At that exact instant my excitation about next year's skyrocketed I knew it was a pivotal moment!!! Then when Dillingham said his shot was because of John Welch, man that was a direct shot at Cal's horrific offensive failing
Honest opinion about Arkansas roster
- Thread starter DaDirtyLeb69
- Start date
We've seen a whole bunch of times what happens when Cow doesn't have multiple shooters on the floor at all times, he struggles to score, especially without a very dominating Big Man down low. That's a group I can see having problems with a good passing well spaced organized team, ahem.
You know the injury bug is so bad with Cow because he's actually prioritizing the draft stock of a player by giving them an inbuilt injury excuse as to their underwhelming numbers. At teams expense, of course, like Sharpe.
I agree with this. We all know suspect shooting leads his teams to struggle to score.
Arkansas despite my anger for Cal is a really good roster if it stays healthy. Wagner was good till he got hurt , Davis is a Stud and Z I believe makes a huge leap also Thiero is pretty good. On paper yeah they're better . I still don't care I love entering the season fresh and lots of possibilities with a really deep roster.
These are the facts TONS of people are denying or ignoring constantly, then say you don't know what your talking about lol
I actually think this roster is similar to Cal’s rosters prior to the last 4-5 years. Everybody harps on scoring as an issue with the last 3-4 teams prior to this last one. But the true issue was defense. Cal got a reputation as a not good but great defensive coach prior to the pandemic. He switched his emphasis to shooting and took some really bad defensive players, who to be honest were not the kind of tough players that he build his Memphis and early Uk teams with. It culminated in the worse defensive team UK has had in decades. I look for Cal to get back to a team built on defense and rebounding moving forward at ARK.
It’ll require a lot of development, and I don’t think Cal or his staff can do that anymore
Actually Huntley Hatfield was their best player by far. Their guard play was not too bad they just didn’t have much outside them 3. Johnson has promise but can’t shoot, and Clarke scores but doesn’t do much else to win. Plus he’s on a new team ever year.
This Arkansas roster is one mid-level team with a 2-3 zone and a 26 year old ymca 3 point shooter away from being eliminated in the first round of the NCAA.
They have no shooting that equals disaster in todays game!!
Two honest opinions about Arky roster.
1) Nobody has ever really thought too much about their roster. I don't say that to intentionally be an ***, nor because of Cal. I say that as a casual observer of sports, specifically SEC sports. They've always had walmart, tyson, and jerry jones money, if not to give directly to athletes, to support the athletics department in terms of everything else...pay coaching staffs, support staffs, facilities, recruiting budgets, etc. They are what they are.
To be fair, most people probably don't pay much attention, nor worry about UK football and that's fair.
2) Their roster and coach look a lot like the roster and coach that essentially got run out of town here.
They'll most likely be an upgrade by hog standards. They have some blue chip talent, they have some NBA talent, they'll have some good highlights.
1) Nobody has ever really thought too much about their roster. I don't say that to intentionally be an ***, nor because of Cal. I say that as a casual observer of sports, specifically SEC sports. They've always had walmart, tyson, and jerry jones money, if not to give directly to athletes, to support the athletics department in terms of everything else...pay coaching staffs, support staffs, facilities, recruiting budgets, etc. They are what they are.
To be fair, most people probably don't pay much attention, nor worry about UK football and that's fair.
2) Their roster and coach look a lot like the roster and coach that essentially got run out of town here.
They'll most likely be an upgrade by hog standards. They have some blue chip talent, they have some NBA talent, they'll have some good highlights.
There is obviously talent there.
The question is coaching, and I'm not just talking Cal. Welch was the only good assistant UK had, and he bolted after one year with Cal. Who coachs their offense? I just don't see those assistants being able to do something different than what UK did the past 5 years.
The question is coaching, and I'm not just talking Cal. Welch was the only good assistant UK had, and he bolted after one year with Cal. Who coachs their offense? I just don't see those assistants being able to do something different than what UK did the past 5 years.
I think there would be lots of hand wringing if Cal had that roster going into next season at Kentucky.
Let us be honest. Several of the AR players have high potential but have not shown they can be consistent great players. Big Z, Thiero, Richmond, Knox, Brazile and Wagner have all shown signs. Listening to the national media you would think all these guys are 4 year proven players.
Well Pope came in and landed the exact type of players that handle that issue. We’ve got all conference defenders and offensive minded players to fit his system.
Calipari doesn’t recruit either. The first thing he does is look for who’s got the best measurables / reputation / NBA prospects early. That’s number 1. And that’s where his roster building goes to sht. You cannot rely on that anymore because the NBA doesn’t draft the best they draft the best measurables and they don’t care how raw the player is. Calipari wants NBA players first regardless if they can contribute. Just look at some of the pogo sticks who couldn’t do anything at UK but jump. His last 2/3 years at Arkansas will be nothing but loading up on these types to send as many pro as he can before making his exit. It won’t be about winning at Arkansas past a year or two.
The guy is a grade A con job and we gave him 7 years too many to play these games.
No doubt. I hope they get bounced by someone like Grand Canyon.
