Random Observations: Arkansas vs. UNC-Ashville

Diving deep with a second look at the Razorbacks' last win before SEC play opens against LSU

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Dec 24, 2022 8:16 AM EST

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With no Razorback basketball game on tap, it's time to fill in the void by rewatching Wednesday night's 85-51 win over UNC-Ashville for a few random observations.

Surprise of Davonte Davis Starting

Right off the bat, the announcers voice how shocked they are to see Davis starting. As great as Nick Smith is going to be, it feels a little sad to see someone who has given as much to the Arkansas program and been such a strong leader generate such feelings for being on the floor to start the game.

One has to wonder whether he would have been recruited and given the opportunities he did to develop had he been a 2022 graduate instead. He was ranked No. 121 out of high school.

Is that high enough for an Arkansas kid to get a serious look going forward?

Cheers to the Graphic Designer

As someone who has done a lot of detail work in Photoshop over the years, I truly feel for the graphics person who had to cut out Anthony Black's signature hair for the starting line-up graphic. Clearly this was someone else's idea instead of going with regular headshots.

Once You See It, You Can't Unsee It

At some point, take a moment to watch the Arkansas media photographers under the baskets. There is no dance troupe or underwater swimming group with the perfect synchronization shown by the local media sitting behind the basket as they try to follow the ball as it moves.

Arkansas doesn't mis a chance to capitalize on adverting in Bud Walton. It's like a Where's Waldo of financial influence.

Subliminal Advertising

There are the obvious ones like the giant rotating digital sign in front of the scorer's table and on every piece of padding for the basketball goals. There's also the one on the on the digital board attached behind the goal that rotates.

But did you notice the advertising on the mop used to clean the floors and the advertisements hidden under the player's chairs for when close-ups of players show the area around their feet? If you suddenly felt the urge to get a quote for Blue Cross Blue Shield, that is why.

One of the easier places to see this is to go to the 16:24 mark of the game and pause on a close-up of Black.

Breaking News

This is going to come as a shock to some Razorback basketball fans, but tight end Shemar Easter did not sign with the Arkansas football team. For most of our readers, the thought is "Well, duh!," but ESPN kept reporting he signed in the chryon running under the score through the entire game.

Because of this, some Razorback fans may be learning this news for the first time.

Musselman had to replace that guy too?

Coming out of a first half break, a quick photo package featuring last year's team was meant to convey how much Arkansas had to replace from last year's team because of graduation and the NBA draft.

However, as announcer Dave Neal made his way though the script, he let people know that Arkansas had to replace guys like Jason Williams and JD Notae. To be fair, Neal had just talked about how Duke kept the Razorbacks from going to the Final Four, so perhaps he mentally mistook Jaylin Williams for the Jason Williams of early 2000s Duke fame.

However, when Makhi Mitchell shoots free throws with 14:06 left in the first half, Neal talks about Mitchell replacing "Jason Williams" down in the post.

Is the Basketball Team Hurting for Money?

Considering how important branding and advertising is for the university, it was surprising to see how worn the chairs were on the Razorback bench coming out of a timeout at the 15:57 mark.

A series of black folding chairs used for that area had the giant Razorback logos that emblazoned on them nearly worn completely off. It felt like something your grandpa has been dragging out of the shed for the kids table at the family reunion for the past 30 years rather than a prominent spot in an arena thought of as a basketball palace.

Maybe the chairs can get a little of those medical NIL deals Jalen Catalon got before bolting so they too can get fixed up.

That Can't Be Right

At various points throughout the game there is a battle to see who is the dominant "0" on the floor between Black and Ashville's Trent Stephney.

The size difference is so much that it required a trip to the roster card to see how tall Stephney is listed. Visually, when Black is guarding Stephney, the assumption is he is around 5'10", maybe 5'11" if a good looking girl walks by and he really straightens out his posture to get her attention.

However, in the program, he's shown as 6'2". So, that required a look at Black's formal height.

Black is 6'7" plus a few extra inches because of the hair. So with a "see over him" height of around 6'11" for Black, that checks out.

Arkansas is just that much bigger on defense.

Who Are the Seven Men?

There are seven men who sit behind the Arkansas bench looking like they're waiting to go to the scorer's table and check in at one of the coaching positions at any moment should fans chant one of their names loud enough.

But what is their main function? As we found out in Tulsa, some are tech support for when the lady from the local church who volunteers to run the scoreboard at sold out college games doesn't know how it works, they step in to fix the problem.

However, they also serve another purpose.

Arkansas doesn't pull chairs out onto the floor like they did during the pre-HDTV era. Instead, this army of men has a stack of tiny half chairs hidden back there somewhere that they whip out at a moment's notice for Musselman and the players to sit on during timeouts.

Once a timeout concludes, they efficiently sweep in to scoop them up and then awkward crawl over their second row chairs back into their positions until they are called upon to make the world a better place once more.

Get This Man an NIL Deal

Along with Jalen Graham, Joseph Pinion had his coming out party against Ashville. However, when he's not on the court, Pinion is on the bench challenging Eric Musselman's Diet Coke promotional game with his own chewing gum promotion.

With each shot, Pinion is working over the gum hard, which makes one wonder how long it is before we see the super dunking sharp shooter telling us how when he's at Big Red he's picking up a package of Big League Chew to help get him geared up to throw down Big League dunks.

Those Are Your Back-Ups?

Ashville probably thought it might find a bit of relief once Arkansas got into its bench. However, the guys who came in were Derrian Ford, Barry Dunning and Joseph Pinion.

For those scoring at home, once a team fights its way through the Razorback starting line-up, a trio of Top 100 players come in to pick up their slack.

An Assist From Pat Bradley

Following a timeout, former Arkansas Razorback Pat Bradley threw out a key stat from the studio regarding the Hogs having 11 assists with a lot of time left in the first half. He then asked former Arkansas center Joe Kleine, who was calling the game from home, about his assists as a player.

That apparently got under Kleine's skin. He was so flustered at Bradley's comments about his lack of assists that he struggled to get out that throwing Kleine under the bus for assists was rich coming from a man who rarely recorded one during his playing days.

Klein pointed out that Bradley talking about assists was such an issue that it warranted a report to HR it was so egregious.

"Pat's quick to tell you that the only time he ever shot it was when he felt leather in the hand," Neal said in support.

For the record, Bradley had 208 assists throughout his college career. It should be noted that was over 132 games, so that puts him at a shade over one assist per game while also averaging roughly nine threes per game.

As for Kleine, he averaged an assist for every 15.5 shots he took in college.