Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well talk Razorback Basketball Portal Today we've got Anthony Christensen here in studio with us. Want to tell you our show brought to you by Eglin's Best. When it comes to your game day, you want the best in your lineup and that includes your eggs. Eglins Best delivers more of the nutrition you need with six times more vitamin D and 25% less saturated fat than ordinary eggs. You can score now with Eglins Best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. Visit eglinsbest.com for more information. Also brought to you by Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional and versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass. For all your glass market needs with the highest quality products, you go by and see them at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonville glass.com portal season is in full force. I mean I don't even know how many people have entered the portal. I would guess thousands at this point. I heard something the other day at least that over like within I think a couple of days of the women's basketball portal opening that there were already over 1,000 women in the portal. And I mean we all know this, there is not the market for women's basketball players that there are for men. But still there's over 1,000 women in the portal. So you can only imagine that the men's number is going to be higher
[00:01:25] Speaker B: than that you would imagine. So I don't know what the exact number is know at the moment but you know I get, I've got the, the, the verbal commits, verbal commits, tweet notifications on so my, but my watch is buzzing it seems like on a second by second basis.
So. Yeah, yeah, no, it, it's a lot. I don't know the exact number but it's a lot.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Do you get alert fatigue? Yes, I do. I, yeah, I, I don't know what all you've got and I'm sure what you've got alerts on for is something way different than mine.
This is going to tell you a lot about my personality. I can tell you every time there's a tornado warning in the United States, I get an alert every time there is a tornado warning. Which this time of year that's probably it's not as frequent as somebody going into the portal but here in a couple of weeks it might be more frequent.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: That's important.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: That's not the only thing it's important stuff. I got some Razorback alerts on and Adam Schefter got your alerts on. Well, boy, I can only imagine how excited you must get. You know, I have a sneaking suspicion one time because I actually sent a follow up tweet just to see if it would happen again. I sent a tweet one time from a, like a deli where I was working one day and this guy next to me, as soon as I hit it, his phone went off, ding. And it sounded like a Twitter alert. It sounded like what my phone sounds like if I didn't have it on vibrate and the Twitter alert would go off. I'm like, that's odd. And so I sent another one and it ding. And so I think this guy who was sitting across the aisle from me, I don't know if he knew. I mean, I'm not. I don't know if he knows who I am or not, but I think he had my alerts on. That's fine because it went off both times that I sent one.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's what. You're famous.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: I don't know about that. I do not know about that.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: The famous Matt Jones I will dispute. Come get some photo.
The Matt Jones.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Okay, let's move. Let's move you in a different direction.
How about, how about this before we start talking about Arkansas men's basketball and the portal.
Chuck Martin has left to go to North Carolina.
It was kind of rumored and then it happened.
This is Michael Malone, the new coach at unc.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Former Denver Nuggets coach.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: He and Chuck Martin coached together at Manhattan like 26, 27 years ago. And so they'll get back together in Chapel Hill and think about Chuck Martin.
Think about all of the blue blood programs where he has gone and coached. I mean, obviously he was at Kentucky before he came here. Not that Arkansas. I mean, that's a good basketball program. It's not Kentucky, it's not North Carolina. He was at Indiana at one point in time. I think he was on. And again, I think he was on a Final Four staff at South Carolina. Am I right about that or did he come in?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: I believe so. I'm not certain.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: I'm not sure if he was on that staff or if he came in the next year.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: But you know, the national championship staff with John Caliperi at Memphis.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. So kind of interesting. He's going to get the. Is it the associate head coach? Head coach, which he had been an assistant head Coach here at Arkansas. Arkansas's actually got two associate head coaches. You've got Kenny Payne and you've got Chin Coleman who have those roles. So we'll see what Arkansas does. I know that there's, there's some thought among people that maybe they just elevate Tyler Ulis or maybe they elevate Brad Caliperi to one of these jobs. But either way, there's going to be, I think, a trickle down effect where you're going to have another coach on the staff next year. It might not be the assistant head coach or whatever Chuck Martin's title was, but you're going to have a new voice on the staff.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I'm intrigued to see where they go. You know, do they elevate Tyler Ulis? Do they elevate Brad Calipari?
You know, those are, you know, questions to be answered. But I mean, you're losing a guy with a lot of coaching experience. You know, a guy who, you know, was a big time recruiter as well. He was the recruiting coordinator.
