Someone needed to step up for the Hogs, to help their
chances of making the NCAA Tournament this season, and Jalen Graham stepped his
game way up Saturday against the Florida Gators. Jalen was on fire, he was in
the zone, the Hogs passed the ball into the paint more times in one game than
they have all season, it appears that Head Coach Eric Musselman has changed up
his offensive strategy a little bit making Graham more of a focal point and if
Jalen continues to dominate, the Hogs need to keep feeding him in the paint. In
27 minutes on the court, Graham scored 26 points shooting 12-15 from the floor,
Graham appeared more focused out on the court than he has all season, getting
to the rim quicker than the Gators could defend. If the Hogs can manage this
high level of play, scoring consistently in the paint the entire game, Georgia
will not be able to stop them tonight in Bud Walton. If the Hogs can manage to
not go on a ten-minute scoring drought, they could beat any team in the
country.
After beating Florida, the Hogs are now 18-9 on the season
and they need to get to that 20 win mark before the SEC Tournament to really
prove to the NCAA Tournament committee that they deserve to go, because the SEC
is stacked this year, who would have thought Alabama would be number one in the
country right now? The SEC is so stacked this season that Kentucky is one of
the worst teams in the conference, think about that. Even though the Hogs beat Kentucky
on the road earlier this season, the Hogs still have to prove themselves worthy
of getting one of the six spots awarded to SEC teams who have played well enough
to earn a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Hogs have been incredibly fun to watch this year with
the fantastic All- American Freshmen guards Anthony Black, Jordan Walsh and
Nick Smith Jr, who will all most likely be one and done this season. With so
much talent on the team, the Hogs have to find a way to make it into the NCAA
Tournament. If the Hogs win their remaining home games against Georgia and Kentucky,
the Hogs will get to twenty wins on the season, which should be enough for the committee.
Hopefully, the Hogs can get on a roll and find a way to get some payback in Alabama and
beat the Gumps, who caught fire late in the second half and barbequed the Hogs
at home earlier this season, even though the Hogs lost it was a very
entertaining and competitive game seeing some of the best young athletes in the
world competing. The issue with the Hogs is that even though they have been
competing, they have lost several close games in SEC conference play, to the
point where they are almost on the bubble of not being selected to play in the
NCAA Tournament. Considering, Black, Walsh and Smith will be drafted in this
year’s NBA draft, the Hogs will look to reload their roster quickly again. If
anyone can put a quick competitive team together, it is Eric Musselman, but I wonder
if this one and done experiment will be worth it for Arkansas? If the Hogs can keep
the same momentum they played with against Florida, the Hogs could beat anyone
in the country, but if they go on one of their famous ten minute scoring
droughts it will be difficult for them to win any game from here on out.
Considering, teams that are full of one and done players have not won very many
championships, Carmelo Anthony with Syracuse, Anthony Davis with Kentucky,
there has not been very many teams in the last twenty years with star freshman
players who have won the championship, maybe Arkansas can get it together and
find a way to win, if the Razorbacks do not go back to the elite eight this
year, will these star freshman players come back for another season? If they
have an opportunity to make a million dollars sitting on the bench in the NBA,
probably not and who could blame them. Even Michael Jordan, stayed in college
until his junior year and that was after he made the game winning shot in the
NCAA Championship game his freshman year, in today’s world MJ would have been a
one and doner too. I can’t blame the players for leaving to make money, even if
it hurts the college game. Maybe college basketball will soon be like college
baseball or football and require players to stay until their junior years? If a
high school player is projected to be the next Kobe or LeBron, then let him be
able to go to the NBA, but if he commits to play college basketball, then he
should stay until his junior year, that is wishful thinking for Razorback fans
who have three projected one and doners in their starting rotation this season.
