Arkansas is on the Verge of Losing Grace Given for Losses

Evidence selection committee will have in front of it will not suggest Razorbacks would have had better record if Smith had been around, especially if Hogs lose to Kentucky

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Mar 1, 2023 7:19 AM EST
Original:
Mar 1, 2023

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There's a big enough sample now to say that if Arkansas loses to Kentucky this Saturday, the idea that grace should be shown to the Razorbacks because Nick Smith was in Los Angeles trying to get his knee right will be dust in the wind.

The facts simply don't support the case.

Prior to Smith returning to the team, Arkansas was 5-1 with wins over Texas A&M and Kentucky with the one loss being by two points on the road to No. 7 Baylor. In fact, the Razorbacks were five points from being 7-0 heading into Smith's return.

By the time Arkansas ran the fans out of Rupp Arena in Kentucky with four minutes left, it looked and felt like it does every year with Musselman. The players were giving it their all, there was focus and grit, everyone knew their roles and there was chemistry and evidence of coachability.

Since Smith came back, the Razorbacks are 2-4.

Those two wins came against a Florida team that had just lost center Colin Castleton and was having to figure out how to play without the cornerstone of their team, and a Georgia team that lost by half a hundred the game before and 32 the game after.

The Bulldogs haven't been within double digits in a game since Valentine's Day, much less won one.

The 75-57 loss to Tennessee Tuesday night means that the two least productive games of the year in terms of offensive output have come during the six games during which Arkansas has tried to work Smith into the fold.

While it's more of a testament that Smith's return reset the clock to late December when Arkansas coach Eric Musselman has to tinker with the line-up than it is about how good the team can be with Smith on the roster, that's not good evidence in regard to convincing the committee that this team would have more wins had he been there.

Among those losses was an A&M team that Arkansas simply ran out of the building to close out January in a relatively easy game that felt nowhere near as close as the 81-70 score might suggest.

However, when it came time to rinse, lather, repeat when the Hogs traveled down to College Station with Smith in tow, the flow and chemistry was no longer visible.

Arkansas looked confused and frustrated as the Aggies avenged their loss, 62-56.

See if this formula feels familiar as of late. The Razorbacks led for a good portion of the game, but got boat-raced late in the second half before trying to pull together a last second push that came up short.

This stretch was capped by a a blowout loss to Tennessee where it felt hopeless from the opening seconds. Smith started the game off with a shot that hit off the backboard so hard it looked like someone overshot their target in a game of dodgeball among the football team.

And it went downhill from there.

The Hogs looked lost the whole game. As has been the case at times for a few games now, no one seemed to know where the other person was going to be anymore. Passes were getting thrown into the first row and into the chests of surprised Tennessee defenders.

There was no sign of leadership on the team and there was a mass deficit of focus. No one seemed to know their role and all the lessons they learned through the Kentucky game went out the window.

All the classics were there.

Cheap, easy to call fouls.

Failure to establish a presence on the offensive glass.

Long, lazy passes.

Failure to communicate.

Don't get turned into a jump shooting team.

Embarrassingly bad free throw shooting.

Don't let one player shoot you out of the game.

It was a callback to the exhibition game against Texas that was supposed to serve as a wake-up call and make what was believed to be a talented team set the egos aside and become coachable.

There was nothing coachable about that team on the floor in Tennessee.

What was on the floor was evidence for the committee to use to say that Arkansas is what its record says it is. Where it was once assumed that the record would have been better had Smith been around during the first month and a half of conference play, it can now be argued that the Razorback record wouldn't have been as good.

That's not to say that had he been around to get the teaching, experience and bonding from the start that the Razorbacks wouldn't be rolling right now.

It just says that the evidence the committee will have to look at in regard to what has actually taken place on the court if the Razorbacks lose to Kentucky, especially if it looks bad once again, will suggest that no grace should be given when considering the overall record.

And that's not a good thing for the Razorbacks when selection Sunday rolls around.