So, I mean, just a significant loss to the coaching staff. You know, he's, he's a guy who, you know, had a lot of experience, was a head coach at Marist, though, that, you know, didn't really go very well at the time, you know, but, but still it's experience and, you know, a lot of, you know, college basketball kind of revolves around experience and having it and, you know, continuity as well, you know, be it roster or coaching staff. So, you know, you know, it's a, it's a significant loss.
But, but yeah, I'm intrigued, I'm intrigued to see, to see where, where they go with, you know, the next hire, be it, you know, an assistant coach or if they elevate one of, you know, Tyler Ulis or Brad Calipari, who do they bring in to to do that or do they elevate a ga to one of those positions if, if that happens. So I don't know.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: It's interesting, the continuity point. That is a word, I think that gets over. Like, like it gets overused in college sports. We got to have continuity. Got to have continuity. And I agree that it can be beneficial. I can really see where it can be beneficial, you know, like from a. If you've got a staff of people who have all worked together for, say, five years or more, like, you know, there's just, there's not a whole lot of questions in the workplace. Yeah, it's. I know what you're going to do. You know what I'm going to do. We know that we're going to, you know, we're going to get along. It's, it's not always that way. When you bring new voices in, they can challenge the status quo.
But I think about, like Nick Saban at Alabama, I mean, think about in the last 10 years how much different Alabama looked than maybe the 10 years before that for him there. You know, I mean, there's. It's kind of been widely reported that, you know, it got to a certain point where he saw what the spread offense and the up tempo and the RPO was doing to college football. And he really went against. And you kind of did a 180 of what his offense had always been, what had been really successful for him even up until that point. But I think you could kind of see that the game was changing and he needed to be part of that change. So he goes and he gets Lane Kiffin, Lane Kiffin leaves and they get Steve Sarkeesian and Brian Dable as an offensive coordinator. And they really changed their, you know, their, their views and their philosophies offensively.
You know, I think about Ohio State when they won a national championship a couple of years ago, that was, I know it was the only year. I think it was the only year they had Chip Kelly on staff, which he and their head coach had had a previous relationship many, many years before. I think maybe even had played for Chip Kelly up in the Northeast at New Hampshire.
I can't remember if Jim Knowles was there for more than one year, but this was like the only year that they had those two coordinators and, you know, kind of lightning in a bottle. They lost the game to Michigan, but that was the only game that they lost that year. And, you know, they won a national championship. So I guess where I'm going with that is that, yes, you lose that continuity with Chuck Martin and Coleman and Payne and Cal and all these guys who have coached together for a while.
But you may also add something. I mean, who knows what they're going to do here? Maybe they're able to bring somebody in who has some really creative ideas about the steps that it's going to take to put Arkansas basketball over the Sweet 16 hurdle and get them deeper into the postseason than they've been.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's, that's a possibility. And I think you see that, you know, I mean, look at, yeah, like Illinois, for example, you know, hadn't been to the final four since 2005 and then finally get in there this year. They they added Orlando and Tigua to that staff last year and obviously lost in the second round last year, but they get over that hump this year, you know. Is that because they added Orlando and Tigua? I'm not, I'm not sure that, you know, Illinois roster this year was, was awesome and, you know, they had a great year regardless. But, you know, it's, it's, you know, something to point out, I guess, but I think that's, you know, certainly possible, you know, but then, you know, there's, there's ways to look at it just on, on any, any way that you, you know, you want to look at it. I mean, UConn won back to back national titles and made another Final Four with the same coaching staff. Now Luke Martin is going to take the job at, at Boston College, but, you know, so Florida didn't get as far as it did or didn't, you know, get out of the Sweet 16 this year after losing a couple of coaches from last year's staff. So, I mean, there's, there are ways to look at it, you know, that. That's definitely one way to look at it. And I think that's, you know, it's possible, right? I mean, sometimes it's good to get some, some new blood in the room if they, if that's.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: Sometimes it hurts the way. Yeah, sometimes it hurts. Like, I mean.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Mark Few, I bet he wishes he had Tommy Lloyd on his staff still. Right? But I mean, you know, you never know. But like Martin, he's going to go take this opportunity at North Carolina. I'm sure he's getting paid more, obviously, bigger title. He's going to be like 57 years old by the time the season starts. And you mentioned he's been a head coach at Marist. I don't know if he's got any head coaching ambition anymore.
I have yet, really, to meet a coach who doesn't kind of have that ambition in the back of their mind. But, you know, maybe you have a bad experience.
