Hogs have ‘tall order’ to fill next season
FAYETTEVILLE — The coming so close to advancing past topseed and Final Four bound North Carolina in the second round of the South Regional may never cease frustrating Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, but its pain is eased taking stock of the Razorbacks’ 26-10 season.
Anderson said as much Monday reviewing his Razorbacks’ SEC third-place 12-6 finish followed by advancing to the SEC Tournament championship game and finally finishing in the Round of 32 at the NCAA Tournament defeating Seton Hall and leading North Carolina by five late before losing 72-65 in the South Regional’s second round game at Greenville, S.C.
Arkansas’ season seems all the more impressive since the teams finishing ahead of them in the
SEC, SEC regular-season/SEC Tournament champion Kentucky and SEC runner-up Florida, both concluded their season’s at the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, while South Carolina, tied for third with Arkansas in the SEC but seeded fourth in the SEC Tournament because Arkansas beat the Gamecocks head to head in Columbia, S.C., advances to Saturday’s Final Four in Phoenix.
Nationally basketball belittled, the SEC made the national pundits look foolish with its five entrants going 11-4 in the Big Dance while Frank Martin’s Gamecocks can sing “By The Time I Get to Phoenix” and the chance to win it all.
“I am happy for Frank and happy for them, and it tells you the strength of our league,” Anderson said. “They finished fourth in our league and they are in the Final Four. That says a lot of our league right there.”
And Arkansas certainly did its SEC part. “I thought this team still played some really good basketball, and so to see it end against a very good North Carolina team, the way it did, it’s kind of disheartening,” Anderson said. “But at the same time thought we surely saw this team make basketball relevant here at the University of Arkansas across the nation. And we also are seeing it being relevant from a SEC standpoint. Three teams in the Sweet Sixteen with a fourth one that should have been there. But all we can do is learn from it and grow and go to the next level.”
Anderson credited the team’s three seniors, center Moses Kingsley and guards Manny Watkins and Dusty Hannahs, for leading the Hogs all season, particularly during a rough patch when the Hogs lost three of four.
“When we had some adversity take place, I thought our guys learned from it,” Anderson said. “I commend our seniors. We were 17-7, but you’d have thought we were 10-10 or something. But our guys didn’t listen to the noise.”
Replacing 6-10 center Kingsley literally is the tallest order.
Trey Thompson, the 6-9 senior-to-be from Madison via Forrest City, gets first shot. He was both Kingsley’s backup and often accomplice, sharing the power forward spot with fellow seniors-to-be Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook.
“I think it’s Trey’s time,” Anderson said. “He really came on for us big time. Now the dedication that he put into this summer has got to continue next summer. He’s a senior now, and I think he wants to be that guy.”
Look for Daniel Gafford, the 6-11 incoming freshman phenom from El Dorado to fit into the big man picture, too.
“He’s a shot-blocking machine, rebounder extraordinaire, and he can really run the floor,” Anderson said. “He won’t back down from anyone. He can score on the block. He can come out on the floor and guard a guard and guard a forward. I like his toughness.”
Darious Hall of Little Rock Mills is another highly recruited forward joining sophomore forwards Adrio Bailey, Brachen Hazen, Thomas, Cook and Thompson in various roles up front while incoming freshman guard Khalil Garland of Little Rock Parkview helps cushion the absences of Hannahs and Watkins.
Sophomore-to-be C.J. Jones could take up some of outside shooting slack that Hannahs leaves behind. Senior-to-be point guard Anton Beard of North Little Rock will be asked more than ever to blend leadership with explosive senior-to-be, second-year to be junior college transfer guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon.
If Macon returns. A noncommittal “no comment” regarding the Razorbacks’ future when asked in the postgame hurt of the Arkansas loss to North Carolina even as he scored a team-leading 19 points, has created questions if Macon, previously at Holmes (Miss) Community College, might go pro rather than return to Arkansas.
However, though only scoring seven points against Seton Hall, Little Rock Parkview grad Macon was so thrilled to be part of an Arkansas NCAA Tournament victory that he said postgame: “Man, that was the best game I’ve played all year as just far as excitement. This is exactly why I came back to my state. I’m a Razorback for life.”
Anderson said he will meet individually with all his Razorbacks just back off last week’s spring break and expects all to return.
“I anticipate everybody continuing to do what we’ve been doing staying put and just trying to get better,” Anderson said. “I anticipate them being here.”
