Jacob Rudner of Baseball America talks Razorbacks

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast. Now here's your host, Matt Jones. [00:00:11] Speaker B: On today's show, Jacob Brudner from Baseball America joins us to talk about the Razorbacks win over Texas, where the Hogs fit in the national conversation with three weeks to go before the selection show. We'll also talk about Vijivo Aloy, his national player of the year candidacy. And Ethan Westerman will be in studio to talk about Razorback softball. But first, a word from Kendall King. [00:00:30] 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 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. [00:01:04] Speaker B: Arkansas baseball kind of all over the board this week. In the national polls, they're between number one and number seven depending on what poll you look at. Baseball America has the Razorbacks ranked number three. And Jacob Rudner, one of their national college baseball reporters, joins us now. Jacob, you've got Arkansas ranked behind Texas even though they swept the Longhorns over the weekend. What's the thought when you put these national polls together week to week? [00:01:28] Speaker C: You know, this was a really challenging one and we do our best to value the head to head matchup. So I'll say that first this week it came down to the fact that Texas body of work over the course of the entire season is simply better than anybody else's. We had a debate about whether or not Texas should remain at number one because of that. I mean, we're talking about a team that is the one of four now to have started 19 and two or better in the 30 game conference, 30 conference game era. In the SEC, you're allowed to have one bad weekend is kind of how I look at it. And there are multiple teams that have had that. And so for us, it wasn't so much a debate of whether it should be Arkansas or Texas, Texas or Arkansas. We have the debate about whether it should be Texas 1, Georgia 2 or Texas 2, Georgia 1. [00:02:17] Speaker B: All three of those teams are ranked number one in various polls this week. We asked Dave Van Horn yesterday about it. He said, I don't know that anybody should be ranked number one right now with the way that everybody's been beating up on each other. When you look at what Arkansas did to the Longhorns over The weekend they beat them 28 to nine over three games. Just how loud of a statement series was this for Arkansas? [00:02:37] Speaker C: Extremely. And it was a necessary one too, because I think that like you said a second ago, Arkansas has been kind of going through it lately. It has not been perfect in recent weeks. And there was a need for one of these breakout weekends that would really solidify them as the national contender that everybody thinks that they are. And so this did that. And I think that it showed that the pitching is going to be there for Arkansas when everybody's on and the hitting has been there all season. So this kind of calms some concern for me, I guess. But at the same time was a very loud statement in terms of Arkansas as a top, let's call it four team in the country. And they are probably going to stay there. I mean, that's where they belong. It's very clear at this point. [00:03:16] Speaker B: You know, there's so much focus on the SEC and the great programs in this conference. Who are the others outside of the SEC that you think have the most capability to make a run not only to Omaha but potentially deep into that tournament at the World Series? [00:03:33] Speaker C: Yeah, there are three ACC teams that stand out to me. You know, when anybody asks me that question, those are the first three that come to mind. And it's North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson. I think that NC State is maybe on the second tier of this group. Miami maybe the same. But those three really stand out for me for their balance and North Carolina especially, because they've been at the top of our poll for the majority of the season. This year they started out number 12 and then they now are up to number three. It's a group that has a really solidified starting rotation. A group that's led by Jake Knapp. Aiden Hauck has been outstanding for them this year. And Jason DeCaro is viewed as one of our top prospects in next year's draft. Their lineup is very sound and balanced. Luke Stephenson, the catcher, is a first round pick this year for us. And so that's a team I really like. And you can kind of do the same thing with the other two as well. Florida State, very well rounded pitching staff. They have the best pitcher in college baseball in our opinion, in Jamie Arnold. It's a younger lineup than it was a year ago, but it hasn't really proven to be much less effective. There's still a very good offensive group and the same, of course, for Clemson. Now, granted, Clemson is struggling a little bit more lately, but again, I think that that's a group that is strong, talented, very depth oriented in terms of how it was recruited, and I think they'll have a lot of success. And then to throw one more that isn't a power conference team, I would say Coastal Carolina. You can describe them in a lot of the same way, and I see them as a potential contender as well. [00:04:56] Speaker B: You look at the SEC race right now, Arkansas is two games behind Texas with six games to play. Yeah, I guess Georgia or LSU could potentially still catch the Longhorns. They would need a lot of help to do it. But if anybody's going to catch Texas, it feels like Arkansas's got the best chance. We know what Arkansas's got ahead of them. They got LSU and they got Tennessee. That's a pretty dynamic one, two punch over the last two weeks. Texas, their schedule is kind of sneaky good over the last couple of weeks. Right. They got Florida in Austin and then they go to Norman to play OU at the end of the season. As you look at what these two teams have ahead of them, do you. Do you foresee a scenario where