Kenny Payne at Louisville, does he ever want to be a head coach again? I don't know, but, you know, it's. If he wants to be a head coach again, this gives him maybe kind of that last, you know, that last push to get back into the conversation to do it because, you know, you're no longer the number three man. You're the number one man on a staff. And certainly, you know, if UNC has any measure of success, like if you're a UNC or a Kentucky or a Duke or you Know, any program in that stratosphere, Kansas, if you have success, your program has success, then the assistant coaches, they just kind of automatically become more visible than, I think, assistant coaches at a lot of other programs.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we just saw this with Duke, Right. I mean, Evan Brads just got the job at Belmont, which is a really good, good job. Yeah. So, I mean, you see that happen, you know, a lot of times.
So, I mean, I don't know if that's his ambitions at all.
You know, maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
But. But, yeah, it's a. It's a good point to, to bring up and, you know, it's an intriguing project over, over at unc, too. I mean, you don't see a ton of NBA coaches, you know, go into college, so I'm, I'm. I'm looking forward to see how that goes. You know, Michael Malone is a guy who, you know, he's, you know, a lot of people, you know, rave about his X's and O's, but, you know, how does he kind of transition into the college game and how does that work with, you know, the portal and recruiting and all of that? Because it's different than the NBA, right? I mean, they're almost two different sports. So.
Yeah, I'm intrigued by that. And, you know, I'm. Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Maybe he'll try to get Nikola Jokic to be next year's Betty Oko. Right?
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. I don't think that's going to work. I don't think so, to be fully honest.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: So I want to talk.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: It'd be fun, though.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: I want to talk about some of these names that have been mentioned with Arkansas men's basketball in the transfer portal. The name that everybody is talking about right now is Somto Surreal. The big man at Georgia, committed to Caliperi at Kentucky. I think maybe even had signed with him and got out of the letter of intent. Yeah.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: When he left for Arkansas. Yeah.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: So we saw him this year. I mean, he played pretty well. Had a good game against Arkansas, you know, had a good season. All SEC defensive player, averaged nine points, five rebounds, SEC's blocked shots leader.
And I said this when we were talking about, you know, what does Arkansas need to do to get into the national championship conversation.
Back on Tuesday, the night after the title game, I said, they need not only Santo Surreal, they need like two or three more of him.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, he's, you know, he's an elite level rim protector. Right. I mean, you know, he, he averaged 2.2 blocks, you know, all FCC, all SEC defensive team. He had eight blocks in the game against Arkansas, you know, so I mean, he is, I mean, yeah, he's, he's kind of the guy you look at immediately just because you, he already has the connections and all of that, you know, and he's older, Andy is older.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Like, like, and I know they've gone and they've gotten older big men like, like Jonas Adu and Malik Ewan and we'll see what happens with Ewan. But you know, with Surreal, it's, it's like you're not going and like, this is a different Santo. Surreal, I feel like, than the one
[00:14:03] Speaker B: you would have gotten, you would have
[00:14:04] Speaker A: gotten out of high school.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you look at how, how much he's kind of grown in his first two years of college, you know, he's much more comfortable with the ball in his hands. I mean, he's not a guy you're going to, you know, want bringing the ball up the floor by any means, but, you know, he's still, you know, he's more comfortable dribbling, you know, not that that's what you, like I said, not necessarily what you want him to do, but, you know, he's still more comfortable in that he's a more comfortable offensive player than he was. And you know, the defense has really become more well rounded.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: You know.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Are there areas in which you would like to see him continue to grow in? Yeah, I think you immediately look at Georgia's NCAA tournament game against St. Louis in which, you know, he kind of got pulled away from the basket a lot against, you know, a five out offense like St. Louis runs. And you know, not to say, you know, he wasn't the reason Georgia, you know, got 40 pieced in that game, but, you know, that's, that's something to, to monitor. Right. I mean, you need to be more comfortable in those sit.
So, you know, that's something to watch, I think for sure. And you know, but he is, you know, he's an elite level rebounder. He's an elite level, you know, rim protector. And his offensive game has really come along throughout his college career. So he would be, I mean, he will be for whoever gets him, you know, a big time, a big time addition. And right now it kind of looks like it's between, you know, Arkansas and Miami.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Florida on three rates him the number two center and the number seven prospect in this year's portal. It's always interesting, by the way, to Go back and look at, like, the previous years.
