[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: And now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Big day here in Fayetteville. It's the first day of the national signing period. We'll discuss it with Richard Davenport from WholeHogsports.com also Anthony Christensen will be here in studio with me as we look at Arkansas Louisville basketball tonight at Bud Walton Arena. First, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:19] Speaker C: 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 with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: We'll get to basketball here in a bit. First, it's national signing day. Not really signing day. It's the first day of the early national signing period. A little bit different than it used to be in recruiting. Richard Davenport covers recruiting for
[email protected], also for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Richard, what are the headlines today? Like, what do people need to know about what this signing class looks like?
[00:01:06] Speaker D: Well, I think the headline started on Monday when you had the four guys in state that committed Danny Bill, defensive tackle, four star from Cross County, Anthony Kennedy, four star defensive tackle from, from Little Rock Central, four star running back TJ Hodges from Bryant and also.
[00:01:32] Speaker D: Linebacker.
[00:01:35] Speaker D: Carol Small.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Care.
[00:01:40] Speaker D: Butchering his name. I just went blank.
[00:01:45] Speaker D: Carl Smith.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Excuse me, Corey Smith from, from Brian, right?
[00:01:49] Speaker D: Corey Smith. Yeah.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:50] Speaker D: Sorry. You're fine. Got about four hours of sleep last night.
Yeah, that's, that's what comes to mind when I think about this class. And another thing is just it looks like, you know, they still got a couple more guys, maybe three more guys that they want to add.
So they could potentially end up around 15, 16, maybe 17. Who knows? We'll see as, as the day goes on, which I think is pretty, pretty impressive considering a lot of these guys were committed to the old staff and decided to stay on even though they didn't get a any face time. Well, obviously they may get some face time with, with the coaches and coach Silverfield, but not any in person visits or anything like that. So I think those, the four in state guys on Monday committing to them and obviously signing today and then, then the remaining guys staying on board.
[00:02:49] Speaker D: Despite really not having long term relationships with Silverfield.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: I was going to ask you kind of what from the recruits that you've talked to, what's been the feedback that they've given you about Ryan Silverfield in the few days that he's been on the job?
[00:03:06] Speaker D: A likable guy.
You know.
[00:03:10] Speaker D: He'S been recruiting the four in state guys that committed on Monday for a while at Memphis, and then obviously he brought that over when he got here.
So some of these guys, especially in state, guys like Tucker Young, he was. His first offer was from Memphis, so might as well throw him in there. As far as, you know, just the relationship.
So some of these guys had previous relationships with him and obviously a guy that they respect, likable, seems to be a very. Just detailed, oriented guy.
Just someone that works hard and, and makes them feel. Feel wanted.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: I mean, as I see this as of right now, and I know there could be some more names that are added. It's eight players from the class of or from the state of Arkansas that are in this class. You've also got one who's from the Texas side of Texarkana. It's been a while since we've seen that kind of local flavor with a signing class.
[00:04:10] Speaker D: Yeah, 2022, they signed about 10 kids.
[00:04:16] Speaker D: Last few years. The numbers as far as offers hasn't been as great until this year, but yeah, 2022 is the last time you had any kind of numbers like that.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Who's doing the recruiting right now for Arkansas? I mean, is this a situation where you've got some of the assistant coaches who haven't fully figured out what their next move is? Are they still recruiting for Arkansas? How does this go?
[00:04:43] Speaker D: That's a good question.
I. I obviously feel Silverfield, the gm that.
[00:04:51] Speaker D: That was at Memphis for.
For Silverfield is. Is in the office.
[00:04:59] Speaker D: Scott is his name, and I'm going totally blank.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Gasper, I think, is his last name. Scott Gasper.
[00:05:04] Speaker D: Yeah, there you go. There you go. And, uh, anyway, I know that he's talking to kids and talking to coaches. As far as other guys, I really don't know. I'm sure the members of the ODE staff are kind of, you know, advising some of the, you know, some of the staff about some of the kids and things like that, but.
