Scattered Basketball Shots

Watching the NCAA Tournament games really makes it obvious that the Hogs can't shoot at the level needed to have real success. Not only do you need two or more solid three point shooters, you need someone that can shoot from 22+ feet out if needed. Remember that Michael dished to John Paxson and Steve Kerr at key points in the NBA Finals to win championships.

Do free throws count as "shooting?" I think so.

The articles and comments regarding the Razorbacks failure to (or needing to) press in order to beat Bucknell have been interesting. The simple fact is that Stan didn't have enough players ready to play the press. Bucknell had played nine players within the first 10 minutes of the game. Arkansas basically used a seven man rotation. We didn't have the man power ready to compete with the press.

Maybe if we had to guard people that can actually shoot in practice our three point defense might improve.

So whose fault is this? Recruiting comments aside, the non-conference season needs to be better used by Heath. In December he didn't play McGowan and McCurdy very much against the much weaker opponents. He also missed the opportunity to get touches on offense to Steven Hill in the post. Cranford, supposedly a "pure shooter," played like a scared little boy for about 2 minutes a game for a few games and Heath gave up on him rather than forcing him to compete and possibly getting in a position to contribute. We needed those guys to be able to perform at Tournament time, but we failed to get them ready by giving them minutes against the weak opponents.

A seven man rotation is not going to get it done. Concentrating on a seven man rotation in December really didn't serve us well in the long run. If you want to take the position that Heath "got all he could" out of this team and had a successful season then you are basically saying we are still a few recruiting classes away from making a run at the Sweet 16.

I personally feel we underachieved. However, we almost collapsed into disaster. So all in all the strong finish was appreciated.

By the way, let Ronnie go if he wants to. I don't think he's ready, but then I didn't think Scotty Thurman was ready either and he's made a nice living in Europe and the Middle East.

I'm glad that Billy Packer has exposed himself yet again as an idiot. And even more so than usual...saying prior to the Tournament that three eventual Sweet 16 teams did not deserve to be in the field. The Big Ten was obviously way overrated. The ACC isn't that strong. Duke will crash quickly unless the officials play favorites for them, which is not beyond happening. Texas, Memphis, Washington and Florida in the Final Four. (Okay...Florida probably won't make it...but I thought I should include someone who Arkansas actually beat.)

Enjoy the games this weekend. I know I will.