The guy in Michigan helped me with his name who went from uab, like,
[00:15:36] Speaker B: yeah, Yaxel and Axel.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: I mean, like, wasn't he the guy that everybody was saying, you got to get last year? So, I mean, that. That hit.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:43] Speaker A: But then sometimes, you know, it's. Sometimes it doesn't.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: It's.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: It's weird how that works, and it's. It goes. I think what it really underscores is fit.
It's, you know, you either fit in your new place or you don't. And, you know, when you're speed dating, the way that this is happening in, you know, the portal, it's. It. It's hard to figure that out.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: And, yeah, like you mentioned, sometimes it. Sometimes that kind of yields success. Like, Michigan had five transfers in its starting lineup this year and won a national title.
And then on the other side of it, you have, you know, some teams where, you know, it didn't work out. You know, look at Oregon. Oregon went 12 and 20 and was. It was the first time Dana Altman's gone under.500 in his career, which is a remarkable record for a coach who's been in the game that long. But, you know, so he did go
[00:16:34] Speaker A: Owen one at Arkansas, if you know what I mean.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, But. But, yeah, you know, it kind of underscores that. So the fit is obviously hugely important. And, you know, obviously, he's. He's a guy who, you know, if he. If, you know, obviously we're all speaking in ifs here, but if you were to land at Arkansas, you know, he, you know, already kind of fits with the coaching staff because he's already, you know, committed to them. He already knows them. He knows what they want and all of that.
So. But obviously, that's still up for question because, you know, I think he had a visit with George or not with Georgia. He already was at Georgia, with Miami. I don't know. Maybe I'm mistaken there, but. Yeah.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: It's funny you mentioned Dana Altman, because I was thinking about that whole situation yesterday.
April 2nd was the day that he took the job. April 3rd was the day he took the job or gave the job back. April 9th was the day they hired John Pelfrey. So every time I see April 9th, I think of John Pelfrey. I just do. That's how my brain works.
But so I thought about Pelfrey yesterday when I saw the date, and. Which made me think about Altman and the whole process, that it was insane. It was just Totally crazy. That little scrum that we had back there at the back of Bud Walton Arena.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: I want to do, like a deep dive about those 24 hours.
That would be a ton of fun to just research and write about.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: I've talked to Kevin Trainor about this, about how Kevin drove the getaway car. He drove Dana Altman back to the airport where the Creighton jet was waiting for him to take him back to Omaha. One of the best pictures our newspaper, I think, has ever had is the Razorback foundation jet landing at Drakefield.
Frank didn't go pick up Dana Altman. Frank was in Fayetteville, which is crazy because, like, it's almost always the ad goes. You know, nowadays, at least the ad goes. And they pick them up and, you know, like, you know, they have this kind of, you know, photo op at the house, and then, you know, you got your hogs plus on the plane and you're doing. It's. It's how this goes. Well, it's Altman stepping off of the foundation jet and Frank dressed to the nines. Nice suit, you know, cufflinks, everything hand out, shaking his hand as he steps off the plane.
And then to think, like, 24 hours later, the Creighton jet is sitting there to take him back to Omaha. It was.
It was wild. It was.
Yeah, that was. That was pretty fun. I don't know about fun. It was.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: I imagine it's more fun.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: It's more fun in retrospect.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I would imagine.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I remember getting the phone call. He's doing what?
Yeah, be here in 15 minutes. What happened?
Okay, so Isaiah Johnson is a point guard at Colorado who apparently, this According to On3, Arkansas, Ku and Texas are kind of in the lead to potentially get him to transfer.
Average about 17 points per game last year, three assists, three rebounds per game. On three rates him the number one point guard, the number five overall transfer. This is another one that we're watching fairly closely.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Yeah, no, he's. He's good. I mean, he had a really nice, productive freshman year for Colorado, but, I mean, you know, a Colorado team that wasn't very good.
But, I mean, still, you know, he stepped in and had a really nice and productive year. Became a starter kind of midway through Big 12 play. And, you know, I thought he was. I thought he was really nice. I mean, he's, you know, he's a guy who, you know, he's active on the defensive end, doesn't draw a lot of fouls or doesn't commit a lot of fouls. I should say two fouls per 40 minutes was his average.
And, but you know, you like guys who are, you know, willing and active defenders who also aren't, who aren't fouling. Right? So, so you get that. You know, he played, I think it was upwards of 80% of the minutes in Big 12 play. And you saw his, his role kind of expand throughout his, his freshman year. He's at 61 listed 6 1, so he's probably more like 5 11, but it's, you know, you know, so he's, he's a little undersized, you know.