[00:05:28] Speaker D: I would assume the vast majority of people talking to these kids are from the new staff. And as far as. Who's all talking to them, really don't.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Know, other than those two.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Talking about Richard Davenport from wholehawksports.com this, you know, 10 years ago, this was the day that you circled. And I mean, this was. This was the future of your program. Now, with the way everything works with transferring, the.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Transfer period in January is just as big, if not bigger. And especially for a first year head coach when he's trying to overhaul the roster, what's the balance that you sense on, on from what you've been able to gather from Silverfield, the signing class this year and what they want to do with transfers in January?
[00:06:18] Speaker D: Yeah, well, you're definitely, you're definitely your focus. I mean, obviously you want to, you want to do as well as you can with high school recruiting, but when you're a first year guide and you have two or three days to put a class together, you're going to take an initial hit that first class. Even if, even if, even if, even if he was hired during the time when two years, three years ago, the early signing period was moved up to the first Wednesday in December last year.
But if he was, if he was the, if he was hired three years ago, it would still be a challenge to get a class together even with the third Wednesday in December. But this is even more so you're going to take an initial hit on your first recruiting class in high school. So yeah, all eyes are going forward unless they sign, you know, maybe a guy or two Thursday or Friday and that's a possibility. Jordan Harris from Maumelle, the defensive end, told me that he's going to make a decision on Friday and it's Appalachian State or Arkansas.
[00:07:33] Speaker D: And I'm getting mixed messages on what's going to happen there. So, so, so yeah, you're definitely going to be focusing on a transfer portal. And the thing is, Arkansas is going to, Arkansas is a type of program that's going to be hitting the portal unless things change. And Arkansas recruits at a higher level in the future, they're always going to be a portal type program because Georgia, Ohio State, some of the elite schools, they, they, they hit the portal, but not that much. Most of their, most of their players, and I think I did a column on this, are really high school prospects. And you look at Arkansas and it's mostly transfers that are starting, maybe a handful or, or six high school kids, but the rest of them are transfer guys this year. So Arkansas, unless something changes again, like I said, far as the quality of high school recruits that they get in the coming years, they'll most likely lean heavily on the portal going forward too.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: There are five, four star players and this is according to espn. Everybody's got their own way of evaluating the players, but according to espn, there's five, four star players in Arkansas this Year Razorbacks have got three of them. Anthony Kennedy, the defensive lineman from Little Rock Central, Danny Beal the defensive lineman from Cross county and T.J. hodges, the running back from Bryant. Two of them are going to other schools. Evan Goodwin from Bauxite to smu. Braxton Lindsay from Rogers High School to byu.
What do you think about the this year's class? Is it better? Is it on par with what you usually get out of the state?
[00:09:18] Speaker D: Well, as far as the numbers.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: This.
[00:09:22] Speaker D: Is a very good class as far as numbers. As far as quality, I think it's one of the better ones in a while. I think it would rival the 22 class far as the quality.
There were several four stars in that class.
But yeah, if you could have this type of these type of numbers on a consistent basis.
[00:09:47] Speaker D: Each year, that that would really help Silverfield and the staff going forward.
If you get 10, 12 guys a year that you can get out of the high school ranks and they could play SEC football, that just makes it much easier, you know, than having to go out of state. So you know, we'll see, we'll see their philosophy over the next few years and see do they offer more in state guys, take a chance on some more development type guys or are they going to do what past past coaches have done for, for, for the longest really is they're, they're, they're light on development guys, they're trying to recruit guys that are at least going to see the field by the second year or something like that.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: I've mentioned them a couple of times here in the last week. I saw Jakory Smith in person about a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago. For Bryant, I feel like he is maybe a little bit overlooked. He's only a three star recruitment based on the rankings I'm seeing right here. He was committed to OU and to me that tells me something. I wonder if you think this too, you know, if I see somebody who say Brent Venables liked enough to offer a scholarship and accept a commitment from at linebacker, that tells me something. I wonder what your thoughts on that.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: As far as what just maybe the quality of the player.
[00:11:11] Speaker D: Oh, I got you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean most of these, most of these guys have, have really good offer list.
So that's nothing, you know, nothing out of the ordinary. Especially with in state guys that are, you know, four stars and, and Jacori, he, he was a guy that was a four star. By off the top of my head, I'm going to say at least two Recruiting services maybe a year ago and for whatever reason his stock kind of went down. He's a three star but I mean some, I mean Jalen Copeland who's out of Georgia, Val Dust of Georgia, he's a three star and he's got an impressive, impressive offer list. So it's not unusual to see some three stars have you know, 20 plus offers from some of the top schools in the country and Jacquari is definitely one of them.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: How tired are you answering questions about Kane Archer today?
