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Hogs were ‘just in shock’ when season cancelled, Van Horn said
Arkansas’ baseball team had about the same reaction when the word came down from the SEC and NCAA about the jarring premature end of the season due to the national emergency over the COVID-19 virus.
“They were just in shock,” Dave Van Horn said Wednesday morning on a teleconference.
In what ended up being the last game of the 2020 season last week, there was about as much side discussion about the crisis as it was the game going on so the situation was not completely unexpected.
“You start getting wind of it after the win over Grand Canyon and next day we’re supposed to fly out to Starkville,” Van Horn said about the opening SEC series against Mississippi State. “Then we’re put on hold and we pretty much knew what was going to happen there.
“We kinda knew it was going to go away.”
But there was still a glimmer of hope until Tuesday when the NCAA and the SEC slammed the door shut on all sports for awhile.
Van Horn normally stands up to address the team and assistant coaches are scattered around. Not this time. He brought them to the front to stand with him.
“I wanted them to see what I was going to see in the players’ faces,” Van Horn said. “It was tough. It was really hard to look at the players and their reactions.”
All sports function on a routine schedule that becomes a part of both coaches and players. Baseball plays so many games at such a fast pace that routine is a necessity. The Razorbacks pretty much figured it was just a matter of time.
“Behind closed doors we were thinking we’re done,” Van Horn said. “When are they just going to tell us this is over? You have to train for a certain date. Hitters have to swing the bat nearly every day.”
All that’s over and it’s not coming back for this season.
Which means star players Heston Kjerstad, Casey Martin and Casey Opitz won’t be back for the Hogs whenever things resume.
““I haven’t discussed anything with them as far as that goes,” Van Horn said. “I just know how highly those guys are going to be sought after in the draft and the kind of money that’s going to go out there to them.”
A couple of others may leave, too, but Van Horn wasn’t naming any names with those guys.
“There are a couple that are iffy,” he said.
With just 16 games played (and the Hogs’ record will remain 11-5 for all time), this team was starting to get things straightened out and the frustration slipped through at times in Van Horn’s voice.
Especially Kjerstad and Martin.
“He was starting to heat up,” Van Horn said of Kjerstad. “He would have hit mid-20 or 30 home runs this year.”
And Martin had finally matured to the point he was handling some early-season adversity and turning things around.
“He was really starting to come out of it,” Van Horn said. “His demeanor when he wasn’t having a good day was getting so much better. I think he was getting ready to take off.”
Others were developting, too.
“Some guys having great years,” Van Horn said. “I really wanted I wanted Christian Franklin to keep developing.”
There will be changes to the roster. There is some accepted expectation that eligibility will be restored to some players, but Van Horn admitted that’s going to be a tricky area.
The not knowing may be the biggest problem of all for Van Horn.
“There’s so many unknowns right now,” Van Horn said.
Van Horn on how he addressed team; cancellation ends big year for some
Razorback coach Dave Van Horn talked with the media on a teleconference for the first time since the remainder of the college baseball season was cancelled last week.
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Harter felt he had good team before NCAA Championships cancelled last week
Arkansas women’s track coach Lance Harter talked on a teleconference with the media Wednesday about the disappointment for his athletes after the NCAA Championships were cancelled last week.
Razorbacks’ Tolefree on radar to be drafted; Doumbia enters transfer portal
With Arkansas’ post-season plans de-railed in women’s basketball due to the suspension caused by the COVID-19 national emergency, Mike Neighbors is still going to use the No. 24 ranking to his advantage.
“We’ll find every way to spin it possible,” he said Tuesday evening as he’s still staying busy.
The Associated Press final poll released earlier in the day put the Razorbacks just inside the Top 25 (South Carolina was No. 1, which was not a surprise). That is a step forward for Neighbors after his third season.
“That’s one way to stay in the poll,” he said. “We still would have rather gone into the tournament and tried to improve on that, but I think it’s only happened one other time.”
It is something he can use talking to recruits, which is still on-going despite the fact no coaches can go see players or have them on campus.
“It’s a dead period, not a shutdown,” Neighbors said. “We can send them social media messages, texts. We never blow them up on that stuff anyway, but we’ve got some good players that want to play for us.”
What will nag at Neighbors with the abrupt ending to the season, however, is seniors Alexis Tolefree and Kiara Williams not getting to play in the NCAA Tournament, something that both of them wanted badly.
Both are still considering their options. For Williams, graduate school is a possibility. Tolefree may keep playing basketball.
“The people I’m talking to think Alexis has a good shot at getting picked in the draft,” Neighbors said. “Kiera’s not exactly sure what she wants to do.”
Neighbors is on the committee for the Wade Trophy and some committees, which are meeting via the telephone. Forget the annual convention because that’s been cancelled.
“You learn all kinds of stuff at that,” he said. “We’re still busy with meetings and evaluations.”
He would rather be busy playing games, but that’s not in his control.
Neighbors also confirmed sophomore Rokia Doumbia has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, which has been talked about now for a few days.
“That’s the first kid we’ve had go into it,” he said about a player that had increased playing time of the course of the season. “But we’ve got some players in it that we’re talking to as well.”
SEC cancels spring football, all sports through remainder of spring
We’ll have to wait awhile before we see Sam Pittman on a practice field with the SEC’s announcement in a press released Tuesday afternoon that it will be cancelled along with everything else.
Per the release:
The Southeastern Conference today announced that all regular season conference and non-conference competitions are cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-20 athletic year, including all remaining SEC championship events, due to continuing developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
In addition, all spring football games are cancelled and there will be no pro days conducted by SEC institutions.
“This is a difficult day for all of us, and I am especially disappointed for our student-athletes,” said SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. “The health and well-being of our entire conference community is an ongoing priority for the SEC as we continue to monitor developments and information about the COVID-19 virus.”
Other athletics activities, including team and individual practices, meetings and other organized gatherings, whether required or voluntary, remain suspended through at least April 15.
SEC member institutions will continue to provide their student-athletes with care and support to meet needs in areas including academics, medical care, mental health and wellness, nutrition and housing as needed.
The SEC and its member institutions will continue to communicate with public health officials and medical experts to determine the best path forward related to coronavirus pandemic.
Razorbacks finish No. 24 in last media poll, which will be final rankings
Dawn Staley and South Carolina are No. 1 in the final Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the first time in school history while Arkansas placed 24th and fans will be left wondering “what if …”
Other SEC teams in the final poll included Mississippi State (9), Kentucky (16) and Texas A&M (18).
Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors had expressed earlier his disappointment that his seniors, Alexis Tolefree and Kiara Williams, would not be able to play in an NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament, along with other sports across the world, have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 emergency.
The Gamecocks received 26 first-place votes from the national media panel in voting released Tuesday. No. 2 Oregon garnered the other four votes. Baylor, Maryland and UConn rounded out the top five.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this story.