You know, Yeah, a little undersized, but, you know, he's a good shooter. You know, he gets to the basket, you know, at a good rate. You know, he was a top 100 guy at free throw rate in the country this season. And you know, and he was just a freshman, so, you know, there's, there's a lot to like there, you know, so, yeah, you know, he's, he's good. You know, the Big 12 is obviously, you know, quite the good conference, especially at the top. And you know, he was really productive in that league. So I, I like, I like his game.
You know, I, I like, you know, what he, you know, what he brings. You know, he's got decent assist rate and his turnover rate wasn't all that high or wasn't that bad either. So, you know, there's, there's a lot to like about Isaiah Johnson and then there's a lot to, you know, still improving. He's still, you know, he's just a freshman or he was just a freshman. So. Yeah.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: Is Jordan Smith, is he a point guard?
[00:21:28] Speaker B: He can be, but I think he's probably better off as a, as an off ball.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: So you think they need to get a point guard to compliment him?
[00:21:36] Speaker B: I think that would be good.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. And I'm not sure. I mean, I look at his stats, you know, he's got decent stat assist numbers and I know we're talking about high school basketball and that's, you know, but I don't think Darius Acuff was necessarily known as, you know, like, like a great passer before he came to college. I mean, that was one of the things they really wanted to work with him on was being more of a distributor once he got to Arkansas. But, you know, I did see, by the way, Jordan Smith today got yet another national player of the year. I think it was USA Today.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: He's quite good. Yeah, Yeah. I mean, it's no Jordan Smith, like, his distribution has Gotten a lot better, especially this year, you know, just.
Yeah, his distribution's gotten a lot better. He's already, you know, he's. He's already a really high level defensive guard, which, you know, is something I think is. Is important and, you know, a need.
So, yeah, he's. He's a guy who, you know, looks like he could be another one and done kind of guy. You know, that's not necessarily a hot take. He's the number two prospect in his class. But yeah, I mean, he's, he's. He's really good. And, you know, if you go into, if you go into next season and you're relying on Jordan Smith to be your, your primary ball handler, I don't think that you're in a, In a bad spot by any means, but I do think that you probably want in a. Want to bring in a point guard, especially because, let's face it, Darius Acuff's not coming back, and then you bring it, and then DJ Wagner is in the portal as well. So I think it would be, you know, smart to at the very least bring in another. Another ball handler.
And, yeah, I think that would be, yeah, smart.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: This Alex Wilkins at Furman, you're pretty high on him, right? I mean, about 18 points a game, five assists, two rebounds is what he averaged this season. I'm looking here that kind of. The big suspects are in on him. You're talking about UConn and Houston and Kentucky and Alabama.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: So, yeah, UConn got the front row seat in the NCAA tournament first round. I know, obviously, UConn made the national championship game, but Furman really put a scare into him in that. In that 215 game. And Alex Wilkins was a big reason why. I mean, 21 points, four assists in that game. And, you know, he's. He's awesome. I mean, he's, you know, another. Another guy who's just a freshman, you know, so there's a lot of room to grow. You know, Furman, obviously, they play a
[00:23:54] Speaker A: fun style of basketball.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: They do. Yeah. And yeah, it's, It's.
I love his game. You know, he gets downhill, he plays fast. You know, he's shot 46% from the field, so he's relatively efficient. You know, one area that you don't like with, with Alex Wilkins is that he averaged almost four turnovers a game, which, you know, that's not great, but, you know, like I said, you know, he's a freshman. That's something that can be coached up and you can, you can, you know, Deal with that stuff.
So. But yeah, I love his game. You know, this, this year's Furman team wasn't the same Furman team that, that beat Virginia a few years back, but it was still a, you know, a team that played a, you know, fun brand of basketball. And yeah, no, I'm a huge fan of his game and. But yeah, you need to see the turnovers go down a little bit.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: Lots of guards. Terrence Brown, another one From Utah, about 20 points, four cysts, two and a half rebounds per game.
Again, you know, you look at, you look at Brown just like you look at Wilkins and some of these, it's weird, some of them, they don't allow their list to get very big. It's like, hey, I know I want to talk to you and I want to talk to you, I want to talk to you three.
Then you look at Brown and I mean you're talking about North Carolina and UCLA and KU and even Moss is in on this guy.
But pretty good player out of Utah.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Yeah, no, he started his career at Fairleigh Dickinson. I don't think he was on the Fairleigh Dickinson team that beat Purdue a few years ago. I don't think he was.