[00:12:11] Speaker D: All right. I'm good. I, I totally understand why people, you know, I, I, I've always, my, my philosophy has always been this. Every coaching staff, you, you have to respect their.
[00:12:28] Speaker D: Their decision on whether or not to offer an in state kid and pursue them.
They have, if they, if they, if, if their evaluation is, is good on more, more, more times than not good chance they're probably going to be successful. But if they're not, they have to suffer the consequences. So if, if Kane goes to Utah and just lights it up, the criticism is going to be there. But obviously the, the former staff didn't pursue Kane and there, there was a little phone tag action with Coach Silverfield evidently and talking to someone in Greenwood that there's, you know, he, he made a call to Coach Young at Greenwood and Coach Young tried to call him back and, but I, I, I just can't imagine the, everything going on with Coach Surreal trying, trying to talk to all the current players, trying to recruit and put, put a staff together, stuff like that. So he's kind of overwhelmed. But he never got back with him so obviously they didn't go forward on him. So you know, you just have to do respect each staff and, and their decisions whether you like it or not because their butts are on the line if they don't win.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Well, and you don't, you don't want to burn your bridges either because we've seen this a number of time with all these different sports. Just because you don't get them now doesn't mean that they won't be available in a year or two if you like them and there's a reciprocal interest.
[00:13:54] Speaker D: No, that you're exactly right. You're exactly right.
That's the thing.
The door is never ever shut nowadays. That's why you, I know, I know coaches the last few years and then talking to some coaches, they, they make sure that they, they keep an open line communication with these kids all the way up to, you know, after they sign that, you know, you don't want to be.
[00:14:22] Speaker D: All huff and puffy if they decide to go out of state, even if they have an offer from you because that could come back and bite you, the way you handled that and maybe said some things that you shouldn't have said to that kid or parent that that could burn bridges and obviously not help you if they decide to get back in the portal.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Richard, I know it's been a busy day for you. Appreciate you taking some time to talk to us.
[00:14:43] Speaker D: Yeah, I appreciate it. Sorry for, you know, little brain wave problems, but yeah, it's been a good day. Not a great day, but a good day for Arkansas and, and we'll see how it pans out the rest of the day.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Just get to bed early tonight. You'll get plenty of rest. You'll be better tomorrow.
[00:15:01] Speaker D: All right, guys.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: All right.
[00:15:02] Speaker D: All right, Matt. Appreciate it.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: All right, we'll see you. Richard Davenport from WholeHawksports.com youm can read all of his coverage here on signing day at our website. When we come back, Anthony Christensen will be here in studio. We'll talk about Arkansas, Louisville. First, a word from Kendall King.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: 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 shop cart.
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.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been committed, professional and versatile in serving their community since 1971. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com so we knew this was going to be a mega number, this Arkansas Duke TV rating. We touched on it earlier in the week, how they had the lead in from the Cowboys, Chiefs and well, the numbers are out today and what we expected is true. Arkansas Duke is the most watched regular season college basketball game in 32 years.
More than 6.8 million people tuned in or an average of 6.8 million tuned in to watch this on CBS last Thursday, of course, the Blue Devils won a very entertaining game. Probably kept people locked in a little bit longer after they got that lead in from the NFL. It's the most watched game in the regular season since 1993 when Purdue and Indiana played each other in Bloomington. Just kind of give you an idea of what we're talking about. Bob Knight and Gene Katie were the head coaches. I was there for that game. You were not. I'm not sure you were born yet. I was the 1993, February of 93. That was the last time that a regular season college basketball game got this kind of rating. I would be interested to go back and look and see. I would suspect that Arkansas and UNLV, when they had the 12 matchup over at Barnhill, it probably was a bigger rating than this. But in terms of regular season games, this is going to be one of the most watched ever for the Razorbacks. We knew it was going to be this way. We knew it was going to be this way.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Because college basketball has gotten smart about what they're doing with their television right now, at least as it pertains to Thanksgiving Day. They're scheduling these high profile, neutral site matchups. Arkansas played Illinois last year in Kansas City, played Duke this year in Chicago.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Northern versus Oklahoma State.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Okay, well, let's calm down. But you had Michigan State and North Carolina. That got a really big number on Fox this year after they had the Lions, packers lead in.
