You know, you can't fly drones on the university campus.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Really? I did not know that.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: It is a policy.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: Really?
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yeah, we've actually.
[00:02:56] Speaker C: Never mind.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: You know, we've wanted to go over there before, and we. We have a drone pilot here with our company and just get some, Some shots and I mean, like, the number of layers that you have to go through to be able to pilot a drone on the UA campus is.
It's. There's a lot of hoops to jump through.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: Wow. Okay. Interesting. I took a drone journalism course in.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: So that's.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: That's kind of wild to me. All right.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: I think. I mean, there's a lot of privacy reasons why they don't.
[00:03:27] Speaker C: That's fair.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: And I think we all sense we don't have to get into that. I think everybody understands that. So Arkansas And Tennessee tomorrow, 4 o' clock, first pitch. And then Sunday, 2 o' clock, first pitch. It looks like the rain is probably going to move through here, you know, at least by tomorrow afternoon. You might be looking at an.
An instance where, you know, perhaps you have a little bit of a delayed start time tomorrow. But I think once we get through tomorrow, it seems like the weather has come through a little bit quicker than what was thought earlier in the week. And I think that once we get through, you know, say, like midday, early afternoon tomorrow, it's setting up to look pretty nice for this weekend.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Hopefully during the softball regional, we had to deal. Deal with some lengthy delays. So I would like to not have any lengthy delays.
And I mean. I mean, primarily I cover basketball. Right. So I don't really have to worry about the delays. And I've been. We've been getting a lot of those. And at least in softball, not in baseball, at least not yet.
Knock on wood.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: This is the latest weather service forecast. It says Saturday showers and Thunderstorms mainly before 1pm here in Fayetteville. Saturday night, a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms partly cloudy.
Sunday, mostly Sunny, high of 86. Monday, 30% Chance of rain early in the day. It looks okay Monday night if they've got to play a game that night. So, I mean, look, I tell people all the time, it's the spring in the South. This is what we deal with. We deal with rain.
You know, everybody, a lot of it. Everybody gets all uptight about, oh, you know, will they be able to play like they've been doing this for 50 plus years scheduling games around these rainstorms, you know, and I mean it's. And I tell you this, the fields that they have now drained so very well.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: I was in College Station last year and it wasn't a hurricane, but it was close. That came through the day of the typhoon action. My God. I mean, I think it was like six inches of rain in a little over two hours. It was, it was amazing, the rain. And so I went out into the stadium after everything finally subsided a little bit and there was a lake in the center field of Bluebell park.
And two hours later they're playing baseball. And so it's amazing what they can do with these fields. Now, I think, you know, again, you might be looking at, hey, you can't start till 5 instead of 4. But I think that they're going to be able to play these games this weekend without or with minimal interruption.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: Yeah, no, probably shout out to the grounds crews. They're doing a good job. The, the fields, they drain real nice. So, I mean, not to keep talking about the softball regional, but I mean, it rained a lot.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Do you know why?
[00:06:10] Speaker C: Like a, it's May.
Yeah. Yeah.
There was like a, like the warning track looked like a river. And then, I mean, they cleared it up. So we got some, some softball. We'll get some baseball. I'm sure it'll be fun.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: We thought we heard, we heard from the head coaches yesterday.
Dave Van Horn spoke on the SEC this Morning show on Sirius xm and then Tony Vitello had a news conference for the local Knoxville media before or after their practice yesterday in Tennessee. The Vols are making their way to Fayetteville today. Arkansas is going to go through a practice this afternoon. Tennessee is going to go through a practice this evening out at Baum Walker Stadium. And both of the head coaches and some select players also speak after those practices are over. So you can go to our website wholehogsports.com later today and read and, or hear what those coaches had to say. We'll start with the sound bite from Dave Van Horn, though.
Yesterday again, this was on Sirius xm, the show SEC this morning that's an extension of the SEC Network.
And you know, he talked about kind of keeping the routine the same this week. I think what Arkansas has done this week. I was listening to Nate Thompson on another show yesterday and he said what they've done is basically they've done the same thing that they did last week. Now they got one more day because this one starts on Saturday and the regional started On Friday last week. But what they did was Monday, basically a day off. Tuesday and Wednesday or Tuesday, kind of a little light workout. Wednesday and Thursday, more full team workouts and then they'll go through, you know, their practice this afternoon over on the field. And then Dave Van Horn on the show that he was on on SiriusXM, he talked about the importance of, of keeping the game week routine the same even when the stakes are as high as they can get. And this is what he had to say.
[00:08:06] Speaker D: You just don't want the players to kind of think that the coaches are in a little bit of a panic mode because we're doing all kinds of stuff we haven't done all year.
Just keep doing what you're doing. Try to be as prepared as you can for the team that's coming in. And in this case, you know, we played each other a three game series. We've seen them play a game in the tournament.
We know what they do, we know what they do well and that's pitch and score and we know what we do well. And if we both teams are doing that well, it's going to be an incredible series.
