Way too early Arkansas preview
Well, Saturday at 2 Michigan takes on the Arkansas Razorbacks in the great land of Clinton(Bill that is).
Big Nasty's team comes fresh off their road blowout loss to KY http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/17/2032252/kentucky-vs-arkansas-9-pm-espn.html
a team with considerably more NBA talent than your Detroit Pistons.
Beilein may continue with the "3 players back" philosophy that yielded multiple rebounds to MSU, as Arkansas makes a living by pushing the ball up and down the court, trapping, and running motion. They call it "40 Minutes of Hell" harkening back to the '94 glory days http://bloghawgs.com/2012/01/09/remembering-hawg-ball-sec-storied-40-minutes-of-hell-edition/ First year coach Mike Anderson was the apple that fell directly beneath the Nolan Richardson tree. They're going to press. A lot.
6'3" Freshman SG BJ Young is your major scoring option out of the backcourt at 15pts/g. He is shooting .418 from downtown. He also excells at attacking the basket. Think Trey Burke only taller with more recruiting hype and considerably less heart. This is likely Stu's assignment.
6'1" Junior PG Julysses Nobles leads the Razorbacks in minutes played, assists, and consecutive consonants in his first name. Most of his scoring comes from outside. This is Trey's assignment.
Cautionary tale about checking your sources: Marshawn Powell is indeed out for the season. Thank you to those of you who knew this and did not point out that I ate a lot of paint chips as a kid. That is more than I deserve.
This actually leaves Jordan Morgan at a considerable advantage in the post. They've got a 6'8" freshman named Devonta Abron and a 6'8" senior named Michael Sanchez. Niether one has much of an offensive game. Abron is a pretty good rebounder.
6'2" Mardracus Ware wins the "Oh Lord please dont leave him open from downtown" award. He is shooting something like 51% for 3.
Regardless of outcome, this is going to be a great opportunity to learn to win on the road. With limited information, I'm going to compare Arkansas to the Clemson team Michigan beat in the tournament a few years ago. If Trey gets in foul trouble we're cooked.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^
Thank you for doing this. I know zilch about Arkansas this year and your post is very helpful. One question though....you say that "if Trey gets in foul trouble we're cooked".
Wouldnt that apply to virtually every game we're going to play?
January 18th, 2012 at 1:45 PM ^
But especially true in this game. These guys make their living on turnovers. Lazy passes will not do in this game. I'll have nightmares this weekend about the end of that Clemson contest when we couldn't get the ball up the court/almost gave the game back.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^
"If Trey gets in foul trouble we're cooked."
/copy
/paste into every preview for the rest of the year.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
Corey Beck likes to push it, so we have to get back in transition D. Scotty Thurmon and Clint McDaniel will shoot it from ANYWHERE so we have to close out. Must bring that baseline double against Corliss or he is going to eat us up. This is going to be a tough matchup.
January 18th, 2012 at 7:25 PM ^
Well played, good sir.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
Gonna have to say Y counts as a vowel there ;)
Thanks for the quick preview though, good info.
January 18th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^
Just based on their record, Arkansas is a decent team sporting a 13-5 record and a marquee win over #13 Miss St. They've also lost to a decent Ole Miss team, ranked UConn, and #2 UK, also with pretty decisive early season losses to 12-5 Oklahoma and 9-8 Houston.
Some rankings:
January 18th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
I live here in Arkansas and am making the trip up to Fayettnam to watch the game. I'm getting as many UofA friends and arkansas fans I can get to come with me/meet me there. I am supremely confident that Michigan will win and decisively (i hope so anyway, hah). They have talked shit for the last few years because of the states of the football programs...I can't wait to beat them head to head in something.
Then beat alabama the first game next year and be all like, "Michigan beat them, why can't you?"
GO BLUE!!!
January 18th, 2012 at 3:53 PM ^
I live in Little Rock and am driving up there for the first time Saturday morning. Do you know of any good bars to get tuned up at before the game starts?
January 18th, 2012 at 8:59 PM ^
Just head to Dickson Street and you'll be golden. I'm driving over from Tulsa for the game as well. Hope to see some other Maize in Bud Walton. Word is the game will be a sell out. BW holds 19K so it will be pretty crazy. I'm looking forward to it..
January 18th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
As a more of a casual hoops fan this is very much appreciated and helpful. Thanks!
January 18th, 2012 at 2:47 PM ^
Good game for some of the guys to get their groove back. Low pressure enviro. Smot, Hardaway, and Vogrich can get some confidence in the long ball and maybe Brundidge will get some positive PT.
One of these road games, hopefully an in conference one in Columbus or EL, Smot and Vogrich are going to be hitting better than 50% of their 3's and M is going to "shock the world".
January 18th, 2012 at 9:02 PM ^
Not sure what is all that "low pressure" about it other than it not being a conference game. There will be nearly 20,000 crazy hillbillies in the building and its a nationally televised game. I'm kind of worried about it actually. If we struggled in Iowa City this will be a much more tangible home advantage for our opponent.
January 18th, 2012 at 6:33 PM ^