I will be stunned if John Calipari is not taking the Razorback somewhere next year on Thanksgiving to do the same thing. They seem like they've got a pretty good relationship here going with cbs, the CBS Sports Classic or whatever it's called. Thanksgiving Classic.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: You got to take.
You're, you know, not that college basketball is in a bad place because I don't think it's in a terrible place. Although I don't think it's in a great place either.
Just in terms of all the roster movement from year to year and the lack of the ability to kind of know your team from one year to the next.
But this is a nice way to, you know, whoever, whether this is TV executives, whether this is college basketball coaches, maybe a combination of the two, they have figured out, hey, we've got something here to where we can get our product in front of a lot of eyeballs.
Coming out of these NFL games on Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys Chiefs had 57.2 million viewers. That was 15 million more than any other regular season game ever recorded in the NFL. Think about that for a minute.
[00:19:05] Speaker B: It's a lot of people. Jim Nance had not one of them.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: I was Jim Nates because I was at that. I Think when he came onto the broadcast, he said something like, it's Thanksgiving, the Cowboys and the Chiefs, three American institutions or something like that.
You knew it was going to be a huge, huge number.
And so here's Arkansas two years in a row where they've been the beneficiary of getting a big NFL number on cbs.
And, you know, I mean, this is something that I think you can sell. You didn't win the game, but this is something I think you can sell to recruits. It's like, hey, you know, come play here, and we're going to get a lot of people watching your games. That.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: And you're playing against a quality opponent, too. So that's true, you know.
Yeah, no, and I know they. They made sure that everybody had, you know, a Thanksgiving meal, I think the day before, either that or after with family and everything. So they still got to, you know, have that experience as well.
So, yeah, I guess all is well, except for, obviously they lost the game. But.
Yeah, no.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: It was a very fun game to be at, too. It was a great environment, especially for a Thanksgiving Day game. I mean, last year's game in Kansas City wasn't as, I guess, fun.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: I think there were only like 4,000 people in Kansas City.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: It seemed.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Yeah. It was not as full as it was in Chicago. No.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Like, it looked to me like the upper deck. There weren't any. Or if there were people in the upper level, in. At the United center, there weren't very many.
And so, you know, I don't know what they announced the attendance as, but it looked more full than, I would definitely say, by a long shot than what we saw with Illinois last year.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: Yeah. No, and that's not to downplay the Illinois game. I thought it was a pretty good crowd, all things considered, for that one as well. But, yeah, I mean, it was fun. It was a great environment. Got to see one of the best teams in the country and, you know, potentially the number one overall pick in the NBA draft and Cameron Boozer. So, I mean, no complaints from me. I still got my Thanksgiving on Friday, so all is well.
[00:21:12] Speaker D: This is tough.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: And if John Calipari is listening, keep these Thanksgiving Day games drivable from St. Louis.
That's my big concern.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Second time this year that Arkansas has had a pretty nice audience for one of its college basketball games. Michigan State game did pretty good numbers. I think about 1.7 million.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: On Fox, as it was going up against college football on the same night. All right, so moving forward, Arkansas plays Louisville tonight. Louisville is really good. If you haven't seen this team, I mean, they're, they're six ranked team in the country.
They shoot about 50 threes a game, I think. Or maybe, maybe that's short chain, tad over 35. Okay, but, but the point is they.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: May feel like 50.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: They like to get up and down the floor.
