Tag: Arkansas UCONN

OK, so what’s next? Examining where this year’s Arkansas players may be next year

Everyone on the Arkansas roster except Kamani Johnson can return next year. But the Hogs won’t see everyone but Kamani return next year.

Arkansas’ weird, wild season is over. In some ways, it went about how it was expected. In others, not even close.

Injuries changed the the teams’ fortunes from basically the word go. Nick Smith Jr., the nation’s top recruit, played in just 17 games and never really hit his stride. Trevon Brazile didn’t make it double-digits as a torn ACL limited him to just nine games.

Arkansas fought from a 1-5 start in SEC play and a regular-season losing streak of three that saw the Hogs finish below .500 in league play. But a magical NCAA Tournament run saw Arkansas beat Illinois in the first round and No. 1 seed Kansas in the second before UConn brought things to a halt Thursday night, 88-65.

Eyes immediately go to the offseason, where Arkansas could see as many as five players drafted.

Could.

A more likely scenario is that two Arkansas players from this year’s roster are almost certainly gone, a third is likely leaning that way and a fourth is totally up in the air. The fifth? He should be back.

So who’s who? Let’s take a look at everyone on the Hogs roster next year – not including incoming freshmen Layden Blocker and Baye Fall – and where they stand heading into next year.

Has the next Nick Smith Jr. era at Arkansas come to an end?

“Whatever I do next year, I’ll be ready,” Smith said.

Asking players who are likely to go to the NBA, or even those who are on the borderline, whether or not it was their last game in a college uniform after a loss in the NCAA Tournament is bad form.

But if you’re an Arkansas fan, it’s the question most on the mind right now when it comes to Nick Smith Jr., Anthony Black, Trevon Brazile, Jordan Walsh and Ricky Council. All five could have NBA futures. Smith and Black are projected lottery picks.

Smith is the only Arkansas native of the bunch. He was the No. 1 recruit in the country coming out of North Little Rock last year and was expected to be a one-and-done player who headed straight to the NBA after his freshman season.

That part hasn’t changed. The context has.

Smith played in 17 games this year for the Razorbacks as a knee injury kept him out for half the season. As such, he never really had an opportunity to become himself or showcase the game that made him a player that was once called the likely second-overall pick for the draft. He was, appropriately, non-committal about his future after Arkansas’ 88-65 loss in the Sweet 16 to Connecticut on Thursday.

“Whatever I do moving forward, I can take this knowledge I have now and go into offseason, train as hard as I can. Most importantly, just get healthy,” Smith said. “Whatever I do next year, I’ll be ready. I don’t know what the future may hold.”

Smith averaged almost 13 points a game in his limited action, playing about 26 minutes per game. Between the knee injury and that on-court production, few are considering him as the second-overall pick anymore. But he’s also not exactly crashed. He’s still a projected top-10 selection.

“Just the adversity and coming back on the court, probably one of the, it touched my heart a bit, that moment. I appreciate the fans. I appreciate my parents. I appreciate my friends and family stick behind me no matter what the situation was. By this time next year, I’ll be ready.”

The deadline to declare for the draft is April 23.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=130]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Photo gallery: Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament run ended by UConn

As college kids say: Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. Arkansas’ season is over.

Arkansas entered the season with massive expectations. Then injuries hit, they did.

Arkansas had to fight from a poor SEC start. They did.

Arkansas had to fight through a tough SEC finish. They did.

Arkansas had to beat a tough Illinois team and one of the NCAA Tournament favorites to make a third straight Sweet 16. They did.

Arkansas needed to beat Connecticut in Las Vegas on Thursday to make it three straight Elite Eights.

They did not.

The fourth-seeded Huskies rolled, 88-65, to clinch that spot and send Arkansas’ wild season to a conclusion. UConn dominated on both ends, shooting 57% and holding the Hogs to 32%.

Coach Eric Musselman didn’t give up when his team was down by 29 points in the second half. He put on a full-court press and tried to rally his team. Arkansas went on a 10-run before UConn made three straight 3-pointers to seal things late.

Smiles on one side. Tears on the other. Arkansas’ season is over.

The luck is out: Arkansas falls to Connecticut in Sweet 16 domination

The 1996 Chicago Bulls would have had trouble with UConn on Thursday. Arkansas never stood a chance.

Sometimes the basketball gods are on your side.

Thursday was not one of those times for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks’ surprise NCAA Tournament ended in Las Vegas in difficult fashion. Fourth-seeded Connecticut beat the eighth-seeded Razorbacks, 88-65, in a game that was only close for about 10 minutes.

Arkansas had no answer for Connecticut’s size on the inside. UConn outscored the Hogs in the paint, 42-24, outrebounded them, 43-31 and shot 57% to Arkansas’ 32%.

A 14-0 UConn run midway through the first half was the early signal. Jordan Walsh had a jumper just off the lane with 12:04 left to pull Arkansas within three points, 20-17. Five different Huskies combined for the next 14 points.

That was the story. Connecticut didn’t have just one or two players dominate. The whole roster chipped in. All eight players who played significant minutes scored led by Jordan Hawkins’ 24. At one point, UConn led by as many as 29 points in the second half.