Arkansas could catch Texas? [00:05:38] Speaker C: You know, I suppose I could see a scenario in which Arkansas could catch Texas. I still lean towards the Longhorns in this situation though. Reason being, you know, Florida has been playing a lot better. That series being in Austin does a lot for me. Texas has been nearly impenetrable there or, you know, almost entirely impenetrable there. And I don't know that Florida is going to travel as well and continue to play that way. They did it South Carolina, but South Carolina is a completely different ballgame and oh, you is a tough one too. So I would lean towards the Longhorns there still. And I guess, you know, just with the lead that they already have, plus the teams that Arkansas still has to play, that's how I think it will shake out. [00:06:21] Speaker B: Tell us about lsu. What stands out to you about the Tigers? [00:06:25] Speaker C: I love the pitching there. I think that they're an extremely dynamic staff. Obviously they're able to score and I'll talk about their offense in a second. But Kate Anderson and Anthony Ionson, to me, are two of the best starting pitchers in the country right now. We have Kate Anderson rocketing up our draft board right now. Teams are talking about him like a potential top 10 pick. Some even believe that he could end up being starting pitcher 1 over Jamie Arnold when it's all said and done here. Ionson is one of the top strikeout pitchers in the country. He's got a beautiful curveball, fun to watch him as well. And then, like I said, you know, their offense is just steady and relentless. They do a really good job of moving guys around. Derek Curiel is one of my favorite freshmen in the country at the moment. You know, Jarrett Jones has some of the most power in the country when you're looking at this year's draft. So the talent is deep everywhere for them, and they're effective. So I look at them as another SEC major national title contender. [00:07:23] Speaker B: What about Tennessee? They've lost four of five series, and it doesn't get any easier for them. They got to play Vanderbilt, who I think is red hot right now this weekend in Knoxville, and obviously they finished with Arkansas. I guess there was bound to be a little bit of a fall off after just how great last year was for them. But have you been surprised at all that they've struggled the way they have in conference play? [00:07:45] Speaker C: You know, I have been. This is starting to get to a point where it's becoming a deeper trend. They seem to really be stuck in this right now, and it makes me wonder about which Tennessee we're going to see in the postseason. There was the great early season, Tennessee, that was the number one team in the country for five consecutive weeks. It's the longest of any team so far this year. And then we've seen the Tennessee that, you know, of recent, which is quite underwhelming, and they're pretty ineffective in terms of their capability of getting to their power at times on offense or consistently being effective across transitions from starters to the bullpen, or even getting shorter starts from some of their guys. But I always do try to go back to the talent. I see a team that is loaded across the board here, especially in the starting rotation, which, as you guys know, becomes incredibly important in the postseason. And so I think that they will regress to the mean that they become a competitive team again. But I would definitely say that I'm concerned at this point based on what we've seen over the last five weeks. [00:08:49] Speaker B: Now, I want to ask you about some Player of the Year stuff. Let's start in the SEC in terms of Pitcher of the Year. You know, I mean, you've got Liam Doyle, you've got Witherspoon at Oklahoma, who's pitching really well. I think you probably put Dylan Volantis in the discussion. How do you see Pitcher of the Year going right now? [00:09:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you just named the guys. I would add Kate Anderson. That would probably be my pick, actually, at the moment. I just think he's been so consistently effective and a real breakout star. There was never really a, a slow period for him against SEC competition which we saw with somebody like Doyle. I think that Witherspoon is probably the sneakiest candidate for it. He is just consistently excellent at 7, 8 innings every week. He's a double digit strikeout guy rather consistently. Not a lot of runs get scored against him as ERA I think is still below two. And so for me it's kind of a two horse race between those guys. I still lean Anderson, but I think Witherspoon has made it pretty close. [00:09:48] Speaker B: Now I want to ask you about position player of the Year and maybe in a bigger picture, the Golden Spikes because it feels to me like what Vaheva Aloy is doing right now should garner some, some consideration for those two awards. Where do you see him fitting into this discussion? [00:10:05] Speaker C: So if we're going to just talk sec, I think he's the SEC Player of the year. If the season were 10 today, he would get my vote. As far as the Golden Spikes award goes, I think he's going to have a hard time overcoming the seasons that Alex Lodis at Florida State is having and Mason Neville up in Oregon, the national leader in home runs. I think that those two guys are probably my favorites right now to win Golden Spikes and Player of the Year. But listen, Aloy is right there in the conversation. You don't get to just win the SEC Player of the Year and not be, you know, firmly in the national conversation. But I do lean towards those other two names on the national side. But alloy for the conference. [00:10:46] Speaker B: Of course, you know, Mason was, was here at Arkansas as a freshman, transferred up to Oregon. What have you seen in him that that's allowed him to have such a turnaround because he barely saw the field here in Fayetteville. [00:10:57] Speaker C: He has cleaned up the operation