The atmosphere should be electric. You know, the weather here this week has been in and out rain, windy and warm storms. But once we get through like Friday night, it looks like the weather is going to be pretty nice, upper 70s, 80 degrees and should be, you know, a situation where offensively both teams won't be stopped much by the weather, so to speak. It's, it's going to be a little nutty.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: David Horn on Sirius XM yesterday, you know, this is a series that really, and I said this a couple of times this week, it ought to be played in Omaha. But you know, it's, it's not, it's.
They don't recede the teams after the regionals and Tennessee because they, you know, didn't play well down the stretch or it's not even so much they didn't play well down the stretch. It's just they didn't win enough down the stretch. They didn't, they didn't win enough series.
They ended up as the number 14 national seed. Arkansas was the number three.
If they put them, if they give Arkansas the four and Tennessee the 14, this is a potential Omaha matchup. If they give Arkansas the three and Tennessee the number 15, this is a potential Omaha matchup.
You know, it's the conspiracist in you likes to think, hey, maybe they did this on purpose to have a big time super regional matchup.
[00:10:00] Speaker C: But you're telling Me Murray State vs. Duke doesn't get the juices flowing?
[00:10:05] Speaker B: No, it does not. No. Yeah, I did look this up and I think I mentioned this yesterday, if they would recede the teams before this super or before the supers, Arkansas would be playing Murray State this weekend because Arkansas is the highest seeded team that's remaining in the tournament. Murray State would be number 16 and then Tennessee would be the 8th highest seed remaining and they would be playing a home super regional against ucla. I think both Arkansas and Tennessee fan bases would take that trade off where they don't have to play each other and they could play somebody else on their home field to get to the World Series.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: Yeah, probably more favorable matchup, you would think as well. I mean, obviously can. Sometimes it doesn't really matter. Just ask Ole Miss or Texas or Vanderbilt or whoever you want, Oregon, whoever.
So sometimes that doesn't really play out the way you think it is. But no, I mean it, it'll be, it'll be a lot of fun. Obviously, I think you, like you mentioned, if they receded, this would probably happen in Omaha. But it's not how it works. And now we get that. Now we get it in Fayetteville. And I'm, I'm thinking it's going to be a lot of fun. Like you said. I mean, the demand is high. The demand for media seating is high.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: And yeah, over.
I talked to somebody yesterday.
Nearly 90 credential requests have been put in. And that does not take into consideration the production side of this. The camera people, the, you know, the runners for tv, the people sitting out in the production truck.
That's just for credentialed reporters and photographers to this series. 90 from Arkansas, Tennessee and national media outlets who are converging here on Fayetteville to cover this. From what I've heard, there are a lot of people coming over from Tennessee to cover this. You know, it's interesting. When Arkansas was in chapel hill in 2022, I can only remember a handful of Arkansas people there. Arkansas media members.
Bob Holt and I were the only two sports writers who were there. And then I think there was at least one television station that made the trip.
I think there were at least a couple of radio personalities who were there.
But, you know, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like it's going to be a lot bigger from the Tennessee side come to this. And I get it. Tennessee, they're trying to get to the national championship for the second year in a row. And then the storylines they write themselves this Dave Van Horn, Tony Vitello thing, I mean, you know, you think about it, you know, it's.
It could end up being like a Disney movie script. If Van Horn beats Vitello and somehow gets his team on to win the national championship this year or the other.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: Way around, I mean, the old prodigy comes back and beats the old boss or something like that. So, I mean, there's all sorts of fun storylines. And it'll be good baseball, too, obviously. The two best, two of the best teams in the country. Arkansas is always, always up there. Tennessee coming off a national title last year. So it'll be. It'll be fun. I'm very much looking forward to it.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: That would be more like a Martin Scorsese film, I think, for Arkansas. If Tennessee were to come in here and beat Arkansas, and in this season, where the Razorbacks have just been so good all year, this feels. This feels like Arkansas's best chance to win a national championship.
Because they can pitch, they can field, they can hit. And even the teams that have gotten far into the World Series throughout the years, you know, they could do a little bit of some well, but I don't know that they could do all three phases as well as they've been able to do it this year. And I know a lot of people will say, well, you know, the pitching numbers don't look that great. But you look around college baseball this year, the pitching numbers don't look great. This is not just a problem with Arkansas. I mean, I think they've got like a top 15 ERA at 3.96 or whatever it is going to this week. Maybe that's what it was going into the last Creighton game. But anyway, they're hovering right there around a four ERA, and that's a top 15 mark in the country.
You know, there's just not a lot of teams that are pitching well this year. It's. It's an older.
You know, the lineups just continue to be old and the pitching staffs are younger. You know, I mean, honestly. Because it just seems like whenever you're a really good pitcher out of high school, they're going to find you and they're going to. They're going to draft you and they'll do that with you if you're a position player. But I don't think they do that as much whenever you're a position player. And then I think you're starting to see that be reflected on these college rosters.