On paper, I'd argue that team SHOULD be in The Elite 8, but you could have also said the same thing about the past 3 Calipari teams. So, there's that.
Calipari loves the chip on his shoulder mentality though. The environment change could possibly push him over the hump and I think that's probable.
I am somewhat skpetical Arkansas keeps the momentum after this season though, especially given that 90% of the roster was recruited to go to Kentucky -- not Arkansas.
Calipari loves the chip on his shoulder mentality though. The environment change could possibly push him over the hump and I think that's probable.
I am somewhat skpetical Arkansas keeps the momentum after this season though, especially given that 90% of the roster was recruited to go to Kentucky -- not Arkansas.
I'm sure they'll get the newcomers excited when they tell them "listen, our offense works. We played for Cal".
I just don't think it's that great of a roster. It is pretty much our roster last year minus Reed and Rob (swap Davis for Reeves). I just think they will struggle to score enough from outside but it's by no means a bad roster. They should make the tournament for sure but idk I like our roster much better.
It could be a really good one. Davis, Fland, and Brazile are good. It will depend on how big of a jump Z makes, Wagner improves in his second year. Theiro if healthy will be solid. I loved the Karter Knox signing when he signed to play at UK, not going to change my opinion because he is no longer a Cat. He will be a good one. Richmond ? Who knows, but effort, hustle plays, and defense will not be an issue with him. IF and a BIG IF, Z makes the jump, Wagner had a solid second year, they will be tough. JMO.
Karter Knox is a typical Calipari recruit. Likely to contribute very little year one, definitely not going to produce when the lights are on in the tournament too young not old enough, and he’ll jump to the NBA even if he’s late second round. Knox is the exact type of recruit you want to avoid if winning big is your goal, which for Calipari it’s not the goal so it fits him. When Calipari signed Knox I wanted him gone moreso
Than I had before. It showed he absolutely did not understand nor care about the necessary change we needed to make.
Their team is going to struggle shooting the ball and half the roster will bail after an early exit. It’s literally the same deal we’d been dealing with. I have no idea why you’d get excited that much over Knox. He is the type of recruit that is one of the reasons Calipari is not at UK lol
"too young not old enough, " WTF is this even suppose to mean ? I guess too young would not be old enough, lol. Also, another thing that confused me. Why did you start a new paragraph mid-sentence after the word moreso ???? I THINK you are trying to come across a tad bit more intelligent than you really are.
Well, you have your opinion on Karter Knox, I have mine. We both are entitled to them, we will see who is right.
Well, you have your opinion on Karter Knox, I have mine. We both are entitled to them, we will see who is right.
He'll put up 8 points a game on 45 percent from the field. And declare for the draft, while thanking Pig nation.
What scares me about Ark is if Z improves his strength and conditioning he could become a lottery pick beast. Of course they'd have to feature him and use him appropriately which might be asking too much.
Knox shot 34% from 3-point range for OTE last year. That was a lower percentage than Justin Edwards shot last year. I don't think that is what you want from a "shooter."
I do not blame Ark fans being high on Cal. I did the same thing. I heard all the rumors and opinions from UMass and Memphis fans, but I wasn't trying to hear any of it. I think they will end up. just like we did though.
I just don't think he's going to want to share the ball all that much of this year and maybe neither Davis or Fland and what about perimeter defense again?
As I"ve said before, his first year there will be his best. Not sure how good it will be, but either way, either he has more success than UK (which will cause him to have the "OK, nothing more to prove" moment he had after 2012) or he'll fail to deliver which will take the last of the wind out of his coaching sails. Next year is his best at arky...book it.
Article from an AR writer said something to the effect that Cal is a great threat to college basketball or something like that. Said with his 'change in philosophy' he is a dangerous man, so to speak, to the college basketball world. I had not seen where he has changed his philosophy. He told the AR fans putting players first is the way they do things and it won't change. What did the writer mean?
John Calipari was a hungry M’fer when he came to Lexington 15 years ago.
Arkansas is getting the Jordan/Wizards or Shaq/Celtics version of John Calipari.
Cal said he finally figured out you couldn't win in the transfer portal era playing 5 freshmen, thus he was building a roster of older players to go along with a couple of 5 star recruits so he can win championships while still putting his players first.
I guess all us Ole dumb@$$ BBN bennies were right all along. It only took Cal 15 years to figure out what many of us already knew. Grown @$$ men will beat your skinny little freshmen most of the time, especially when it really counts....NCAA Tournament time.
Kal will plant his *** in the paint so he won't be able to utilize his skillset. Plus, he's playing behind Aidoo so he won't be on the floor much anyway. Not worried about Z (playing for Kal anyway).
I think Kal knew you couldn't win with just freshmen but he wanted to prove everyone wrong, including The Bennies. Our freshmen this past NCAAT looked scared to death. I swear it looked like their eyes were the size of trash can lids.
And there's no doubt in my mind that as bad as DJ Wagner was, Kal would've pushed him out the door if he were still at UK. Now that he is out to prove himself, he recruited DJ to Arkansas. Pisses me off.
I just don’t think a 7’2” 240 pound guy that averaged 5 points a game and was such a liability defensively is going to become an
NBA lottery pick.