tremendously at the plate. He's always had pretty good hand speed, but now we're seeing a blend of that finesse at the plate and then the raw tools, the power, the hand speed, the athleticism, which are always things that he's had, but now they're very refined tools for him. I've talked to some scouts at this point who believe that he's played his way into the first round, if not probably the early second, and he has shown that he is not going to swing and miss as much as he was previously. The eye has gotten better, the feel to hit has gotten better. And so I think that we'll see a much more mature player than I think anybody would have predicted, you know, two years ago, entering the draft this summer. [00:11:42] Speaker B: We're 20 days away from Memorial Day, Jacob, when the NCAA selection committee will obviously announce the pairings for the regionals. Where do you think Arkansas stands right now? I mean, to me it feels like probably what they did against Texas has erased. If there was even any doubt at all that they're going to be a regional host. I feel like now the question is whether or not they're going to be a top eight hosting a regional, and I would think they've put themselves in a really good position to do that. [00:12:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I actually don't think there was ever really any question about whether or not they'd host a regional. The question for me was whether or not they'd be a top eight national seed. And the result this past weekend to me puts them above that line for now. So if Arkansas is able to take care of business over its final two weeks, which, like we talked about, will be a challenge, I do think that they will end up being among the top eight seeds in the country. This is just one of the best teams out there. I mean, you don't have to watch them much to know that this is a very well rounded group that has national title aspirations and capabilities. So I think that they'll be right where they belong, which is in that top eight. [00:12:43] Speaker B: How strong do you think the chances are that the top eight are nothing but SEC and ACC teams? [00:12:49] Speaker C: I would tell you that there's a very good chance that that happens. The biggest threats to it will be Coastal Carolina and West Virginia. Although West Virginia did not do itself any favors last week, I would tell you that UC Irvine was a threat now. They pretty much have no chance. They might not even host now after what happened to them last weekend against UC San Diego. So, yeah, I would tell you there's a really good chance. I think Coastal still disrupts it for now. [00:13:13] Speaker B: We'll get you out of here on this. What are the storylines that we should be watching this weekend? [00:13:17] Speaker C: You know, I have been telling people right now that the best places to be looking is the end of that 12 to 16 range. On the host line. We're talking about the, you know, UC Irvine, the Coastal Carolinas, the West Virginia is, to a degree, you know, Miami is now on the hosting bubble. North Carolina State is kind of teetering back and forth after losing to Miami. I think that we know who the top, let's call it 10 teams are and the order will sort itself out over the next couple of weeks. We'll know a lot more by the end of the regular season, then again after the conference tournaments. But what we really don't know right now is where that end of the hosting line group is and who's going to be a 2 seed versus who's going to snag one of the top 16 spots. That's a lot murkier for me right now. And so I would be keeping an eye on those teams and if you are watching the RPI to try and figure that out, I tell you to look between like 18 and 30 and see what those teams do these next two weeks. And that's going to answer a lot of questions. [00:14:14] Speaker B: Jacob rudner of baseball americabaseballamerica.com he does a great job. Jacob, we appreciate your time. [00:14:20] Speaker C: Thanks for having me. [00:14:21] Speaker B: All right, when we come back, Ethan Westerman will join us in studio. But first, a word from Kendall King. [00:14:26] 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 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 Design. [00:14:59] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. Want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile. If you are 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 now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com 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 @wholehog sports.com Hope you'll also subscribe to our podcast. You can do that on Apple by searching Whole Hog Sports or you can do that by visiting our whole hog sports YouTube page. You'll see our video version of the podcast there. Apple just the audio version. Ethan Westerman is in studio with me now. Dave Van Horn spoke at Swatters Club yesterday over at the Fayetteville Public Library. Final Swatters Club of the Year. It's always a reminder that the season is winding down. It was a lot of talk about injuries and we'll tell you a little bit about what he said about different players who are injured. I think the big takeaway is that Parker Coyle is probably going to be available to pitch for Arkansas this weekend at lsu. Coyle, of course, junior left hander. I thought he was Arkansas's best relief pitcher over the first month of the season. Then he had a back injury against South Carolina or I'm sorry, he pitched against South Carolina, had a back injury as he was warming up against Vanderbilt the following week. And he hasn't pitched since March 23rd when he went out.060 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, 15 innings, 10 appearances. And this is a big, this is a big get for Arkansas to get him back into the bullpen. You think about this time of year, you lose a bullet in Carson Wiggins, but you gain a bullet. Ethan and Parker Coyle. [00:17:00] Speaker D: Yeah, you just don't want to