National Media Co-Hosts Absolutely Bury Arkansas Basketball Program

Posted by Admin January 14, 2025 Basketball

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In early summer when Arkansas fans pictured what the halfway point might look like, it was easy to imagine the Hogs and John Caipari being the talk of college basketball.

After all, the Razorbacks had not only snagged a Hall of Fame coach to replace the departing Eric Musselman, but had pieced together a perceived Top 5 NIL package that meant being able to land just about anyone Arkansas wanted. Well, the Hogs are, indeed, once again the talk of the sport nationally, just not the way those whose lives revolve around the program hoped.

Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander, co-hosts of a podcast on the CBS Sports College Basketball Youtube channel, burned a solid 13-minute segment debating whether Arkansas or Rutgers is the greatest disappointment in college basketball. It didn’t take long for the decision and overall discussion to land squarely on the Razorbacks.

“I think it’s fair right now to say that Arkansas is a bigger disappointment than Rutgers, because Arkansas had preseason Top 25 recognition,” Norlander said. “John Calipari, everything heralded coming with that, some high profile transfer gets. Very few, I think, were putting them in the category of a Final Four contender, [they were] certainly expected to be a team that would compete in the SEC, wear home lights in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and make a nice transition after a letdown of a goodbye season for Eric Musselman. Now that’s not even close to the case.”

But he went further than just declaring the Hogs a disappointment. He went so far as to question whether Calipari has it in him to drag his players and their giant bags of money into the big dance.

“Arkansas might miss the tournament altogether,” Norlander said. “So I’d actually go maybe Arkansas 1A, Rutgers 1B right now, and there are a few others.”

Parrish agreed, but he went even a step further.

“I think missing the NCAA Tournament is more than just on the table,” Parrish said. “I think it’s a likely scenario at this point.”

As they broke it down, there simply weren’t enough variables currently to project in Arkansas’ favor. At the moment, this is looking more and more like a repeat of last year’s Hogs rather than any of the three teams prior.

“There’s a real chance — I mean, I truly kind of can’t believe I’m saying this — I think there’s a real chance that they could finish bottom four in the SEC,” Norlander said. “Your note about Calipari not having even started 0-3 since 1989, that was his first year ever as a head coach. What was he? 27? It’s just, it’s, it’s wild.”

The problem is a serious lack of wins. The only Top 85 win Arkansas has is a neutral site game against Michigan in New York City that required a large comeback.

“On Jan. 12, your second best win is over Lipscomb,” Parrish said. “You’re 11-5 overall, 0-3 in the SEC, 1-5 in the first two quadrants. One win in the first two quadrants. I was just messing around yesterday. Let me tell you some schools that got more than one win in the first two quadrants. Central Michigan, Wofford, UIC, Illinois State, Liberty, North Dakota State. You ready for this? UC-Riverside. UC-San Diego, UC-Irvine. I mean, they’re just they’re overwhelming Arkansas right now.”

Falling behind such a list of teams in terms of quality wins has quickly eroded the interest and faith nationally in the Razorbacks. It’s reaching a point where they’re quickly fading from the dangerous team no No. 1 seed wants to play in the tournament to an afterthought.

“They’ve been relevant, but with each progressing defeat, they’re becoming less relevant and less worthy of discussion,” Norlander said. “But after getting this opportunity against the Gators on Saturday and blowing an early lead and not even getting it close to the end of the game, it’s getting late early for Arkansas, and I don’t know if there’s any buyer’s remorse yet.”

While there was the tiniest bit of discussion about whether Arkansas or Rutgers should be labled as the sports’ biggest disappointment, there was no doubt where the pair laid the blame. Arkansas provided the facilities, a massive NIL war chest and an opportunity at a fresh start, but it’s the inability to approach this as an actual fresh start that has the blame placed squarely on Calipari.

“The only reason you’re at Arkansas is because this is the same type of stuff that was happening at Kentucky,” Parrish said. “I don’t know. It’s just not good when you’ve reached a point where last season, you’re at Kentucky, and everybody’s talking about is that the biggest disappointment in the country, or one of them, or what are they doing? Or why aren’t they better? And then you change jobs, assemble a similarly talented roster, and people are all just saying the exact same things. Like, I’m not ready to, you know, say career over, but this is not working so far. That’s clear.”

However, Norlander wasn’t ready to completely write Calipari’s chances of turning things around off. Ken Pom stats cited Arkansas might be able to get six wins in the SEC and 17 overall, which both agreed would be just barely enough to squeak in given the brutality of the conference.

“I think it might be too early to say that, but if you’re already an Arkansas fan and you’re like, ‘Oh, what do we got here,’ I don’t blame you for feeling that way,” Norlander said. “We’ll see if they can turn it around. I don’t have a lot of inspiration for the next six on the road. This is probably going to get worse before it gets markedly better.”