But you know, he's, he's good. I mean he, he needs to, you know, his, his three point numbers need to go up. Only shot 32% from the perimeter, which, I mean, it's a respectable number, but it's not a number that you love to see.
But you know, he's, he's got decent size 6 foot 3. You know, he obviously can score 19.9 points per game and you know, he was a really good driver to the basket, drew a lot of free throws and yeah, he's, you know, he's another guy who is a, you know, he's also a, you know, he's an aggressive on ball defender, likes to get steals, doesn't get into a ton of foul trouble either. So yeah, he, he's a guy I like a lot, you know, obviously kind of.
Yeah, not coming from the greatest situation at Utah this year. Obviously not the, not the greatest Utes team of all time. You know, one of the, one of the worst teams in power conference basketball this season, unfortunately, of all the teams, they were one.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Right.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: They were one of the teams in college basketball this year. But you know, he's an exciting guy. So, you know, obviously he's a guy who can fill it up and you know, they, they need scorers, especially if Malik Thomas is going to stay in the draft or I mean, he hasn't declared for the draft yet, but you would assume that he'll at least test it.
And if he tests it and stays in, then you probably want to go and find somebody who's a very capable scorer. And he's a guy who fits that bill, though. He's, like I said, not the greatest three point shooter in the world, but you know, he's a good defender. He can score, get to the free throw line and all of that stuff. Despite, you know, Utah having a pretty stinky year.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: When you think of Utah basketball, who's, who's the first player that comes to mind?
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Oh, man.
Well, right now, Terence Brown, like, like
[00:27:11] Speaker A: you don't go back any further than Terrence Brown.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: Never. I'm just kidding.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: I'll tell you the name.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: I mean, Utah, Utah is like a top 20, top 25, like all time program. So I mean, probably.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe top 25. Yeah, certainly, like if you're saying top 30, top 40, I would.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: Oh, certainly. Oh, certainly in that. Right.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Yeah. I think of the guys like from the, the Rick Majeris years.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: Yeah, Rick Majeris, he's loved. Do you know where they love rick
[00:27:36] Speaker A: Majeris in St. Louis.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:27:38] Speaker A: Right.
How about Keith Van Horn was a big man on those teams. Andre Miller was their point guard. Got him to a national championship game against Kentucky one year. I don't know, kind of.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: I would like, I would like to see Utah become good again. I think that would be fun.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Is the state big enough for two or three good basketball programs?
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Because I think so.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: BYU and Utah State have kind of got it going right now.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: They do.
Utah State is my, my favorite team ever because they lose a coach every year, but then they're still good the next year.
That's awesome.
[00:28:09] Speaker A: Hey, speaking of.
And we're not going to go through all these names, by the way. If you want to go and read kind of an exhaustive list of some of the top names Arkansas has made contact with. Richard Davenport's got a good story on our site at whole hog sports.com the headline says Arkansas basketball makes early contact with prospects in the transfer portal.
We'll talk about a couple more here real quick. Rob wright is at BYU, point guard, 18 points, four and a half assists, three and a half rebounds this year for them. He's got a little bit smaller of an interest list. It's Arkansas, Kentucky and Ohio State.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: And they rate him the number two point guard in the portal.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Yeah, he's good. I mean, you know, another Guy who is, you know, he's got some experience, right? I mean played a Baylor, played at byu. So I mean he's played for two tournament teams because they made the tournament at Baylor when he was there and
[00:28:58] Speaker A: you know, can I, can I interject real quick? Johnson and Wright are 12 in their portal rankings at point guard, so it's, if you get one of them, you aren't getting both.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean Rob Wright is good. I mean, you know, he, he, you know, he commands a price tag.