[00:14:31] Speaker C: Yeah, no, for sure. Older. Older lineups, younger pitchers, and I Think some of that also might come down to, you know, guys staying in college a little bit longer. Kind of looking at it from a basketball lens. I mean, guys who are kind of staying in college because they can make more money in NIL from playing in college than they can if they get drafted and play in the minor leagues for a bit or something along those lines. So I think that might also play into it. But, yeah, no, I mean, this Arkansas team, like you mentioned, they're. I mean, their entire lineup can hit. I think we saw that this past weekend and in the regionals. And I think that the pitching speaks for itself. I mean, you look at how well Gage Wood pitched against Creighton or Zach Root looked really good through six innings. And I mean, everybody. Everybody who pitched seemed to have pitched well for Arkansas. And the fielding, I don't think they had a single error.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: They did.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: Not all weekend. Yeah. So everything kind of speaks for itself there. And it'll be. Yeah, like I said, it'll be. It'll be a fun weekend in Fayetteville.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: I don't know what their fielding percentage is at home. It's going to be something I'll look up over the next few days, but it's.984 for the season. I suspect it's higher at home. They're just. They really field well.
It's like hitting into a vacuum cleaner sometimes. It feels like whenever you're playing against these guys on their home field.
Mentioned earlier, Tony Vitalo spoke with Knoxville media yesterday. He was asked about that first matchup with Arkansas to end the regular season with the Razorbanks 12 of 3. And this is what he had to say.
[00:15:57] Speaker E: We got work to do. They're good. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, they're the. I mean, by default, or as we now stand, they're the number one seed or the favorite to win the whole thing.
So they're good. We knew that. Learned that last time. That hasn't changed.
I know as well as anyone that it's a, you know, rowdy environment to play in and they'll probably kick it up a notch this time of year, as our fans did last year. But, no, it's. I mean, it's an SEC series just has different labels to it for circumstances that follow and definitely circumstances that precede it.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Tony, later on went to say on paper they would sit on the throne, talking about Arkansas being the top seeded team remaining in this tournament. You know that he's going to use this as motivation. It's like you guys you're the reigning national champions, and here these guys think they are the favorites to win this whole thing. And on the flip side, I'm sure there's a lot of motivation going on from Arkansas standpoint. Look at those guys. You know, they. They don't. They don't play baseball the way we think baseball should be played. And, you know, if you want to get to the championship, you got to go through them to get there. It's. It's pretty fascinating the way this works out.
[00:17:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Knock them off their perch, I'm sure, is probably part of the message in the Arkansas dugout. Right. And I mean, that's the defending national champion coming in. And, you know, I know a lot of that team graduated or went pro or whatever, but I mean, it's still.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: They've still got some of them.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, no, that's still a defending national champion. So, I mean, you're. You're getting a team in that. That has experience winning at the highest level. And you got Arkansas, which has obviously been winning at the highest level all year. So it'll be. It'll be an interesting matchup. I think when you look at it, it's.
Yeah, it's a. I think they're pretty well balanced. I mean, Arkansas won the series two out of three games when they played in the regular season, but I think both teams kind of showed that they could be effective against each other, if that makes sense.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: But, yeah, here's a question.
More excitement level that you can sense in the air right now. The day before Arkansas, Tennessee Super Regional, or let's go back to October, the day before Tennessee came here with the number four ranked football team and played the Razorbacks at Razorback Stadium.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: That's a good question. I'm thinking.
I'm thinking it's probably this because. I think it's this because people really probably thought that Arkansas would have.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: Not that they didn't think they would have a chance, but, like, it seems more real. And this is to get.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: They feel like they've got a better chance to win this game.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: And it's. I don't want to say it's higher stakes, but you know what I'm trying to say. There's a chance to go to Omaha for this. It is higher stakes as opposed to. I mean, it's higher stakes a regular season game.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: It's higher stakes. I mean, you know, it was high stakes for Tennessee when they came here because that loss, Arkansas could have very easily derailed them getting into the playoff.
But, you know, for Arkansas, I mean, it's for this team. The stakes are higher winning this game than they were for winning that game. That team went 6 and 6, and I don't think a lot of people thought that their ceiling was a whole lot higher than 6 and 6.
Even after they beat Tennessee. I thought they'd play better at home the rest of the way than they did. But we'll get into football here in a minute.
Tony Vitalo was asked yesterday about the similarities and the differences between Arkansas and Texas or in Tennessee. You know, these two teams, there are so many ties. It feels like you can take any two coaches on these staves and say, well, there's a link, There's a link. Let's do it. Bobby Wernis and Tony Vitello. Well, Tony Vitello was Bobby's hitting coach whenever Bobby played at Arkansas. How about Josh Elander and Dave Van Horn? There's links there. Elander was a volunteer coach for him, played for him on Team usa. How about Tony Vitello and Matt Hobbs? They were teammates at the University of Missouri. And Tim Jamison, who was their head coach, told me whenever Matt Hobbs was hired here, he said that Tony needed to have a head coach whenever he got the job in Knoxville. Otherwise, Matt Hobbs may be wearing orange right now because, you know, he thought that highly of him as a pitching coach. Nate Thompson took Tony Vitello's position when he went to Tennessee, and the list just goes on and on and on. There are so many connections between these teams. Vitello was asked yesterday, though, about the similarities and the differences between these programs, and this is what he had to say.