Arkansas had three players in double figures – Anthony Black, Ricky Council and Nick Smith Jr. – but the other six players to scored combined for just 17, about half of which came in the final minutes when the outcome was not in doubt.

Connecticut will be either No. 3 Gonzaga or No. 2 UCLA for a Final Four bid on Saturday.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Hogs fans react to UConn’s dominating first half in Sweet 16

UConn went on a 14-0 run in the first half to take total control and send Hogs fans into a spiral.

The first 20 minutes of Arkansas’ game against Connecticut in the Sweet 16 on Thursday evening did not go the way the Razorbacks had hoped.

UConn went on a 14-0 run midway through the half and opened a lead as large 17, ultimately going ahead 46-29 at the break. The Huskies dominated on the glass, outrebounding Arkansas, 22-9, and kept the Hogs looking frazzled the whole time.

Arkansas hurt its own case by simply not making shots. That size that played so well for UConn was intimidating on the interior. The Hogs shot just 33% while UConn shot 61%. The Huskies doubled them up on the inside, too, with a 12-point advantage on points in the paint.

It all left Arkansas fans exasperated.

Jordan Walsh has quietly become Arkansas’ most important role player

Jordan Walsh is Arkansas basketball’s X-factor and it’s a role that he’s fully embraced as the season has gone on.

Over the last two games there have been countless plays and big moments that helped put Arkansas into the Sweet Sixteen.

What won’t show up in the highlight reels or box scores is the impact that freshman forward [autotag]Jordan Walsh[/autotag] has had in the first two games of the NCAA Tournament.

He doesn’t have the flashy point totals, he’s not the team’s leading rebounder or shot blocker, but he’s been making a difference on the floor in ways that aren’t quantified by the box score.

The only stat that does somewhat depict his importance is the plus/minus, which basically states how much better a team is when a certain player is on the floor vs. when they’re on the bench. Positive plus/minus is usually good, negative plus/minus is usually not so good.

In Walsh’s 50 minutes of action over the first two tournament games he was +22 in the win over Illinois and +12 in the win over Kansas. That means that the Hogs are 34 points better with Walsh on the floor than they are with him on the bench in the first two rounds of the [autotag]NCAA Tournament[/autotag].

“Coming into college as a McDonald’s All-American, most people think you want to go out and score 20 points and get 10 assists and 12 rebounds. But that wasn’t really my mentality coming in,” said Walsh earlier this week.

“My role has kind of fallen into being that glue guy. We have a lot of older guys who are better at scoring and better at reading plays than I am, like Devo and Ricky,” continued Walsh. “They’re bred for these types of scenarios. You could say I have the easy job, just picking up the gap that’s left, and that’s kind of what I’ve done.”

At times this season, Walsh has struggled to find that right fit with this team. He has the size and athleticism to be able to change games, but lacked confidence in offense and was over-aggressive on the defensive end – usually leading to foul trouble. As we’ve gotten later in the year, Walsh has been much better about keeping his aggressive style of defending without fouling.

Over the last two games, though, it’s clear that Walsh is playing the best basketball of his young Razorback career. That trend will need to continue on Thursday against UConn if Arkansas wants to advance to a third consecutive Elite Eight.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=130]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Arkansas vs. UConn: The Complete Basketball History

Pat Bradley. Pookie Modica. B.J. Young. Jaylen Barford. They’ve all had their shot at UConn.

Thursday’s game between Arkansas and Connecticut isn’t just a Sweet 16 game. It’s a game between two of the highest-profile programs in the country for the last 30 years.

Certainly, UConn’s star has been brighter for a bulk of that time. But Arkansas was coming off Final Fours of its own in the late 90s, then again in the mid 90s. After a dry spell, Mike Anderson turned the Hogs into regular NCAA Tournament-border teams and Eric Musselman has catapaulted Arkansas to three straight Sweet 16s.

Weirdly enough, despite the prestige, the two teams have met only four times in the past and never in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, each previous meeting was in a tournament, just not that one.

Let’s look at back the short history between two of the country’s best.1

Arkansas vs. UConn: Comparing the teams by the numbers – Huskies have advantage

Connecticut is favored for a reason. Arkansas has one area it can take advantage of, though.

Connecticut is the higher-ranked seed. Las Vegas favors the Huskies. They’ve been here more often. Their numbers are better.

Just about everything in the world points to UConn being the favorite in the Sweet 16 against Arkansas on Saturday. For our purposes, we’re going to take a look at that last part.

Numbers are what they are. They tell a story of what’s happened, but not necessarily what will happen. Things can still be gleaned from data, though, that suggest an outcome. It’s why managers select pinch-hatters or, more to the point of Hogs hoops, why Eric Musselman changes his rotations so significantly from game to game.

What the Arkansas coach has done in the last week has worked like a charm. Kamani Johnson up. Nick Smith down. The Razorbacks’ games played the way that would yield those as the best results.

But when tip comes Saturday, another set of decisions come with it. Here are some of the (admittedly more basic) numbers that go into such things. Let’s compare Arkansas and UConn this season.