be losing all your bullets. So I guess that, yeah, they're just plugging here and there. I mean I was reading your story yesterday and all these injuries and I'm like, my goodness, what a lot. This is a lot to keep up with. But it's that we're at that time of year. It's like what baseball team doesn't have injury problems? Like, I just feel like all of them do run into them. [00:17:19] Speaker B: So it's a grueling sport. It really is. I mean it does, it does things to your body that I don't think people quite understand over the course of several months. [00:17:30] Speaker D: Yeah. And I mean it's just, I found it interesting this weekend, like you're talking about how grueling of a sport it is and how hard it is just to even ramp up to even like pitch a game. And like all these series this weekend in the SEC where they burned a pitcher like and then they called the game or suspended it after like an inning. I was like, how not could they have not thought this through a little bit better? It's just. Yeah. With the demands that it has on your body, it's, it's just crazy. What all injuries flare up and then what all it takes to even just get a guy out there in the first place. [00:18:00] Speaker B: Arkansas may get Logan Maxwell back this week too. Maxwell, the right fielder batting.342 this year. He has not played since the series opener at Florida about a week and a half ago. Been dealing with the hamstring injury all season. But it sounds like they are probably going to be able to have him back. But it might be more of a series game time type decision when the series opens on Friday night. Dave Van Horn said he wants to see him go through Thursday's practice and show him that he can run down baseballs defensively. Carson Bowles played right field against Texas last week. Hunter Deets. [00:18:40] Speaker D: This is the one that I was going to be like, I need to ask you about this because I'm sitting here reading about this thing that happened while he's trying to get ready for a game and just trying to visualize the wildest story. I'm trying to visualize it and I don't know what's going on. [00:18:51] Speaker B: So, you know, we heard that there was a band mount that snapped and hit him above the eye. Well, we didn't really understand the severity of it until yesterday. My interpretation of that was that a resistance band had snapped and hit him above the eye. But no, Van Horn said that there's actually a mounted plate in the wall that has multiple three, four inch screws in that plate. And the plate, as he's pulling the bands actually rips out of the wall and hits him above the eye. And big gash in his forehead down around his nose. Requires several stitches from the doctor, the team doctor who ran down there from the dugout and stitched him up on site. I mean, this is a, this is a very, very scary injury that could have been way worse than getting 10 stitches. [00:19:48] Speaker D: Your reaction time for that is non existent. I mean, it's just, you're, you're pulling the resistance bands and it's just boom, like it, that's, that's what's so scary to me about it, that it's literally he just got lucky that it. I, you say lucky, still had to get stitches, like, but it could have been just a little bit hit in a different place and you're looking at something a lot worse. I mean, that's, that's terrifying. [00:20:11] Speaker B: This is the definition of a freak accident. I mean, and I asked Dave afterward, I said, you know, do you look at the, at the bands in your facility and you go through and analyze whether or not they've been put in correctly. Said, you know, trust me, we've, we've discussed this, but it just sounds like it was just wrong place at the wrong time. [00:20:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, just good thing that he's going to get ready to play now because it's just, you know, you're already excited probably to get back in there and then you have. [00:20:43] Speaker B: I mean, he was, he was getting ready to make his season debut against Little Rock a couple of weeks ago and he hadn't pitched in a year, in a year, and you're minutes away from going into the game and then this happens and it delays that for another, you know, however long it's going to take for him to get in the game because he still has not, he still hasn't pitched, but he is available. He'll travel to Baton Rouge this weekend. And I asked Dave Van Horn, I said, you know, what's the ideal situation scenario to get him into a game? Of course, the ideal scenario would have been a midweek game against Little Rock like they were going to do. Got the Missouri State game rained out last week, didn't have that opportunity and now there are no more midweek games left. And so, you know, he said, you know, obviously they don't want to put him in, in a leverage situation right now, but it might have to be a leverage situation that you bring them in with. You know, maybe you go left on, left for one out and just see if you can make it work. And if you do, great. If you don't, you move on and try again another time. But you know, Hunter Dietz, there has probably never been, and that's a big statement, but there may have never been a pitcher who made it to the Arkansas campus who had the draft chops that he had out of high school. I mean, this is a guy that could have been a very high round draft pick. Real comparable, I think Carson Wiggins, but probably a little bit higher rated than Carson Wiggins was. And so if he can get into a game and pitch the way that they know he can pitch or that he has pitched before this. Can you talk about bullets going into your bullpen? This is a nice shiny silver bullet that they might have that they can unleash on everybody down the stretch. [00:22:27] Speaker D: Yeah, and that's, that's the difficulty of. Yeah, the timing is, man, what a lot of pressure. If you are, if you do know you're only going in to face one person and you just got it. You got to make the most of