I don't remember what it was reported that he got at BYU when he, when he went there, but you know, he's a guy who, and I mean all of these guys are going to, right? So I mean he's, he's a guy who, you know, he's good in distribution. I think he's a decent on ball defender as well. You know, obviously he can score it and you know, before, before Richie Saunders went down and BYU was really kind of humming, you know, he was a big reason they were doing that. I mean, you know, he was the primary ball handler on that team and you know that BYU offense is a ton of fun to watch when one of the key pieces of it isn't out for the season. And you know, he was, he was a big reason for that. And you know, I, I think that he, yeah, I mean he's going to be a big time addition for, for whoever gets him and yeah, I'm excited to see where he goes because yeah, he's, he's, yeah, he's really good in distribution I think. And then obviously, you know, he's a scorer as well.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: One more. You're gonna have to help me up with this first name Kansas State guard is Abdi Bashir. Abdi Bashir.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Really good three point shooter.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: Yeah, 44% from three, you know, started his career at Monmouth and you know, he averaged 20 points per game there his final season at Monmouth and you know, this year, you know, he, he averaged 13 points per game but he shot, you know, 44% from the three point line. So I mean you're getting a guy who can shoot regardless. You know, Kansas State was bad so
[00:30:41] Speaker A: you know, well, he had, he had the injury, so I think that too.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: So I mean, you know, part of that does kind of maybe come down to that. But, but still, I mean that Kansas State team was not good, you know, 12 and 20 this year and obviously didn't play any, any postseason. But you know, he's, he's a guy who I think is good in catch and shoot situations. You know, he, he was heavily wanted in the portal when he was leaving Monmouth and you know, there's a reason for that. I mean he's a, you know, he's a big time player and you know when you, when you shoot the ball as well he, as he does, you're going to, you can fill a role in a lot of teams. I guess is the right, the best way to.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: You think he's one of those K State players that wouldn't have gotten a jersey this year.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: That the press conference, the names off the jerseys.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Yeah, but there was a, like the press conference that got.
What was his name?
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Jerome Tang.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: Jerome Tang got him fired or I
[00:31:36] Speaker B: think it was like there are a lot of guys who won't be wearing,
[00:31:39] Speaker A: they won't be wearing that jersey next year.
[00:31:41] Speaker B: I mean technically I guess he was right.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: I guess so.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: So, you know, you know, sorry to Jerome Tang. You know, you never want to see anybody lose their jobs or anything. But that was funny.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Real quick before we get out of here, a couple of women's basketball notes. Bonnie Dees has announced she's going to transfer to ucla, the national champion spot. Well, it's, it kind of surprise. I think it's a little bit surprising. Number one, I think Arkansas is going to miss her. Oh, because she was a lot of
[00:32:10] Speaker B: fun to watch, you know, five, nine and average nine rebounds a game.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: Just relentless on.
[00:32:15] Speaker B: I thought she was a shooting efficiency. You probably want to see it go up.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: But it's interesting to me that you go from being a player that, you know, the Razorbacks would love to build around and not just Arkansas, a lot of teams. Yeah, I see her going to UCLA and I wonder how much does she play there.
That's just my thoughts on this. I know ucla. I think they're going to lose. A lot of the players that were part of this championship team, I think they were a very senior laden team.
But I just wonder, I wonder maybe they love her and the hustle and everything and she gets on the floor a lot. But I also know that women's basketball there's like a handful or somewhere around maybe less than 10 programs where all the best players, they congregate and it feels like like whatever's shiny, that's where they go. So UCLA is like the shiny program in women's basketball right now.
But you know, so I wonder what that's going to look like, you know, like, like what other kind of players are they going to be able to command because we've seen good players leave Arkansas or what we thought were good players, you know, good recruits, and they go and they. They play at other programs where, you know, they go to South Carolina and they never play, or they go to LSU and they never play.
So I wonder if this is going to be another one of those for Bonnie Deeves, but good luck to her. She was a lot of fun to watch this year.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: Yeah, no, she was. She was a lot of fun, like I said, I mean, really good at crashing the boards, especially at her size, you know, being a smaller guard. And, you know, she was really kind of the primary ball handler in that team as well. And, you know, I think, you know, like you said, you know, that's a player you probably want to build around, especially her being a freshman this year. And, you know, I thought I. Yeah, yeah. I was also kind of surprised that UCLA was the team that, that she ended up landing on. But, you know, it's, you know, maybe they see her as a player that they can use, you know, right away, and. Because obviously she has a year of experience, you know, a year of playing, you know, college basketball after playing FIBA for a long time.
So maybe that experience is really, you know, beneficial and she. She becomes a big part there right away. And, I mean, then you're. You're also living in. In Los Angeles, and UCLA is like, maybe the most beautiful campus I've ever seen. So, I mean, that's not too bad.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: To each their own. I. I couldn't do LA. I love LA, and I couldn't do it.
[00:34:44] Speaker B: I love LA. And then UCLA's campus is like. It's stunning.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: Too big. Too many people.