I'm interested to see how this game goes for Arkansas because we've seen him a few times this year where Arkansas likes to get up and down too and play with some nice pace. It feels like this could be one of those games where maybe the shooting percentages are not real high, but the scoring could be high just because of the volume of the tensions, the number.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Of possessions that are going to be in play. There's going to be a lot of possessions. I mean, both teams really like to get downhill. It's like Pat Kelsey was saying the other day, the Louisville coach, you know, that like he believes it's going to be an unbelievable and unbelievably entertaining game. And I tend to agree because, I mean, Louisville is coming in with the number two offense in the country, per Kenpom. And you know, you look at, you look at the backcourt. Mikel Brown Jr. Is, you know who he is. He's awesome. You know, he's, he's, you know, he was, he was a big reason why Team USA won the U19 World cup this summer. Him and A.J. deBansa were, you know, special, special hoops. It was Chef's kiss to watch. But, you know, and then you've got Isaac McNeely and Ryan Conwell as well. You know, Isaac Manila. Isaac McNeely coming in from Virginia was kind of the lone spark for a bad Virginia team last year. And then Ryan Conwell, you know, he, I believe he's on his fourth school. I got to cover him a little bit while I was covering the Missouri Valley because he was on that really good Indiana state team. And I think he's one of the more underappreciated guards in the country just because he can do so much, you know, on the ball, off the ball, his shooting. He shoots 45% from three. He's, you know, he gets to the line. He, you know, he's a decent rebounder, he's a good defender and he doesn't foul either. So he's, he's a guy who I think is, you know, one of the more underappreciated guards in the country. And now that I say it, he's going to go out and shoot 1 of 10 and for 2 points.
You know, that's just the, that's the jinx I seem to have. But regardless, you know, this, this Louisville team's a ton of fun to watch. I mean, they're, they're beaten the crap out of teams too. So.
And you know, some of that is, you know, they've, they've played, you know, they've played a lot of buy games. I mean, njit, Eastern Michigan, you know, et cetera, et cetera. They struggled a little bit with Cincinnati, if you know, a physical defensive team, you know, a Cincinnati team that I, I think I entered the season, you know, pretty low on and I think I talked about that on the podcast before the exhibition game, you know, but really, you know, the, the final score against Kentucky was pretty kind to Kentucky. That game never really felt bigger.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Blowout.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Yes. And so it was an eight point.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Final, but I think probably closer.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it was up 20 at one point or another. So, you know, Kentucky did make a good run to make it more of a game near the end, but, you know, it was, it was a lot.
It was, it never felt like it was that close, I guess is the way I'm trying to say.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: What do you think about Kentucky right now?
Because this is a, kind of a hard team to get a read on.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Yeah, lost to UNC last night. Lost UNC last night. I watched and, you know, and Caleb Wilson wasn't at all that effective on the offensive end. You know, he was, he was very effective on the defensive end for unc. But offensively, you know, it was a lot of Henry Vassar, who I came into the season, not super high on him individually or UNC as a team. Just to be completely transparent, I wasn't very high on UNC in general. And now they're kind of, you know, making me eat some crow. But yeah, I felt like it was a little bit more. It was certainly I felt more Kentucky losing the game than UNC winning that game, you know, so it is a little hard to get a read on Kentucky because you look at the roster and you know, you've got some guys who are, who are out. Jalen Lowe is not playing. Jaden Quaintance, though. You knew Jaden Quaintance wasn't going to play for a while when you got him on campus. You know, he's still a guy who's going to be a big piece for Kentucky, but right now something's just not really clicking. You know, analytically, this team should be really good, but, you know, the shoot, the shots aren't falling. You know, I think they were one of 13 from three last night. And when was the last time a Mark Pope team shot fewer than 20 threes? I don't know that I could tell you.
And, you know, they're.03 in their power conference games. I mean, they got really bullied against Michigan State and, you know, like we mentioned, the Louisville game wasn't as close as it appeared to be with the final score, and then kind of threw it away against North Carolina last night. So this, this Friday they play Gonzaga and in Nashville. And that is going to be, you know, I think a really important game for Kentucky going forward. Just because you need to, you need to see something against a team that has a pulse.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Well, the reason I ask about Kentucky, I think it's relevant because Louisville hasn't played anybody else. They played KU in the preseason. I don't know how much you can take away from. From preseason games.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: We don't take anything away from preseason games. Because Kentucky. Kentucky beat the crap out of Purdue in a preseason game.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: That's right.
