2022/2023 Razorback Basketball

[Barton Fink]

Muss better tread carefully with in state kids.

[animal]

I hate it for the guy. I think he will make an excellent bb player but he's probably another year away from being a major contributor on the Arkansas roster. I'm hoping some of these guys that got bounced from this roster can go elsewhere and prove themselves and have a chance to come back akin to what happened with Jimmy Whitt. Hopefully that's part of the sales pitch to guys that didn't know they were portaling until this staff told them to.

This staff is really going to a higher level of running it like a G-league/pro sports team where guys are getting cut.

My guess is Ford will be headed to Ole Miss...I think Beard recruited him pretty hard at Texas.

[bigpig]

Muss better tread carefully with in state kids.

Yeah this is short term okay. We'll survive and all.

But longterm you don't want to damage your relationship with in state schools, etc.

That said, Muss has earned the benefit of the doubt.

[vegashog]

the same thing was said when k k robinson didn't get minutes and then left.

blocker is the same kind of player as ford, only better.

[Usafhawg]

My guess is Ford will be headed to Ole Miss...I think Beard recruited him pretty hard at Texas.

If he does, I believe he'll have to sit a year. SEC has a rule that you have to be in the portal by a certain date.

[olive_branch_hog]

Muss better tread carefully with in state kids.

Why?

[Hogworth Ballington III]

This one leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The kid was all Hog and seemed like a Devo clone with his reported work ethic. With that being said, one thing that will help wash this taste out is winning and Muss has proven he knows how to build toward a desired goal quickly.

It sucks for the kids, but as soon as the powers that be made it OK for them to get paid for play, they became professional athletes (or at least paid interns). This comes with the territory. The kid apparently handled it with class, though. Let's see if his family handles it the same way. Wasn't his uncle talking a bit of trash during the season? Regardless, I hope he lands on his feet and excels wherever he goes.

[buff2.0]

Shame, I was looking forward to seeing Ford with some more development and experience.

[buff2.0]

Muss better tread carefully with in state kids.

If they're good enough to contribute now then great. If not, he's going to find the ones who can. The transfer portal has changed the game.

[vegashog]

smith, walsh, and black all committed late in the process. who's to say if they had committed earlier, that dunning, ford, and pinion wouldn't have been replaced by portal guys.

it would be a paradigm shift in thinking, but if i'm a kid rated in the 50 - 70 range, maybe going to a good mid-major and showing out for a year, maybe two, would get me to a flagship school without the risk of sitting on the bench and using up my transfer to end up at that type of program anyway.

[Barton Fink]

Why?

There is a strange bond between parents of elite basketball talent in this state. Or at least there has been in the past. If an in state kid is mistreated, it will get around.

[animal]

There is a strange bond between parents of elite basketball talent in this state. Or at least there has been in the past. If an in state kid is mistreated, it will get around.

This isn't 1985

While I agree it's not a good look at the end of the day it's all about the win column. You put up W's and people overlook the part where you dumped a home grown kid in order to bring in some other guy you think may help your team.

[piglosopher]

Speaking of paradigm shifts, could be the case that they need Muss more than he needs them, if the ultimate goal is the NBA after all.

[Barton Fink]

This isn't 1985

While I agree it's not a good look at the end of the day it's all about the win column. You put up W's and people overlook the part where you dumped a home grown kid in order to bring in some other guy you think may help your team.

I understand the reason why. At the end of the day winning cures all. I'm not saying you're gonna have a Nolan/Parkview fiasco but if you don't think parents of kids in Arkansas look at things like this you're fooling yourself.

[woodhog14]

There is a strange bond between parents of elite basketball talent in this state. Or at least there has been in the past. If an in state kid is mistreated, it will get around.

Nope. It's different now. With the portal, every team in the country will have a different roster pretty much every year.

This just isn't an Arkansas thing.

[HughJasole]

Nope. It's different now. With the portal, every team in the country will have a different roster pretty much every year.

This just isn't an Arkansas thing.

All teams utilize the portal, yes, but they don't completely turn over the roster year-to-year like Muss does.

Look at UConn. 85 percent of their roster was guys they recruited out of high school/prep school. Only Calcaterra and Alleyne contributed out of the portal.

Same with Kansas the year before. Remy Martin was only contributor out of the portal. Baylor in '21, they were the one team in the portal era that predominantly had portal guys contributing heavily.

[DirkPiggler]

All teams utilize the portal, yes, but they don't completely turn over the roster year-to-year like Muss does.

Look at UConn. 85 percent of their roster was guys they recruited out of high school/prep school. Only Calcaterra and Alleyne contributed out of the portal.

Same with Kansas the year before. Remy Martin was only contributor out of the portal. Baylor in '21, they were the one team in the portal era that predominantly had portal guys contributing heavily.

It's hard to compare those, as we really just got into the era of college free agency.  We're what, three seasons into it? 

[flash23]

Hate it for Ford, and I'm sure I'll change my tune if/when Muss wins a title here, but I don't like the team building model of forcing out kids that want to stay, especially 4 star Arkansas kids that have already announced they're coming back.

[HughJasole]

It's hard to compare those, as we really just got into the era of college free agency.  We're what, three seasons into it? 

Yeah but 2 out of 3 champions weren't portal-heavy. Muss has a proven formula, yes, but it would help to have some continuity on the roster as well. Other than Devo he hasn't returned anyone hardly.

[Too Big Pig]

Hate it for Ford, and I'm sure I'll change my tune if/when Muss wins a title here, but I don't like the team building model of forcing out kids that want to stay, especially 4 star Arkansas kids that have already announced they're coming back.

Rumor has it that his horse riding announcement was not premature having not sat down and discussed future with the coaching staff first.