your one, you know, batter faced or whatever the situation is. Man, I'm just, I can't get over this whole, this whole situation though. The whole injury and then re. Injury. Well, different injury. Was this something that at the ballpark everybody was aware that something crazy just happened or this is under the radar? [00:22:54] Speaker B: I saw some, I won't say commotion. I just saw a lot of people moving around, down around the bullpen, which you don't really think about it, I mean, because at any given time there could be 15, 20 people in the bullpen. I do remember seeing some movement around there that night, but I didn't find out about this until the next day whenever Hunter's father, Michael Dietz, tweeted something out about it. And it's like Dave Van Horn said yesterday, somebody asked him about it. They said, how'd you find out about that? They said, his dad's tweeting goes, I guess there's no secrets anymore. But it's good to see that Hunter Dietz might be able to get in for him. Asking about Gage Wood, at what point did they let him loose? He's increased his pitch count from 20 to 42 to 57 the past three weeks. I said, at what point do you let him go? And Van Horn said, quote, it's getting close to that time. And when you say let him go, it's more like you're talking 75, maybe 80 pitches somewhere in there. So maybe you see a much longer outing from Gage Wood this week against lsu. Gabe Frazier still dealing with a back injury. They were going to have some testing yesterday that shed light on the severity of his condition. David Horne said it was something that goes back to high school that he's been dealing with. So probably from the sound of it, he's going to be out at least this week, maybe the next couple of weeks, maybe a little bit longer. We'll see. Carson Wiggins does not have a tear in his throwing elbow. That's the good news. And of course, Bubba and I talked about this yesterday. Had he had a tear, you'd probably never see him pitching in a Razorback uniform again. It looks like he's going to be able to rest and rehab and you'll see him again in 26. I think it's pretty doubtful that you'll see him pitch again this season. And Nolan Souza, I feel like, boy, this has gone on forever. This is quite the injury report. Nolan Souza is going to have surgery next week to repair the tear that is in his right shoulder that he suffered during that slide at Georgia. Did I miss anybody? [00:24:53] Speaker D: If you did, I went under my radar. But it's funny, you get you came back from Spotters Club yesterday and we're talking about how, man, that felt like all it was was just a big injury update. Well, I'm like, well, after reading this, well, it kind of had to be. My goodness, you got so many of them. You got. If you're going to hit all of them, it's going to take a little bit. [00:25:11] Speaker B: We've got a couple of sound bites to play for you from Van Horn. After the Swatters Club yesterday, if you've never been to the Swatters Club, what he does is he stands on the stage and he's done this routine for 20 plus years where, you know, he knows he's going to talk about what's happened since the last time they met. He's going to talk about the position players and he's going to talk about the pitchers and he's going to talk about the injuries and he's going to talk about what's upcoming. Then he's going to take questions and then afterward he talks with reporters for a little bit after the Swatters Club meeting. And that's where these sound bites come from. I ask him if he's ever seen this much balance. My thought was, as I was phrasing it to him, and maybe I phrased it wrong, was have you ever seen this much balance at the top of college baseball? He took it to mean the top of the sec, which quite frankly, if you look at college baseball in the past several years, top of the SEC is the top of college baseball. That's what he had to say, though, about the balance. [00:26:07] Speaker E: Oh, I see so much balance in our league. It's, I mean, we haven't even played Alabama and they're really good. You just see these teams, you know, there's a lot of teams that are what, you know, 13 and 11 or 11 and 13 all just jumbled in there. And that's what I really thought was going to happen. This big 16 team league. Now, top to bottom, you figure maybe two teams, three teams might slip away a little bit. But what Texas did, getting out those last few weeks, it's not like it was surprising, but I didn't see it coming, you know. And so all we did this weekend is all we could and that was win every game. And we're just going to try to continue to get healthy and play with energy and go to Baton Rouge, which is obviously, if not, it's one of the top two or three hardest places to play in the league if you're the visiting team, that's for sure. And they're really talented and they can beat you in a lot of ways. They got guys that have been there and they have power and they can pitch. [00:27:11] Speaker B: But LSU with Texas A&M is the top two places, the two most difficult places to play in the SEC. And what I mean by that is where the crowd gets on you. You know, Arkansas, obviously, they're really good at home. They got the best home record, but it's not. It doesn't have the intimidation factor. I think as those other two ballparks, great ballparks. In the sec, there's a bunch. It's hard to say that a whole lot are better than others, but from an intimidation standpoint, I think LSU and A and M do it better than anybody else. Looking at the rankings yesterday, they're all over the board. I mean, all over the board. I was listening to the J. Johnson Show, LSU's coach last night, and he made a comment. He said, you know, when Arkansas beat Texas, I fully expected to wake up Monday morning and see them ranked number one. He said, then I saw they were ranked number seven and I'm like, do these guys even watch the games? And they're number seven in the D1 baseball poll. They're all over the