But Kentucky, it's the, it's the Purdue outside Kentucky. I don't know that Louisville, like, like this schedule just does not. I guess where I'm going with this, I feel like what Arkansas has done, especially playing Duke in their most recent game, it feels like just, they are probably a little bit more prepared for the athleticism, pace, everything that goes into this game. Whereas I thought when Arkansas played Duke last week, I felt like Arkansas was on the short end of that stick based on what Duke had done scheduling up to then.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Yeah, so I think, I think I would agree with that. I think, you know, Arkansas needs to. Needs to show something and not to say that it hasn't because obviously it played. You know, I almost said North Carolina because we were talking about Kentucky. We played, played Duke close, played Michigan State real close. And Michigan State just beat the crap out of a good Iowa team last night, too. So, you know, and that game was never close.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Michigan State's a good team. Michigan State, I think they're a lot. I think they're a lot better than we realized at the time. Their office is starting to get attacked.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Together and, and their defense is impenetrable.
So, so not to say that Arkansas hasn't shown things because it has, you know, against those teams, you know, had the opportunity to win both of those games late and it just kind of, you know, faltered at the end.
What I, what I think I, I mean more by that is, you know, Arkansas needs to beat One of these good teams on its non conference schedule. I mean, you know, for as much as you can talk about, you know, Arkansas played really well and just came up short against Duke and Michigan State. You can also point to Arkansas played really poorly against Winthrop and Samford and almost, you know, really came to regret those performances. You know, right now, if you remove preseason bias on Torvik, Arkansas I think is 32, whereas Louisville is. Let me just check real quick. 7.
So yeah, you need to see Arkansas does need to win, I think one of these games, especially in the non conference, to, you know, I guess I don't know what the word I'm looking for is, but Arkansas certainly needs to, to, to find one. And you know, whether that's today or, you know, whenever that may be.
Yeah, this. But it, but it'll be, it'll be a fun game. I don't even know where I was going with that. I just kind of started rambling.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: But.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry everybody.
[00:29:07] Speaker D: No, you're good.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: I wonder with Louisville again because I'm not real impressed with the schedule that's played. You know, they're averaging like 14 offensive rebounds a game. I wonder how much of that is. They're a good offensive rebounding team and how much of that is they just haven't played a team that can keep them off the glass.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: And that's been Arkansas's problem.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: I think. Duke and Michigan State, yes, there were tons of other areas you can drill down on, but I think if you just really wanted to get down to the heart of it, if they can keep those teams from second chance opportunities, maybe cut their second chance opportunities in half, they may win both of those games.
Duke had 25 second chance points on not a whole lot of offensive rebounds. They were getting a lot of tip outs and threes.
And then Michigan State got a lot of second chance points against Arkansas too. That's, that's the whole key, it feels like for this team, and I mentioned something earlier this week, I think they're getting good play out of Trevin Brazil. They got to get Carter Knox going. There's no doubt about that. But the other thing that I think that is really important for this team is they have to figure out a way to get Nick Pringle and Malik Ewan playing well on the same night. Because I don't think maybe outside of Jackson State or another by game that doesn't count. Like they haven't, they haven't had a night where one of those guys or both of those guys are playing well typically. How it goes is once having an okay night, maybe a good night. You know, Nick Pringle had a pretty good, at least pretty good ending against Winthrop.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: But usually how it goes is somebody's going to give you seven to 10 points, maybe 12, and they're going to give you seven, eight rebounds, something like that, and the other is going to give you five fouls or four fouls, and they're going to be sitting for most of the game. And they got to figure out how to get both of them playing well, because it's not just been Pringles playing well and Ewan's in foul trouble. Against Duke, it was. Ewan gave them some stretches where he played well, but Pringle didn't get to see the floor a whole lot. And they've got to figure out a way to make those two.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: I hate to use the word coexist because it makes it sound like there's friction there between them. I don't mean that at all. But they got to be able to get them coexisting on the floor at the same time, or certainly where you can at least interchange them, take one out for the other.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I would agree with that. And I'm not sure what the answer to that is. I mean, there are people who, you know, you know, everybody on that staff has forgotten more about basketball than I'll probably ever know. So I. I think. I trust that. I trust them to. To figure it out more than I would myself. But, you know, you're. I think you're. You're spot on with that. I mean, you look at Arkansas, you know, it's. It's rebounding numbers, and we've gone, you know, we've gone over this, you know, just repeatedly throughout the season that it just hasn't been, you know, something that.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: How does it get better?
Like, how does it get better?
Is it. Is it. Is it a matter of keeping one of those big 610 guys out of foul trouble, or is there something else?