[00:20:17] Speaker E: I learned a lot from Coach Van Horn, so there's certainly, when you bring Frank on board, he brings his deal in. Cues is definitely, I feel, a unique X factor for us, but there's some things that I learned there that I would have never known or never would have experienced without his first believing in me and then help.
So there are some similarities or a bridge there a little bit. And then we didn't know that it would become this here. And I, with our fan base is what I'm getting at. And I was a little concerned on whether we could sustain success here, because in our league, you have to have a true home field advantage, and they've had it for decades.
And, you know, and really, I guess after Covid, even kind of during, in 21 especially, we had the comforting feeling that this is one of the rowdiest places to play as well.
So there's two similarities and maybe there's more.
You know, I played with Matt Hobbs, your pitching coach. He does a job, but again, it's different style.
But this time of year, you certainly want to have confidence in the way your pitchers are coached and also the available arms you have. But it's also different. I remember getting here, and collectively, as a staff, we had success recruiting at Arkansas, and the stadium helped and all that, but people here are like, yeah, just do what you did at Arkansas. They're winning some games, and it's a total different place, same league, state university, flagship school and all that, but Knoxville's different, and baseball in our state's different, and the way we want to do some things here is a little bit different. So, again, the bottom line is all that stuff's extra. They say sec, it just means more. And a lot of the things that fall under that true cliche, I think it are at both places. And that's why the last series was fun. And like I said, they bested us. So we got work to do.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: I think sometimes you don't like people who are too much like you. You know what I mean?
[00:22:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: And I, I, I think as much as their fan bases will hate to hear this, and I'm not talking about how the teams play, but there's a, there's just a lot of similarities in the programs. I look at Tennessee, and I've said this for probably about four or five years. You know, like, I was watching their, I think it was their regional or their Super Regional in 2021, and I saw people just lined up outside the stadium, couldn't even get in. I think they were watching on, like, projectors outside the stadium.
And, you know, it kind of felt like a very incomplete stadium. Like, you look at it, it's like, wow, they could add a lot more to this and, and make it bigger. It reminded me of bomb probably 15 to 20 years earlier.
And, you know, I just think, you know, there's a lot of similarities between the way they play the game. There, There are similarities. I mean, the, the things, the antics that, that Tennessee does and the things that their coaching staff kind of, and I've said this, I think that it's grown too big for them. Like, even if they wanted to put that back in the box, I don't think they can. I don't think they can.
So, I mean, there are, there are very real differences on the field.
I just think the programs are very similar.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: Yeah, no, they're very. Yeah, like you said.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: And that shouldn't be surprising.
[00:23:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Because when you've got Marcelo, Luke Bondfield and Josh Eatlander all there in Knoxville, who all learned a very good amount of what they do from here in Fayetteville.
[00:23:31] Speaker C: Yeah, no, like, like you mentioned earlier, there's all those, all those connections. So I mean that, that kind of, I guess will, I guess boost the, I guess mutual respect that they, they've all kind of talked about throughout the, the build up to this. But yeah, no, you can definitely see those, I guess off field similarities is the best way to put it. And yeah, it'll be like I keep saying it, but it's true. It's going to be a very fun weekend. I'm looking forward to it. I mean, you look at the, the way that, I mean, the contrasting styles for sure, but then you have all the connections and all the different storylines.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: And yeah, it's a fun, it's a fun weekend. If there's good baseball.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: If there's good baseball.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:24:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: If there's bad baseball played, it's just.
[00:24:12] Speaker C: Kind of like this didn't live up to the hype, did it?
[00:24:15] Speaker B: I think it will. I think, yeah, I think they're very evenly matched.
[00:24:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Two very good baseball teams.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: You would hope, I don't know that I'd go so far as to say, hey, yeah, for sure it's going to go three games.
But I do think that games one and two are going to be competitive, at least for a while.
One of the big questions I have, and I think that this series comes down to a bullpen series, like whose bullpen comes to play? Arkansas's had a better bullpen this year than Tennessee has, but it doesn't mean that they're going to be better this weekend. And so that's where I can see these games maybe getting a little out of kilter, say like sixth, seventh, eighth inning. You know, these lineups are so good that once they get rolling, if you leave a pitcher in there for a net batter too, too long, get away from you and maybe the score isn't reflective of how competitive the first several innings were.
But I certainly think that these games are going to be competitive up until a certain point and then it's not going to surprise me if it's one of those deals where you have the winning run scored in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: Yeah, no, for sure. And I think you mean Arkansas's bullpen, I thought was excellent last weekend in the, in the.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: They are rested. Hey, let me tell you, this is one of the interesting things about this deal Is that Tennessee? They really had to go all out to beat Wake Forest last week. We know, had throw Liam Doyle at the end. Arkansas didn't throw Cole Gibler. Arkansas didn't throw Christian Fouts. They didn't throw Will McIntyre, who was phenomenal when these two teams met earlier this year. And then they didn't really have to use a lot of the relief pitchers too long. Yeah, you're like, there were a handful of pitchers who came in and they pitched an inning a piece. Landon by no Seas pitched two innings. And so there's a freshness, I feel like, for that bullpen from Arkansas.