place, number seven in D1 baseball. We mentioned this with Jacob Rudner earlier. They're number three with Baseball America. They're number two in the coaches poll, number two in perfect game, and then they're number one in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers association poll. There are three different SEC teams that have number one rankings this week. This goes back to what we've said in the past, how there's just way too many polls out there, not just for baseball, but for softball, as we'll discuss here in just a second. But Arkansas, Georgia and Texas all have number one rankings this week. I'll be honest with you, I don't know how you put Georgia number one. I don't see it. And I don't know how you keep Texas number one after they just got beat down the way they did. If Texas had 10 more wins than Arkansas, then I would say, okay, I understand them being ranked ahead of Arkansas still, but these teams, they've got very similar records two games apart in the SEC standings. Arkansas's won two more games overall. And, oh, by the way, head to head, they just beat them by 19 runs over the course of three days. I don't know how you rank or how you don't rank Arkansas ahead of Texas right now. [00:29:18] Speaker D: Yeah, and that's where these polls are just so varied with their opinions. I mean, there's some that are looking at the past, I guess three weekends before Arkansas played Texas, like, oh, we can't justify after that. But it's like, how do you justify Texas over them, though? Because they just had the head to head. It's. It's a matter of, like, with these polls, if they're taking a more holistic look or like, how much they Value head to head. Because it's like you run into situations with it where it's like you get to a place where you know who should be near the top because of their whole body of work, but then where are you? So are you sorting them based on head to head? Does that play a big factor or is it. [00:29:52] Speaker B: I think it should. [00:29:53] Speaker D: And it's. Yeah, I mean, we'll get into that, I guess, with softball in a little bit, but because it doesn't on some of those. [00:29:59] Speaker B: If head to head doesn't matter, then why do you play the game? [00:30:01] Speaker D: Exactly. [00:30:01] Speaker B: I mean, why do you play the games? [00:30:03] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:30:03] Speaker B: And I understand that sometimes times it's hard, you know, like right now, what you got with this little Georgia, Arkansas, Texas thing? Georgia beat Arkansas in a series. Texas swept Georgia in a series. Arkansas swept Texas. So how do you, you know. But head to head, Arkansas and Texas, how do you not rank Arkansas ahead of Texas right now? I don't. [00:30:20] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:30:21] Speaker B: Especially after it just happened this past weekend. [00:30:25] Speaker D: Whenever. [00:30:25] Speaker B: This isn't like something that we saw happen four or five weeks ago. This is really fresh. [00:30:29] Speaker D: If I'm. If you got a jumble of teams at the top and there's some of them that played each other and there's a different, like you said, like the result circle or whatever of who beat who. Who beat who. I honestly, if I'm in the room, I'm going based on how many, like, top 10 wins you have. I think top 10 wins. And then if you can do head to head to sort out in certain spots. But I just think that you get to a point where it's like, all these teams are good. Who's proven out of this group, though, that they can consistently beat good teams? And so that's where I'd go. [00:31:01] Speaker B: I think if you look at Arkansas and Texas and you compare their resumes, right now they both have three series wins over top 25 teams in the SEC. Arkansas has won two of those away from home. All of Texas have been in Austin. To me, where you beat somebody is a big deal. And the fact that Arkansas has won the series on the road, that's a big deal. Dave Van Horn was asked yesterday about the rankings and whether or not Arkansas should be number one. And he replied, I don't know that anybody should be number one right now. And this is what else he had to say. [00:31:40] Speaker E: Polls all over the place that are. I don't think in the past few years, I've seen teams move so much, you know, your number two and you go to eight. Or, you know, you have a bad weekend, but you still won a game or, you know, or you, you lose three games on the weekend, usually you don't stick to number one, you're gonna move to number two. So I don't, I almost feel bad for the guys trying to do it, honestly, because I don't know where I'd put them. I don't know where I put people. I, you know, they've got, they've got individuals working for them that are all over, watching all the different leagues, and they just probably get on a conference call and talk about it, try to figure it out. I think sometimes whenever it's like this, you just maybe need to look at the numbers more like team, era, team batting average, dealing percentage, where they play, you know, who they play. And maybe not moving as much because it's. But then again, it's all about same. They're using rpi, they're using strength to schedule, and, you know, we're in pretty good shape on all of that. [00:32:45] Speaker B: If you take all those metrics that Dave Van Horn just mentioned, Arkansas's top 11 in, he said batting average. I like scoring better. So they're top 11 in scoring, fielding and ERA. Top 11 in all three. They're the only team in the country that's top 11 in all three. There's like, there aren't even, there aren't even teams that are close to being in the top 11 in all three of that. There are, there are five other teams nationally that are in the top 50 of all three of those categories. Arkansas is in the top 11. You know, some of those other teams like LSU, they might be 20th and 1 42nd and another, you know, they're just kind of all over the