Razorbacks Basketball: 40 Minutes of Meh

I don’t think anyone expected this 2015-2016 Arkansas Razorbacks basketball season to be good. Certainly we didn’t expect another NCAA tournament appearance or anything. Personally, I tried all offseason to make sure my expectations were accordingly tapered. The Hogs had lost Portis, Qualls, and three of the next 4 players that saw significant playing time last year. It was going to be bad.

The recruiting class that was supposed to come in would have helped a lot, obviously. Jimmy Whitt has shown that he was worthy of being a 4 star guard. It certainly would have been nice for Ted Kapita to have made campus. We’ll talk more about that further down in the article.

Despite my attempts to control my expectations for this team, they’ve somehow left me feeling a little lost and confused. The pre-conference play schedule for the Razorbacks wasn’t exactly difficult. But with only 2 games left before SEC play starts, the Hogs sit at 5-5, with wins over no one of significance, and losses to any team that kind of mattered.

Dec 19, 2015; Little Rock, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jimmy Whitt (24) drives to the basket defended by Mercer Bears guard Demetre Rivers (23) in the first half at Verizon Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Trying to pick the team’s best win so far is about as hard as picking their worst loss. Was it giving up a 20+ point lead in the second half against Stanford? Or last night’s overtime loss to Mercer? I don’t know. Pick your poison, I guess. When this team plays good, they are an ok team. But on night’s when they can’t shoot well from 3, they won’t beat anyone.

The Mercer game last night wasn’t on TV, as we discussed before tipoff. Honestly, it’s probably a good thing that nobody saw that game. In case you haven’t heard, the score was 19-17 at half, with Mercer leading. Moses Kingsley was the leading scorer on the night with 18 points, and he had a solid game overall. He added 14 rebounds and 2 blocks to his stats.

The problem is that the Razorbacks live and die off their outside shooting ability, which wasn’t great in the game. Arkansas shot 38% from field goal range, and were 7-16 from behind the arc. Which may not sound overly atrocious, but it’s not good enough for a team that only had 26 of their 66 points come from inside the paint. The Razorbacks are completely dependent upon guard play, and it just wasn’t on point last night.

And that’s going to happen. I’m not upset that we lost to Mercer. I’m upset that we’re back to the point that we’re losing to Mercer, and the fanbase expected it and honestly doesn’t care about it. That’s where I found myself last night after the game; In a state of “meh”. We all just expect this team not to be good, which is why I’m starting to get concerned.

The Razorbacks lost everything from last year’s team, basically. So a drop was expected. The problem that I have is the recruiting class that was brought in to replace them…it’s non-existent. At one time, it was a small but solid class with Kapita and Whitt. But then Kapita decided to not be academically eligible, and Anderson was not able to find a replacement. At all.

Replacing Kapita, a 4 star PF with a very high ceiling, was Lorenzo Jenkins, an unranked small forward with only 1 major college offer…from us. I’m not saying that Jenkins won’t pan out as a nice role player. What I’m saying is that the Razorbacks dropped the ball on recruiting last year, simple as that.

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And while I’m definitely excited for the talented JUCO guys that we’ll have coming in next year, it doesn’t change the fact that for a lot of Hog fans, the only recruit that mattered is going to be in blue and white next year. The poor play this season, the poor class that came in, and the loss of in state recruits have left fans of the Razorbacks in a state of “meh” for this season.

And it’s not just in the attitude about the team that is “meh”. That attitude is reflected in the overall interest in the team by fans. Ask any writer from any Arkansas Razorbacks website. Basketball articles this year aren’t very popular. It doesn’t matter the content or the quality. Fans just don’t care, and they don’t care so much that they won’t spend time reading about it.

So it should come as no surprise that attendance at the games hasn’t exactly been setting records this year. With Christmas break basically underway, I wouldn’t expect many students at the games for the next couple of weeks, either. It’s going to be quiet in Bud Walton arena. Just a whole lot of meh.

We’ve seen what Mike Anderson can do when he gets the right players in the right roles. Now he just has to go find them again.