Does it come into play this week? Maybe. But I would much rather have a fresh bullpen than one that had to be taxed some the week before.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I know there's, there's maybe an argument like, okay, well, these guys haven't pitched in a while against, you know, live hitting. You know, maybe that maybe tilts things in the other way. But I think I would certainly like to be more rested than, than not. You know, I think that's at this, at this point of the season, I think that's the biggest thing. I think when you see, where you see a lot of teams kind of go down is when their pitching is kind of exhausted and used up. I think that that's where, that's where teams kind of lose games. Not to put all the blame on pitchers or anything, but I think that's, that's where at least it starts, is when a pitcher, like you said, it's left in an at batter too, too long or maybe an inning too long and, you know, things can kind of get away from you there. But yeah, I think that's, I think that's definitely a big, A big, A big deal when you go into especially, you know, a series that is going to be, you know, as hotly contested and competitive as this one.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: We've got. I'm sorry, we've got some more baseball talk. We've got some football talk coming up too. But first, another word from Kendall King.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design.
We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kindle, 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 Shopcart. We are designed.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, 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. You can come by and see them at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at Bentonville Glass.
Want to tell you too. You can get the latest breaking news on all Razorback sports@whole hogsports.com Most in depth source for all Razorback sports analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today@whole hogsports.com today Anthony's got a story on our website. He talked to Gus Argenault who took a new job. Now I'm going to get my California schools mixed up, so I'm not even going to try.
[00:28:17] Speaker C: There's a lot of them.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: He was at where and he went.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: To where he was at Cal State San Bernardino, which is a Division 2 school in San Bernardino.
You know, had some success there. He made the Division 2 Final Four two years ago and then made the tournament second round this past season despite, you know, missing his top two players for a long, long portion of the year. And now he's got his first Division 1 head coaching job at UC Irvine. Or not UC Irvine. Oh my God.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: So you messed it up.
[00:28:43] Speaker C: Yeah, I messed it up. There's like 50 schools. UC Riverside, excuse me, same conference as UC Irvine and UC San Diego. The Big west. It's going to, so it's a, it's a, it's a really good first Division one head coaching job to step into the Big west, which is a really good competitive conference. I mean you got UC San Diego, UC Irvine, both of those teams won 30 plus games last year. And you've got, you know, Cal State Northridge in that conference which had a really nice bounce back year. Cal Poly was one of the most, one of the best one year turnaround jobs in the country that nobody really talked about because I mean Cal Poly still I think finished under.500. But before last season, I think Cal Poly had lost 46 consecutive Big west games and if I'm not mistaken, did not finish last place in the Big west last year. So it's a, it's a fun story and he's stepping into a situation where he knows he can win games.
UC Riverside, it's coming off its best five year period in its Division 1 history.
Coach, Coach McPayo, he took the job at Fordham which led to the opening which led to Gus Arginal getting, getting that job. So I enjoy talking to him. It was my first time talking to him because he, he, his time in Arkansas and my start at here didn't overlap. So nice to, nice to get to know him. Super, super nice guy and hopefully I did the story justice. But yeah.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: So you can read that at our website, wholehogsports.com we got a lot of Razorback baseball coverage obviously on the side. Ethan Westerman wrote a day or two ago, he's got about half the women's basketball non conference schedule that he wrote about. You can find that on our site too, and a lot more. It is a little bit of a slow time.
You know, we're, this is not to say, this is not to show any bias at all, but we need baseball to keep winning so we have stories to keep riding. Because when the, when the baseball season.
[00:30:36] Speaker C: When the baseball and track season starts.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: When baseball ends, it just comes to a crashing halt for about, you know, it's about mid July, SEC football media days come along. And then also that week is Major League Baseball draft. And here's a note for you. The Major League Baseball draft this year is in Atlanta. That's the same week in the same city where the SEC football media days are. The media days are in Atlanta and the draft is in like it's the second year in a row that this has happened. And I think it's just happenstance, a little collusion where the Major League Baseball draft has been in the same area basically as where SEC football media days last year. The and all. What it is is it all aligns with where the All Star Game is for baseball.
So last year the All Star game was in Arlington at the Rangers Stadium.
The draft was in Fort Worth. You know, Arlington's basically about halfway between Fort Worth and Dallas.
And so the draft was in Fort Worth and then the SEC football media days were in downtown Dallas at the Omni.
So this is the second year in a row where, you know, you can cover the draft and you can cover the media days if that's what you're into. I think there's a lot of people who. That's not what they're into. But you know, if you are, you've got that, you've got that potential. But yeah, somewhere like early July, 4th of July time, that's a dead time. It's just, that's just. And it's a very welcome dead time too, I'll say in our world, that's.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: The time to work ahead on some Magazine stuff.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Yeah, or sleep or whichever one you're into.