board. It's not to say that those teams are worse or Arkansas is better. It's just that they're right up there at the top. You heard him talk about RPI, the number five in the latest RPI, they're number 19 in the latest strength of schedule. That's, that's a pretty good number. They've set themselves up well. And I've written about this at our website. If you want to go dig into the numbers of all the teams that are kind of vying for these top eight spots. It's headlined on our front page this morning, wholehogsports.com analyzing Arkansas baseball's case. For a top eight seed, they put themselves in a really strong position. I think, for a top eight seed. Ethan, I think you could make an argument right now and we'll see how the next two weeks and Hoover go. But you could make an argument right now that Arkansas could be the number one overall seed in the baseball tournament. [00:34:11] Speaker D: Yeah. And it's especially with what all lies in front of them too, where they have chances for more big time wins. It's just. Yeah. You mentioned right now them being so high and all the. In those three categories. I feel like it's. We're at that time of year where it's like you as long as you're really good or near the top in two of them, I feel like you normally have a. Somewhat of a shot. But if you're really good in all three areas, that's whenever I think you legitimately feel good about being a title contender because there's not as many well rounded teams just across the board as you. I mean you always want, you want to be, you know, have a strong offense, have strong pitching, have strong fielding. But like it's rare to find a team that actually does have all three. That's usually I feel like your contenders. There's one of those three areas that they're kind of, you know, it is their. What am I trying to get at? Like it could be their, their quote unquote weak link. But it's even for these contenders by the end of the year, usually they don't have like their weakest link isn't super weak, but super weak. But I feel like Arkansas has just a case right now for as a team that especially coming off a sweep over Texas, I mean that's just Big time is a team that has the ingredients to make a deep run. [00:35:23] Speaker B: Arkansas's got the best run differential in college baseball right now. And that's a stat that over the last few years I've really started to pay a lot more attention to because I think it takes all of those things into consideration. And they're almost a full run better than number two in run differential right now. You can say they played Missouri, they played South Carolina. They did. But they also played Texas and they beat Texas by 19 runs. So when they can. When they get after you, they can really get after you. Moving over to softball, they are ranked number one in the softball America poll this week. It's the first number one ranking in the history of Razorback softball. This is not the poll that we use as our poll of record. But you know, I think you do have to acknowledge this. The fact that there is a major poll out there whether they're four in softball. There's four and one of them's got Arkansas ranked number one. That's going to look awfully funny this week when they play at the SEC tournament. And they're the number five seed in the SEC tournament. But they're ranked number one in at least one national poll. [00:36:22] Speaker D: Yeah. And they're number two in D1 softballs poll. So there a lot of agreement there. They're number. They stayed number six in the ESPN USA softball poll, which you just look at it and there's not a lot of. It doesn't make much sense because we're talking about weighing road wins and who you've beaten head to head ahead of them in the poll. Texas A and M, number one, who they beat in a road series last week. Number three, Tennessee, who they beat in a road series over a month ago. Number four, Florida, who they beat in a road series. It's like. And number five is Texas in front of them. And Texas. I mean their, their schedule wasn't as tough as Arkansas and they didn't have in my opinion, like as many quality wins. But it's just crazy because Oklahoma, I think that, that getting swept by Oklahoma early in the conference season for Arkansas, it like did something in the polls where it's just like these two USA softball ESPN poll, which is what we use because it's puts on TV and it creates the least confusion. And then the NFCA poll, it's like that one series, people just. They haven't gotten past it getting swept by OU early in the year. It's like Texas just got swept by ou last weekend and stayed at 5. Like it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense because Arkansas is beaten in series three of the teams that are in front of it and they've beaten them in a road series. So I don't know. A poll is a poll, though it's cool for them that they gotten. They've been ranked number one in the softball America poll. And I think what that's just taking into account is right now, if you look at the top teams in softball they've shown over the past, you know, however many weeks that they have deficiencies and they can be beat. I mean, Oklahoma is the SEC champion with three SEC series losses, which is more than Arkansas had. And they've had two of those in this span that Arkansas has won six series in a row. I think that what the softball America poll is trying to reward is that Arkansas has now shown consistency for six straight weeks and it's not like they've been playing nobody's. They have five, five of their six SEC series. When we're top 10 teams, like it's, that's a gauntlet. They had the toughest schedule by far in the league this year. It's not even a debate. I don't think if you look at their schedule, how tough it was. So they're 14 and 10 sec record, like you said, being the 5 seed down there. I think that 14 and 10 is just weighted a lot differently than a different 14 and 10 because if you take a deep dive and see