[00:32:09] Speaker B: I think there. I think that's certainly an element to it. As for exactly how it gets better, I don't fully know. I think, you know, you have to embrace the physicality, which is something that John Caliperi has talked a lot about, you know, just getting those. Those guys, you know, fully, fully in. And especially Malik Ewan, you know, that's something that he's talked about individually with him, you know, a lot.
So I think, yeah, you have to.
Yeah, I mean, foul trouble, even physicality, being physical without fouling, you know, or you know, some of those. Some of those things. So, yeah, it's, it's.
[00:32:47] Speaker D: It.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you look at, you know, Nick Pringle's, you know, offensive rebounding just in the last five games is, you know, he's got a 4.6% offensive rebounding rate, which is not great for, you know, 610 center.
So you need to get more of that. You need to get more.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess just production from your front court. You know, how, how you get those guys to do it, you know, individually and then do it together. You know, I'm not, I'm not fully certain on how. How you, you know, get. Get that.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: This feels like a better, like. Like for Arkansas. Defensively, it feels like a better matchup than Michigan State or Duke. I think because of the number one, Louisville is going to go with a lot of four guard lineup. They're going to shoot a lot of threes. So I don't know that they're going to be trying to go down and pound away in the paint the way that those two teams did.
Certainly there's not going to be a Cameron Boozer on the floor tonight, I don't think, for Louisville, unless he sneaks in the back door. And so Louisville's a 3 1/2 point favorite here on the road, which. That surprises me a little bit. I just. I don't know, maybe I'm.
And maybe I'm using past years to influence what I think about this matchup, but I feel like the matchup and Arkansas being at home is a favorable one for the Razorbacks tonight.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: I would think. I would tend to agree with that. You know, I don't want to, you know, downplay Santander fru. You know, he's, you know, he's a. He's a good big guy who's, you know, he's. He's been productive for Louisville.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: He's not Cameron Boozer.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And. And, you know, he's. There's not very many.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Can I say something about Boozer, by the way? We're talking about tv.
You were there, so I don't know how it felt watching it in person, but watching it on tv. Trevin Brazil is not a small guy. No, he looks tiny.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Huge.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: He looked tiny against Boozer. Yeah. And you're thinking Boozer. And here you got Brazil. He's what, 22, 23 years old, probably. Boozer's 18, 19.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Cameron Boozer looks like he was like, genetically engineered to be the best NBA player ever.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: He looks like, like I. All I could. All I Could think about as I was watching him was like, wait until he's had two or three years in an NBA strength training program.
The guy is.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: I mean, it's.
[00:34:56] Speaker A: You could say what you want to. About. We're letting him, you know, get away with walks and throw his elbows around or whatever. Like, just, just. I'm just talking about physically speaking. And then you throw the basketball component on it. He looks like he's special.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Like, he's like. I, I wrote about it, I tweeted about it, I talked about it. Like, he is.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: He took over that game. Unlike sometimes you'll see a guard take over a game. What was the little guy from Winthrop?
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Rosier.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Rosier. Yeah, he was. You know, he was hitting on threes from the parking lot, and he. So you see that from guards.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: You don't see that from big guys.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: You don't see it a whole lot from big guys. The way that he was just totally. But give Duke a lot of credit.
It was like, they're not stopping him, so why not just keep going through it?
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: And he's a good. He's a good passer.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: He's a great pastor.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: So that, that he made the pass last night to beat Florida.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Got trapped out on the perimeter, slipped it over to Evans and did a three to beat Florida.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: Yeah. No, so, I mean, he's, He's. He's special, man. Like, I, you know, I, I know that, you know, we'll get to see a lot of really good. We, we do get to see a lot of, you know, good freshman, just with Darius Auff and Malik Thomas, you know, every game. But, you know, this freshman class is so stacked. I mean, Nate Ament, I know he didn't have the greatest of games against Syracuse last night, and, you know, I watched that one, too. I'm making myself sound like a loser when I truthfully admit to watching all of these games. It's all I did last night. But.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: You know, Darren Peterson's been out for a while for Kansas, but he's incredible. And, you know, AJ Debanza, BYU is just, you know, he's. He's on another level as well. I mean, so, yeah, I mean, but Cameron Boozer, and maybe this is just me being biased for having actually gotten to see him in person and, you know, get to get to see just how much he can take over a game. But, like, I know the, The. The debate is him, Debancer or Peterson for the number one overall pick. And just based on what we've seen right now, I Don't know how you can't say it's Boozer, but, but yeah, I mean obviously Peterson is special and Devan says is special as well. So you know, that's, that's another thing that, you know, NBA front offices get.
