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No explanation will suffice after Hogs’ embarrassing loss to Auburn

Mike Anderson didn’t necessarily have to win Wednesday night’s game at Auburn to keep the cries of a frustrated fan base subsided a little, but you wonder if he really could afford an embarrassing loss.

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Mike Anderson didn’t necessarily have to win Wednesday night’s game at Auburn.

But he did need to avoid the embarrassment that happened.

The final score of 79-56 was terribly deceiving. The game was never that close.

The Tigers jumped on the Razorbacks from the start, racing to a 22-1 lead. Yes, that’s not a typo.

And that was the highlight for the Hogs. With some questioning whether his job should be in jeopardy before the plane left Fayetteville, there will be considerably more now.

Fans will justifiably question being so flat at the start that you’re out of the game before it really got started. Anderson may take a shot at answering, but this isn’t a question of youth and inexperience. Not when you’re trying to keep from getting run out of the gym by 30 points with five minutes gone in the second half.

Some close to the program tried to say back in December and even January this team was just young. We now know that was either an outright lie or a hilariously poor evaluation. This team can’t shoot (32.8 percent in this one, 26.7 percent in the first half), struggles at the free-throw line and rebounding.

Anderson has juggled having a talented player or two with some role players before and it’s worked well enough to at least make the NCAA Tournament. Those teams seldom were out-hustled and the defense at least kept them with a prayer of getting a win.

At Auburn hope left the building about the time the official tossed the ball up at midcourt to start the game. In the first part of this game, the Hogs had zero aggressiveness, zero focus and appeared bewildered at times.

Daniel Gafford, a projected first-round NBA draft choice, was a non-factor to help stem the early bleeding. To making things more embarrassing for him, he tried a showboat dunk late in the game … and missed it … badly.

It was bad enough even Anderson’s most vocal supporters are going to have a tough time defending this one.

Anderson can’t explain it, no matter how hard he may try.

All season while giving up double-digit leads, Anderson has tried to explain that is how things go in college basketball now. He credits the shot clock and 3-point shot as being key components of that, which is true in a lot of respects.

But you wonder when the Hogs are going to cut into somebody else’s big lead. The result is now they’re 14-12 overall and 5-8 in the SEC with five to play. One of those is on the road against Kentucky.

No, this is not an experienced team, but it’s hard to see them making enough improvement to be much better, even next year If they were good it would show more than what was shown in a horrific loss against the Tigers.

In the end, Auburn was ready to play from the start.

Arkansas wasn’t.

And it never got much better.

When Anderson was hired in 2012, most — including me — thought it was what Arkansas needed to get back to a team consistently ranked. Deep into an eighth season, Anderson’s teams have been ranked in the Top 25 for 10 weeks … and nine came in the 2014-15 season.

Maybe the worst stat of all is only one time in those eight years has a team finished in the Top 25 final ranking … a No. 21 ranking in that 2014-15 season.

Would a Hogs’ football coach survive that?

Arkansas basketball has turned into a program not even consistently making the NCAA Tournament.

And it leads to an ever-increasing number of folks asking if it’s going to get better.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-31
Sat, Nov 16vs TexasL, 20-10
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana Tech3:00 PM
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (25)10-02681
2.Greenwood (2)10-02343
30Conway9-12022
4.Little Rock Parkview9-11714
5.Bentonville7-31625
6.Benton9-11486
7.Fayetteville8-21117
8.Pulaski Academy8-2898
9.Rogers7-3439
10.Joe T. Robinson9-122
Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (27)10-01351
2.Conway9-11022
3.Bentonville7-3813
4.Fayetteville8-2454
5.Pulaski Academy8-2395
Others receiving votes: Rogers 3.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (27)10-01351
2.Benton9-11082
3.Mountain Home8-2623
4.Shiloh Christian7-3494
5.Little Rock Catholic9-1345
Others receiving votes: Marion 6.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)9-11351
2.Joe T. Robinson9-11062
3.Valley View10-0793
4.Farmington9-1484
5.Hot Springs Lakeside8-2205
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (20)10-01261
3.Arkadelphia (5)8-2913
2.Little Rock Mills (1)10-0682
4.Warren8-2554
5.Dardanell (1)9-123
Southside Batesville10-023
Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (12)10-01051t
2.Fordyce (10)10-0961t
3.Prescott (1)9-1704
4.Osceola (2)8-1543
5.Booneville (1)9-1395
Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (20)10-01271
2.Conway Christian (7)10-01152
3.Des Arc8-2595
4.East Poinsett Co.7-352
5.Bigelow6-4183
Murfreesboro7-3184
Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0811
2.Midland9-0532
3.Cedar Ridge8-1253
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.