So, Tony Vitello, you know, a couple of three weeks ago, whenever Tennessee was here, somebody asked Dave about the phone call that he gave Vitello after Tennessee won the national championship last season. And Dave touched on it just a little bit, but then he know, you probably just need to ask Tony about it. Well, he got asked about it yesterday and, and this is what he had to say about that phone call with Dave Van Horn after the Vols won the national championship last year.
[00:32:38] Speaker E: You know, I just remember it was early in the morning and trying to get my bearings and from my side it got kind of emotional. But he was very generous with some of his compliments and was appreciative of some things and, and I was too. So, you know, guys, especially when you're in uniform, I think people don't understand, especially our sport, because the coaches wear a uniform too. These are like costumes and it's like recess out there, so there's wild stuff that go on. And then having said that too, when your teammates with somebody, you know, guys a lot of times aren't good at showing, you know, appreciation or how they feel about one another. And you know, we had an argument in the past and I quickly said to a lot of people, first of all, it should have been handled without the public eye. See him. But you don't have an argument with somebody like that you meet on the street. At least I wouldn't. I have with my sisters, I can tell you that. I don't think with my parents, I'm too afraid to do that. But you know, there's, there's a lot of memories there. And all I did there was trying to work my butt off. And I was still young and, and probably a little foolish, but I was in the car a lot and for the first time I had a guy that we really synced up well on the recruiting front. It was a good one, two punch.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: When Tony was here, there was a player at the time, his name was Cole Turney. Cole Turney was a big left handed recruit out of the Houston area who had some shoulder injuries and his career just never really panned out. I think he had a really good year at the NAIA level, was an all American in his final year of eligibility. But I remember talking to him about Vitello and he said, my, my dad says that he sees Tony Vitello more often than he sees my mom. And it was because he was that invested in recruiting, he was always on the road, always on the Road. I remember doing an interview with the Knoxville sports radio station right after he got hired in 17, and they said, you know, what do we expect from Tony Vital? I said, you can expect that he will recruit his butt off because that's what he did. Dave, on that SiriusXM interview yesterday, he said that he actually had to pull Tony aside one day because he wasn't feeling well.
And he said they kind of had a little bit of a heart to heart in his office and said, you know, you're going to burn yourself out if you don't, like, pace yourself a little bit better.
And he said, you know, what he tried to tell him was like, I don't want you to kill yourself out there recruiting. I'm already impressed enough with what you're doing. And I don't know, I just thought that was kind of interesting. Of course, you heard Tony touch on the dust up that they had after that one game. I mean, literally, it's amazing. We're four years later and it's like, that's what people want to view this, this series, you know, through that lens. And I just don't think that's reality between these coaching staffs. I think they talk, you know, fairly frequently. I know that, you know, they, they spent. They have spent some time together at coaches conventions in the winter.
You know, that was one little. I remember Van horn, like, in 23, when they came back here, the first time that Arkansas, Tennessee had played since then.
He said, you know, it was all about recruiting.
He was mad that Arkansas had reached out to a recruiter. There's. Van Horn reminded him that there was a recruit of Arkansas who ended up at Tennessee after he got the job. And then on this radio show that I heard, he said, he got me, I got him. And then we went and had a glass of red wine. So we're okay. All right.
[00:36:03] Speaker C: That's the way to make up, right? I. I enjoy a nice glass of red wine from time to time. I don't know. Are you a wine guy?
[00:36:08] Speaker B: I am not.
[00:36:09] Speaker C: All right. I am from time to time.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: My wife is.
[00:36:12] Speaker C: That. That's. That's fun. I mean, I. If you can't have a nice glass of red wine from time to time.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: I do like white.
[00:36:19] Speaker C: Oh, okay.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Do you like. Do you like white?
[00:36:21] Speaker C: I do. I'm. I'm a. I'm kind of a wine guy. Not. Not too frequently, but let's turn.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Let's not turn this into NPR anyway.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: But I mean, yeah, I mean, it's competitive sports, right? You're Gonna have arguments like that. And, and red wine. Yeah, and red wine. And, and you're like, stuff like that's gonna happen. I mean, sometimes, like, even in, in my own sporting profession. Not profession, my experience, like playing soccer, I would go up against guys that I've known my entire life and we'd be chatting at each other and you know, after the game, it's, you're, you're, you're still buddies and everything. So I, I, I can completely understand why something like that would happen and why it's frankly not that big of a deal.
And obviously, you know, that that kind of spat was.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: I just wish we could get past the point.
[00:37:15] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: And Tony brought this up and yesterday and that's why I brought it up. But like, I don't, I see this almost every copy that I read about Arkansas and Tennessee, you know, they're, and it's just like, I wish that we could get past the point where it's like, hey, these are just two really good baseball teams. Let's talk about that. Let's not talk about this little spat that happened four years ago.
[00:37:36] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, and it's really not that big of a deal, like I said, I mean, this stuff happens. Like, it's just high level sports. It's just something that's going to happen from time to time. I don't think for the most part stuff like that is ever truly personal.