FAYETTEVILLE — Monday’s first spring football press conference preview question to coach Bret Bielema underscores the different fan focus on the Arkansas Razorbacks’ spring football practices commencing today.
Usually it’s the quarterback and the offense that media dutifully asked about first to please their audience, but the new 3-4 defensive scheme has captured the most initial attention.
Bielema and Paul Rhoads, elevated from defensive backfield coach to defensive coordinator while still coaching the secondary, have switched from a 4-3 to 3-4 base defense and have two new assistants, defensive line coach John Scott and outside linebackers coach Chad Walker, joining third-year defensive assistant Vernon Hargreaves coaching the two inside linebackers.
With the new alignment comes an extra newness to today’s first day of Arkansas’ football spring. Even a new language.
“Anytime you’ve got something new there’s always going to be the things you have to work through,” Bielema said. “We made a total transition. We may have a coverage that we used a year ago, but it’ll be a different verbiage, a different language.”
Much of these 15 spring practices will be imparting the new to the old on defense and reinforcing to the old and new on offense what offensive coordinator Dan Enos has been preaching and teaching since 2015.
“There’s no doubt in my mind for the first time in my coaching career there’s a little different expectation on both sides of the ball,” Bielema said. “We are in year three of Dan’s offense, and I think that has helped our kids for the most part. You look across the board. Up front there’s Frank (Ragnow the senior center regarded as an All-American candidate) who understands everything we have ever done here in the last three years and he understands it very well. Austin (Allen, the fifth-year senior starting quarterback) understands it and does the same thing. Really Rawleigh (Williams) at running back and you’ve got J-Red (senior Jared Cornelius) at wide receiver. To a certain extent Austin Cantrell (the third-year sophomore from Roland, Okla.) at tight end. Those guys get it. We’ve got to bring along those other guys.”
Speaking of bringing guys along, Bielema was asked about three third-year sophomore Arkansas native sons: defensive lineman Daytrieon Dean, Fort Smith Northside; and tight ends Jamario Bell, Junction City, and Will Gragg, Dumas.
“Three Arkansas guys that haven’t gotten on the field,” Bielema said. “Three different stories. Daytrieon Dean was not a heavily, heavily recruited kid, but a guy we liked. I lit him up pretty good in January about, ‘We need to see something out of you. We need to go forward.’ He’s responded with a very good spring. I’m excited to see where he can go. I think the evolution of a new coach, a new scheme, is going to help him.”
Bell, Gragg and tight end Cheyenne (formerly C.J.) O’Grady of Fayetteville and Cantrell arrived at the UA together and redshirted in 2015.
Only Cantrell, every game, played considerably last season though O’Grady came on late to catch three passes for 63 yards including one touchdown.
“Jamario Bell was obviously a highly-recruited young man that we first had on defense,” Bielema said. “I think his mentality and his physicality is better-suited to offense. He’ll make some plays offensively that nobody else does. He makes catches, grabs, and then he’ll do something that’s childish. So I really, really pushed him to grow maturity-wise. … Just physically looking at him, you’re like, ‘That guy needs to play.’ Looks only get you so far, so he’s got to learn how to play.”
Gragg came extremely highly recruited and has stayed resilient while trying to find his niche.
“I’ve got to give him a lot of credit,” Bielema said. “We really challenged him during the outof-season, and I think he responded favorably. He just had to do some things he never did before. He’s always probably been bigger and stronger than everybody else. C.J. O’Grady got in at the end of the year, but really hasn’t done as much as well. I didn’t want to play Grayson Gunter (last year’s freshman playing in the Belk Bowl when NFL-bound senior Jeremy Sprinkle was suspended), but he was better than those three. That’s why he played, and that’s the challenge I put in front of them.”
Gunter practices in a green no contact jersey this spring coming off shoulder surgery.
Also starting junior middle linebacker Dre Greenlaw of Fayetteville will be like “an assistant coach” this spring, Bielema said, trying to mend his twice surgically repaired foot to be healed when it counts in the fall.
Two who lettered last season, tight end-receiver Anthony Antwine and Jacksonville native D’Vone McClure, the receiver joining the Razorbacks last season after his minor league baseball career ended with the Cleveland Indians organization, have ended their UA football careers.
Antwine remains on scholarship through the spring semester.
McClure was a walk-on since his college is paid via his baseball contract.
By NCAA rules, the Razorbacks must practice with no pads today and Thursday before donning pads Saturday.
Bielema is spreading the 15 practice dates out with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday practices through the Red-White intrasquad game concluding spring drills on April 29.