The Arkansas Razorbacks got absolutely embarrassed against Mississippi State, one of the worst teams in the SEC. The Hogs lost 78-46 to a team they beat 82-68 at home. The tradition of losing big on the road and being a middle of the pack SEC team seems to be something that Arkansas can’t shake, regardless of who the coach is.
Arkansas basketball used to be great. It’s not anymore. It’s time that fans realize this. The kids that are being recruited to come play for the Hogs don’t remember Nolan, Corliss, or 1994. They certainly don’t remember or know anything about Arkansas basketball before Nolan arrived, despite the decades of not just relevance, but of success.
Mike Anderson was supposed to be the guy to right the ship. After the failed tenures of Stan Heath and John Pelphrey, Anderson was going to bring 40 minutes of Hell back to Bud Walton. Which, to his credit, he’s done…kinda. The Hogs are still world beaters at home, or at least they can be when they have the right players.
And more to Mike’s credit, this is the first year that we’ve seen real regression in the play on the court. Obviously, the first wave of success peaked last year, when Arkansas went 27-9 and went to the second round of the NCAA tournament. That was a fun year, for sure.
But if you were to ask one of the fans who have jumped off the Mike wagon, they’d claim that 1 NCAA tournament appearance in 5 years is not enough. It’s especially not worth the massive $2.2 million dollar a year salary that Anderson has after his extension last year. And you know what? These folks aren’t wrong, either.
The Arkansas basketball program is in dire need of stability and success. Anderson, despite what other people may tell you, has delivered both of those things to the school. He is 98-60 (.620) in his time at Arkansas, which pretty much falls in line with his overall career win/loss numbers of 298-158 (.654). It’s interesting to note, that when Mike Anderson notches his 100th win with the program (which he’ll do this season…hopefully), it will also be his 300th overall win as a head coach. 300 wins is nothing to scoff at in college basketball.
And yet, a growing contingency of fans (and even some writers here at Razorbackers) are over the Mike Anderson era. Their complaints are not invalid, and are pretty hard to argue against. First off, this is his 5th year, and we’re already rebuilding. While a 27-9 record in 2015 was awesome, it immediately led into a potentially sub-.500 season. How did the team fall this hard? Losing Portis and Qualls hurt, but the fact is, Mike Anderson was unable to get the recruits in place to keep this team from floundering in 2016. That’s just how it is.
Which ties into the doubter’s second, and probably most legitimate, gripe about Anderson: Recruiting. Mike has only signed one top 30 class in his time at Arkansas, and it’s showing right now. The starting 5 for the Hogs are solid, but the team takes an immediate and noticeable dip in both offensive and defensive production as the subs come into the game.
Not to mention the loss of in-state talent that has happened under Mike. There have been (off the top of my head) 4 major recruiting battles occur within our borders for a player, and Anderson lost 3 of them. Archie Goodwin and Malik Monk went to Kentucky, and Kevaughn Allen is at Florida. Only Portis ended up in Cardinal & White. From losing big in-state talent to conference rivals, to swinging and missing on big time players in seemingly every class, the Anderson doubters certainly have a lot of fuel for the fire when you look at Mike’s recruiting.
Lastly, and maybe overall most importantly, Mike hasn’t been overly successful as Arkansas. Has he failed? Of course not. We’ve seen failure. But the Hogs currently sit at 12-12 in year 5, meaning that Mike will still have only taken 1 team to the NCAA tournament. And it’s not like Mike has been barely missing the NCAAT. He’s only taken one other team to the postseason, and that was 2 years ago in the NIT. And unless this team gets their head out of their collective asses, then the Hogs won’t be going to the NIT this year either.
However, there’s another side to this argument. First off, every team not Kentucky/Duke/Kansas/UNC has to rebuild, and even those teams take dips every now and then. Arkansas lost four 1,000 point scorers off of last year’s squad. In fact, many analysts for ESPN/SEC Network think that Mike has done an outstanding job in 2016 with the team he has.
Mike Anderson has taken a team that is missing lots of pieces, and could potentially make the NIT. He’s knocked off some big time teams this year. 9 of the Hogs 12 losses have been by 10 points or less. In a lot of ways, this Arkansas team is a few lucky bounces or shots away from a bubble NCAAT team.
Of course, the wins didn’t happen. But Anderson just led the Hogs to their most wins since 1995 last year. And, if you go back and look at what happened after the championship winning team started to graduate and leave, the Hogs took a dip. From 30+ wins in 1995, to 20 wins in 1996, to 18 wins in 1997. Granted…Nolan made the Sweet Sixteen in that stretch, but that was an insane run the Hogs went on.
Everyone takes a dip, and the Hogs are in one right now. I, like all of you, watched that Mississippi State game and literally felt sick I was so mad. Lazy, crappy, and embarrassing basketball was on display. And as bad/mad as you feel about it, imagine being Mike or one of those players. They didn’t go out there to play bad…it just happened. Things will get better for this team this season, and will probably be a lot better in 2017.
As Anderson has said in press conferences, this team isn’t rebuilding, they’re reloading. Arkansas is bringing in 3 highly regarded All-American JUCO players in next year’s class. They will be joined by Dusty Hannahs, Moses Kingsley, Anton Beard, and Jimmy Whitt.
That team, on paper, should be pretty damn good. At least they better be. To answer the question that I posed in the title, Mike Anderson’s seat is only warm with some fans right now. But let me tell you something…if Anderson doesn’t make the NCAAT next year with that lineup, then he might be gone. But that’s next year. Even if the Hogs lose out in this season, Mike isn’t going anywhere.
More razorbacks: SEC Valentines Day
And honestly, who would you hire? Arkansas has had some pretty crappy luck when it comes to hiring coaches. Do we go for the successful mid-major coach? Swing and a miss. How about the successful assistant from a major program? Strike two! So be honest with yourself…are you already willing to give up the guy that gets you solid singles and doubles on the chance of a triple or homerun? Cause we’ve struck out a lot recently.
Also why am I using baseball metaphors in a basketball article? Losing to MSU really did a number to me…