They know more about basketball than I do, so I'll let them make the decision.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Arkansas needs this game tonight. I just, they need this game. They've, they've missed on Michigan State and Duke. They got a really tough one with Houston coming up in a couple of weeks. Texas Tech.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: Texas Tech, I know is maybe not as.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: I feel like Houston's a lot tougher matchup than Texas Tech. Texas. And in Dallas when they play Texas Tech, that has the potential to be a lot more friendly crowd to Arkansas. Not that I don't know what you expect in New Jersey.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: No clue.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: Arkansas, Houston, the weekend before Christmas.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: Houston in Newark, New Jersey.
[00:37:47] Speaker A: You know, maybe they get the Devils fans to come out and cheer, just pick, fill up the arena. But they, they need this game for their resume. I mean, they can go into the SEC and they can do well in the sec. I don't think they're in any danger as of right now of not making the NCAA tournament, but they need, they need one or two of these non conference games to really bolster their resume and not have to rely on that 12 and 6 type SEC campaign.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Yeah, no, for sure. Especially with the SEC not being as deep as it was last year. And I don't think anybody came into the year expecting the SEC to be the same as it was a year ago, just because I don't think that is, you know, a sustainable level of success. Just because you get 14 teams into the NCAA tournament. That's just not going to happen every year, you know, and I can, I can wax poetic about Texas and Oklahoma not being worthy of being in the tournament, you know, for, for quite some time.
But regardless, they were in the tournament. So, you know, there's no, oh, I just kicked the desk.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: No, you're good. Sorry. Everybody make sure it doesn't fall down.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: But you know, it's. So you're not going to have as many opportunities in, in SEC play this year. And with fewer opportunities means, you know, your road loss to lsu, your road loss to South Carolina last year, those become a lot worse for tournament resumes because you don't have, you know, Mississippi State isn't as good as it was last year. So, you know, turning around after the South Carolina loss and beating Mississippi State, you know, I don't think that balances out again this year, you know, and maybe this all turns out to be incorrect and the SEC is what it is, but you know, the ACC is leading the ACC SEC challenge right now.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: I was going to say three, right?
[00:39:29] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Six to three, Georgia, OU and A and M one last night. But none of those were real high profile games. In the high profile games, the acc, they won. Syracuse upset Tennessee. If you want to call it an.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Upset, I would certainly call it an upset.
I don't think Syracuse, Syracuse is not.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: A team super high. But with it being in the dome, that offsets it a little bit. Anytime, anytime I see Syracuse playing at home, I think that they've got a pretty good chance to win. Duke beat Florida last night. North Carolina beat Kentucky last night. So yeah, in the high profile games, the ACC's up there. Tonight's games in this SEC ACC challenge. Or is it the ACC SEC challenge?
If you're talking to people from Charlotte or Birmingham, here's the game tonight. Boston College is hosting lsu.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: That is going to be an incredible one.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: Clemson's at Alabama.
That's not football.
Louisville obviously here. And the rest of them. Mississippi State goes to Georgia Tech. NC State goes to Auburn.
SMU goes to Vanderbilt. Maybe they can take the SCT after. And Virginia and Texas will play tonight in Austin.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: You know that SMU Vanderbilt game is one that I don't think enough people are talking about. That SMU team is, is undefeated and beat a really solid Butler team already this year. And Vanderbilt has looked awesome, you know, so that's my under underrated game of the day.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: I guess it'll be interesting. The SEC needs a good night tonight. That's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 games. They're three games back so they got to have a big night tonight. I have to salvage this.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: They've got a lot of home home arenas tonight, if I'm not mistaken. And I don't think Boston College should count.
Boston College should go to the A10 or something like that because Boston College stinks.
[00:41:21] Speaker A: We'll be back here on the podcast tomorrow to talk about this Arkansas Louisville game. You can certainly read about all of it tonight at our website whole hogsports.com hope to see you there or on our podcast tomorrow. Have a great day everybody.