Obviously there's going to be times where it is, but I don't think that this was one of those cases. And yeah, no, I, it's just gonna be two very good baseball teams going at it this weekend. And I would be, I don't want to say I'd be surprised if something flared up because it's an intense moment and stuff like that. But yeah, even if something did, I mean, it's just, it's just the moment. I think, I don't think there's anything more to it.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it's about, look, and I think the coaches. It's about the Razorbacks and the Volunteers. It's not about Van Horn.
[00:38:27] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's like even, like, I know when, when a guy co. Like when somebody sees somebody in their coaching tree have success, I mean, that's kind of a, a point of pride, like, kind of. Obviously, usually if you're, obviously you would rather have your own success in winning, stuff like that. But I mean, you're still going to be, you know, proud of your guy. I don't think, like, for example, I don't think Eric Musselman was upset to see Chris Crutchfield in the NCAA Tournament this year. I think that was probably a cool moment for him and. And stuff like that. So just kind of putting it back in my basketball brain. But, yeah, I. I don't think it's that big of a deal.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: Hey, speaking of basketball, the NBA Finals going on, you got two former Razorbacks on the Thunder roster. Isaiah Joe and Jalen Williams. And then Gennaro Pargo, who played for the Razorbanks. Gosh, probably close to 25 years ago.
He's an assistant coach for the Pacers. You tell me. It was a very good game last night. I was not watching. I'm sorry.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: Yeah, the Pacers held the lead for exactly 0.3 seconds.
So, I mean, it was very fun. You know, the Pacers.
The Thunder led essentially the whole way, but never got too far out of reach to where the. You know, the Pacers have been coming at, coming back from decent, decently sized deficits throughout the playoffs. And Tyrese Halliburton, for some reason, has just been the most clutch man on earth. It's playoffs, and he hits the winning shot. It was. It was cinema.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Isaiah and Jalen don't play very much, right? I mean, like, Isaiah played. They're kind of role players.
[00:39:58] Speaker C: Yeah, Isaiah, isaiah Joe played 11 minutes last night. I think he scored five points. Jalen Williams didn't. Did not play in that game.
Um, but, yeah, no. Excellent game of basketball.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: You can tell I'm a big NBA junkie. I don't think I. I literally don't think I've watched one. I used to love the NBA, and I just. I can't get into it anymore. I don't know why. I think part of it was, I love Jordan.
[00:40:20] Speaker C: You got it. You got it.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: I loved Michael Jordan. And then, you know, because then there was an overlap with some of that next generation of players like Kobe and. And Shaq. And I got, you know, where. I liked watching their teams. But I don't know, somewhere along the line, maybe it was when Tim Duncan was taking all the fun out of basketball. I just kind of like, eh, it's just it for me anymore.
[00:40:41] Speaker C: So, I mean, hey, the playoffs are the perfect time to get back into it.
[00:40:46] Speaker B: I think I'll be all right.
[00:40:47] Speaker C: I mean, I got too many other.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: I got too many other things going on. I got too many other things going.
[00:40:51] Speaker C: On, this whole baseball thing happening right now. So.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: Yes, the ESPN FPI came out earlier this week. We haven't had a chance to Talk about this real quick. They've got Arkansas ranked number 22. The FPI is the football Power Index.
I couldn't tell you really how. I don't know that together. But I mean, I know that some of it has to do with, you know, it has to do a lot with your roster, the players you went out and got.
I'll be honest, I don't think Arkansas is a top 25 football team this year. I don't either and I don't know. And I've heard some people say, well, you know, they might be if they weren't playing the schedule they play.
I don't know.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: You gotta win your games. I don't see like that's my big.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: They gotta get a lot better than they were last year. Because that argument doesn't really carry water when you lose at home the way they lost at home a number of times.
And then you lose to Oklahoma State, who did another team that was in a power conference.
[00:41:48] Speaker C: Yeah, at the time it was kind of like a. That's.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Oklahoma State was right.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: That's a tough way to lose to a good team. And then it was a tough way to lose to a bad team.
[00:41:56] Speaker B: And I think Oklahoma State last year and Florida State, especially last year is a reminder that just because you're in the preseason top 25 doesn't, doesn't mean you're a good football team.
You might have talent, but there's a lot more than talent that goes into, I mean, Florida State. If you just go on talent alone last year, that team is one of the best teams in the country. But you got to want to play with each other.
And I wouldn't even go so far as stay with each other. You got to want to play for each other.
[00:42:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: And if you're not playing hard for each other, you know, if I know that this guy here on my, on my right is not going to play hard for me, I may not play hard for the guy on the left. You know, I mean, it's just.
And so, I don't know, it's.
I feel like it's harder now than it's ever been to put together a team. And it's not just football, it's. It's every sport. But to put together a team when you have so many new pieces who have such different backgrounds, whether it be.
Yeah. And teams have always been melting pots of different backgrounds. But now you've got.