Not for me.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: I. I loved Los Angeles. I love New York. I love San Francisco. I'm a. I'm a city boy, I guess.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: There's a. There's a house in my neighborhood that just went up for sale this week. And so I got on Zillow to look up, you know, like. Like, what do they want for it? And just. Yeah, I'm nosy. I want to see the pictures from inside my neighbor's house. And so. But there's these drone shots of our neighborhood.
And, you know, we don't. We don't have a huge. But we've got kind of a. We've got a big yard. Like, it's hard to get a yard as big as what? Like, we got really fortunate with the yard and.
But this drone shot, like, I look at it, it's like, man, everybody's houses are, you know, I mean, it's not. We don't live in the Bridgewater Estates, let's put it that way. Like, we're not talking about that much room between our houses, but, like, there's a decent amount of room between people's houses.
And I'm sitting here, I'm like, if that was in Los Angeles, do you know how many houses you would see in that?
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Like.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: Like, between each house, let's say you can see, like, you know, 400 places where, you know, 400 people are living. I mean, it'd be like 40,000.
As densely populated as that is.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: Oh, it is very densely populated.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: Speaking of.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah, la. Like UCLA is. Sorry to interrupt you, but, yeah, UCLA is just. I mean, it's a gorgeous, gorgeous campus. Like, so I'll take your word for it.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: Hey, speaking of California, one more. Arkansas did get a women's basketball commitment Yesterday from Grace McCallop. I hope I'm saying her name right. She's been at Cal, she's from Kansas City, so this gets her a lot closer to home. This looks kind of like a depth piece. She didn't play a whole lot at Cal. I think she only averaged like a point and a half rebound per game, you know, less than five minutes. I'm sure that you don't make a move like this to Arkansas unless there's a pretty good understanding that you're going to play more than you were playing there.
But that's the first player that they've got in the fold in terms of. Of transfers that are coming into the program, and, boy, do they need a lot of them. I think they were down. I was talking to somebody the other day. I think they were down to two
[00:36:50] Speaker B: players on their Robinson, and I'm drawing a blank on who else is still there. This is embarrassing, but it's. Yeah.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: I mean, you're talking about they got a. They got to fill a lot of roster spots this offseason.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, they do.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: And that's tough.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: They've got some freshmen coming in.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: It's tough with where Arkansas women's basketball is. I mean, it's, it's, it's two years of being, you know, really bad, especially in the sec.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a rebuilding project, that's for sure. And, you know, you want to, you know, try to get some experience pieces out of the portal and, you know, I would imagine, like you said you should, she probably, you know, McCallop is probably coming in here thinking that she's probably going to play some more than she did over at Cal and.
Yeah. So, I mean, and she was a, you know, a recruited player as well, coming out of high school. So, I mean, she's obviously got some, some, some talent and, you know, somebody who can, you know, develop into a bigger piece down the line. I mean, she won a, you know, she won three state championships as a high school player. So. And you, I think that's also something that you like as well as a player who's used to winning. And, you know, that's, that's, I think, something that a lot of, a lot of the time goes a little underappreciated when you're, when you're building rosters out of the portal. So.
Yeah.
[00:38:05] Speaker A: All right. So there's kind of a look at portal for Arkansas men's basketball, women's basketball a little bit too. You can read about, you know, the latest developments. And this stuff changes so fast and so rapidly. It seems like I don't sleep. I mean, like, I would think that we probably start having a pretty good feel of what the next year's roster looks like in the next 10 to 14 days. I would agree about.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: Right. Yeah.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: So you can read our website, wholehogsports.com Anthony and, and Richard Davenport are all over this basketball portal stuff. It's gonna be a busy weekend for us. There's a couple of big series, baseball and softball. Baseball Razorbacks at Alabama this weekend. Alabama ranked number nine. The softball Razorbacks are at Mississippi State. Mississippi State ranked number 15. I think there's a track meet coming up this weekend. We got a lot going on. Basketball's over.
Basketball's over. But, you know, there's, there's still a lot going on here on campus. You can read about all of it at whole hog sports.com spring football as well there at our website. We'll be back. Soccer. Spring soccer.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: I'll be out there tomorrow. Tomorrow, Seminole State.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: Which fun fact is where Anaya Nurse White transferred to Arkansas from. And she just got her first Canadian national team call up.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Very cool.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: So congratulations to her.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: So you got a story about that on our site too, Little one. Yep. All right, so we'll be back here in studio on Monday. Bubba Carpenter will be with me. We'll be talking Razorback baseball. See what happens down in Tuscaloosa. Hope to see you then. Have a great weekend.