who they actually played, it's pretty impressive that they came out with four games, you know, four games over.500. [00:38:51] Speaker B: They play at the SEC tournament. This is going to be in Athens on Wednesday at 1:00 Central. They'll either play the home team, Georgia, or they'll play Kentucky. Those teams play on Tuesday. What do you expect at this tournament? [00:39:06] Speaker D: It's, I mean talked about it with Courtney Deif a little bit yesterday. It is quite literally a mini Women's College World Series like that's happening this weekend. I mean, if you look at the poll this week, the top six teams are from the sec and so there's eight teams that make the Women's College World Series. This feels like in Athens it's going to be just a precursor to what could happen in Oklahoma City. I think Arkansas stands a good chance to, to make some noise. The real key is they're going to, if they can beat Kentucky or Georgia, whoever they play first, they'll play Tennessee. Who has, who's going to win SEC Pitcher of the Year? Carlin Pickens. She's the, she set the softball record this year. A 78 mile per hour pitch which equivalent to like baseball like 105 miles an hour. I don't know how they do the equivalent of the proportion, but that's all I know. And it's, she's really good. So it's like if they can get past that game against Tennessee, then I think that they have a shot to win at all. It's just that could, I mean you're, if you're facing who's going to be pitcher of the year, that could be your toughest game of the whole tournament. [00:40:10] Speaker B: Is today the day we find out the SEC softball awards? Player of the year, Pitcher of the Year? [00:40:14] Speaker D: I don't think so. I think that'll come a day or two from now. [00:40:18] Speaker B: Okay. But I think Briella will be the, the player of the year. [00:40:21] Speaker D: If she's not, it'll be shocking. It is. You always have to remember with SEC awards that it takes into account your SEC only statistics. So, like the year that KB Sides won player of the Year, Danielle Gibson had the better overall year, I'd say. But KB Sides had the better SEC schedule, her stats. And I think Bri will still get it. She just hasn't been pitched to a lot. But she's still. If you aren't getting pitched to a lot, like, I mean, this past weekend she walked 10 times against LSU because people aren't pitching to her. And if you still lead the league in RBI and I think she's tied for home runs in SEC play while they're just not pitching to you, I think that coaches would be crazy to not vote her player of the year. So I wouldn't. It'd be a shocker if she wasn't. [00:41:03] Speaker B: And then this weekend, is it Sunday that we find out the NCAA tournament selections? [00:41:11] Speaker D: Yeah. And it's looking more and more like Arkansas will probably host a regional with Oklahoma State coming here. Oh, yeah. Which would be. They like to bust teams and Oklahoma State is looking like a pretty solid two seed. And so it makes the most sense if you just look at it. Unless they decide to send Oklahoma State to ou. But I don't think that they'd put Bedlam in a regional. I just don't. So maybe they would. That's what it's looking more and more like. I think some possibilities. You could also see a Nebraska come here, which would be crazy because you'd have the two player of the year, national player of the year front runners with Jordy Ball and Brie Ellis. So those are kind of the two teams that I'm thinking have the best shot to make it to Arkansas. But you know, I say that and then every year they send some team from the West Coast. So we'll see. [00:41:58] Speaker B: That's the thing. I mean, it's so hard, whether it be softball or baseball to ever really have a good feel. Sometimes if, like, there's like one west coast site, you know they're going to put a bunch of west coast teams there. But when it, when it comes to here, I don't know, it just feels like you can never tell. There was A regional in 17 in baseball where they send ORU, Missouri State and Oklahoma State, all teams within 200 miles. And then the next year you've got Central Connecticut State and Cal Berkeley flying in. I mean, it's so hard to ever get a feel for what these regionals are going to look like in advance. [00:42:35] Speaker D: Remember a few years ago, Santa Clara came here for basically you've had Santa. [00:42:38] Speaker B: Clara here, you've had. I mentioned those teams. New Jersey Institute of Technology was here. [00:42:45] Speaker D: That team was awesome. [00:42:46] Speaker B: Northeastern came in from Boston. I mean it's there, there. There have been a lot of teams that have come in from a long way away. [00:42:52] Speaker D: I would like to see the NCAA tournament committee give Arkansas a different looking path than they've had since literally like 2019 though where they have always sent just like a non regional hosting but good. What was pack 12 team to Fayetteville. They have gotten that like every single time. It's been like Oregon, Arizona, Stanford. It's just over and over. It'd be refreshing for them to send some other conferences team which I guess now they technically it would be a different conference but you know what I mean. Those traditional pack schools, it's like they get sent here. It's just a tradition at this point. [00:43:27] Speaker B: One more note before we get out of here. Jeff Long, former Arkansas athletics director named to the College Football Playoff selection committee again second term that he's had on there. I spoke to him yesterday. You can read what he had to say about that at our website whole hogsports.com kind of interesting. You've got Jeff Long and Hunter Jurecheck, two of the 13 members on the College Football Playoff selection committee this year. We appreciate you being with us. Hope that you'll read all of our coverage at our website wholehogsports.com and we'll see you tomorrow on our podcast. Have a great day everybody.