It's not the 18 year old coming from a different background. It's the 21, 22 year old who's a little bit more set in their ways, coming from a different background. And it just, it creates a new dynamic on these teams that have never really existed before.
[00:43:12] Speaker C: Yeah, it makes it an interesting challenge, I guess is the right word to put together a team, especially in a sport like football where every player kind of has an effect on the next, especially when you look at like an offensive line and you know, stuff like that. So it, like I don't envy coaches who are putting together rosters by any means. But yeah, I would, I would agree. I, I, not that I'm a foregone football expert because I think I, I put all of my, or not all of my eggs in the basketball basket. But yeah, no, I, I don't think I agree with these rankings.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Well, I tend to think they probably have Arkansas at 22 because they got the quarterback back.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: And it's a, you know, it's, it's a fairly quarterback. He's not the best quarterback in the country by any means, but he's good. But he is, you know, very dangerous. He's a name people know. He's a name people know.
And, but as impactful as a quarterback can be, you have to have pieces around them. I think they probably, they've improved their offensive line this year.
Their receivers, I think are worrisome. The size especially, you know, they, who do they have on the outside that's going to be a playmaker? It's going to have to be somebody who steps up because I don't know that, you know, you've seen that to this point. They've got some, they've got some smaller guys who look like really good players. But do they have that guy on the outside that can go get you a, you know, 30 yard pass down the side? I don't know. I don't know what they have.
[00:44:39] Speaker C: Maybe interesting to see.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: And then defensively, like their defensive line, I don't see, I don't see prospects on their defensive line. Pro prospects look like they got a good linebacker crew, secondary. I don't know really enough to say one way or the other. It just, it does not feel like a top 25 football team to me.
[00:44:58] Speaker C: No, I would, I would agree with that. And you know, I haven't sat down and done like a preseason top 25 for football. I've done a, I've done a very rough draft for men's basketball.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: Okay. So let's just pretend that is though. Let's just pretend Arkansas is the 22nd best team.
[00:45:12] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:45:13] Speaker B: And you beat or lose to every team who's ranked ahead or behind you? Okay, so they play Texas, who's number one.
They play Notre Dame, who's number seven. They play A&M, who's number eight.
Tennessee, who's number 10. LSU, who's number 12. Ole Miss, who's number 13.
Auburn, who's number 14.
Am I missing anybody?
[00:45:35] Speaker C: I don't think I.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Well, they play Missouri.
[00:45:38] Speaker C: Play Missouri, who's 20, 23.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Do we really think that Arkansas is a better team than Missouri? I mean, has it not fleshed itself out on the field enough?
I'm serious. I mean, Missouri, Missouri is a better football program than Arkansas right now.
[00:45:51] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's. Missouri is kind of an interesting little case study because Missouri has so much of its defense returning that a lot of people think they're going to have like a top level defense, like a top 10 defense in the country. But its offense is such an unknown because Brady Cook's gone, Luther Burden's gone, Nate Noel is gone, Theo Weiss is gone. So, I mean, so much of the offense is gone. It's just like how much of those, those new pieces going to come together and gel. So how much do we know about Missouri's offense as Missouri? If Missouri's offense clicks and it's as good as it was last year, then that's probably a very good team. But we, I guess we just don't know. But yeah, like what you said, it's, it's been, it's been a minute since Arkansas's had success against.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: You asked earlier when are they going to quit making the mistake of putting A and M in the top 10 in the preseason?
[00:46:44] Speaker C: That was me quoting a tweet. That's not me.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Okay, I'm sorry.
[00:46:47] Speaker C: But yeah, it was like the little spongebob thing where it's like, how many times are we going to teach you this lesson, old man?
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: So, yeah, so I personally had no disrespect towards Mike Elko and the boys.
[00:47:04] Speaker B: Bottom down, Aggies. Don't come after Anthony. Don't come after Anthony.
[00:47:07] Speaker C: No, I did not disrespect Texas A and M like I did BYU in men's basketball.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Quick, quick sec note. Going back to baseball for a minute. Brian o' Connor, hired last night or formally introduced. I think he had been hired earlier in the week, but formally introduced as the head coach at Mississippi State. This is something worth watching. This reminds me of when A and M brought Jim Schlossnagel in. You got a program who really wants to win. And you got a program that's got a coach now who knows how to win.
And this is something where I don't think Mississippi State's going to be down for very long. I think o' Connor will resurrect that program. They win the tournament this year, but they haven't been the Mississippi State that Mississippi State expects to be. They haven't been the team that's, you know, in the top 10 in the conversation to be a national seed, to be hosting.
I think they're going to get back to that point with Brian o' Connor there as their head coach. All right, we appreciate you all being with us all week as we've pretty much just squeezed the juice out of this whole Arkansas, Tennessee lemon.
We're going to have more coverage, like I said earlier on our website, whole hogsports.com and we'll be back with another podcast on Monday to discuss what we've seen so far. Will the Super Regional be over? Will there be a Game three? We'll talk all about it on Monday. We'll see you then. Have a great weekend, everybody.
