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VanFossen, Cannata, Doyle, McKeon earn all-region honors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Razorback soccer players Haley VanFossen, Tori Cannata, Stefani Doyle and Kayla McKeon all earned all-region honors Monday afternoon as the United Soccer Coaches released their NCAA Division I Women’s All-Southeast Region Teams.

VanFossen was named First Team All-Region, while Cannata, Doyle and McKeon collected third-team accolades. VanFossen is the first Razorback to earn first-team honors in program history.

The Razorbacks finished the 2018 campaign with a 14-5-4 record overall and a 6-3-1 record in SEC play. The 14 wins is the third-most in a single season and marked the 10th 10-win season in program history.

Arkansas finished tied for third in the league, tying for its second-best finish all time and reached the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in the last six years. It also reached the SEC Tournament final for the third-consecutive year.

VanFossen earns her first all-region award of her career after starting in 22 of 23 matches this year and logging 1,956 minutes, good for second most on the team.

The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, native contributed to all eight of Arkansas’ shutouts during the year and has been a part of 18 shutouts in her career.

This year, she played 90 or more minutes 15 times and has already notched 45 starts in her career, including 19-straight dating back to Aug. 31 against Baylor. She was named to the All-SEC First Team and SEC All-Tournament Team earlier this year as well.

Cannata continues adding accolades to what was a career year as she started 21 of 23 matches and scored a career-high nine goals with two assists for 20 points, also a career high.

She secured her first career braces in wins over No. 2 Texas A&M and LSU and she was the first Razorback with two or more multi-goal matches in the same season since McKeon had two during the 2016 season.

Prior to the SEC Tournament, she was named to the All-SEC Second Team, her first all-conference honor of her career.

Doyle started in all 23 matches this season as a junior and scored three goals with seven assists for 13 points. It’s her third-straight year with 10 or more points and she’s started in 69-straight matches dating back to Aug. 29, 2016.

In her career, Doyle has scored 14 goals and notched 16 assists for 43 points. Doyle was also named All-SEC prior to the SEC Tournament, becoming the fourth Razorback all-time to be named All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman in a career.

As for McKeon, she continued to climb up the Arkansas career record charts as she tied with Cannata with nine goals of her own and also added seven assists for a team-leading 25 points.

For her career, McKeon has already amassed 22 goals and 58 points, which both rank eighth all-time.

Gafford on Lute Olson ‘Player of Year’ watch list

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas sophomore Daniel Gafford is one of 40 candidates named to the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Watch List.

The Lute Olson Award is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I player in college basketball. Incoming freshman and transfers are not eligible for the preseason watch list.

The Lute Olson Award is determined by a 30-member committee, consisting of five current Division I head coaches, five retired head coaches, 10 current athletic directors and/or conference administrators, five members of the national media and five collegeinsider.com staff members.

An updated watch list will be announced in January and the finalists will be announced in March. The Lute Olson National Player of the Year will be announced April 2 in San Antonio, site of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.

Preseason honors/watch lists for Gafford include:

• Wooden Award Watch List • One of 50 candidates
• Citizen Naismith Trophy Watch List • One of 50 candidates
• Lute Olson Award Watch List • One of 40 candidates
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Watch List • One of 21 candidates
• Preseason First Team All-SEC • Media and Coaches

Gafford and the Razorbacks — winners of four straight and receiving votes in the national polls — will conclude its five-game homestand this Saturday (Dec. 1) when Florida International comes to Bud Walton Arena.

Tip-off is set for 7 pm.

Razorbacks set to compete at USA Swimming Winter Nationals

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas swimming and diving will send 12 swimmers to the USA Swimming Winter National Championships in Greensboro, N.C., from Nov. 28-Dec. 1.

The swimmers will have the chance to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials next summer in Omaha, Neb.

The Razorbacks will be represented by five freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, and five seniors.

Day One at the Greensboro Aquatic Center will consist of the 800 yard freestyle, with the finals scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

There will be three events on Day Two, with the 400 yard freestyle, 200 yard IM, and 50 yard freestyle preliminaries beginning and 9 a.m. and the finals beginning at 5 p.m.

Day Three will feature five events, with the Hogs competing in all five. The 400 yard IM, the 100 yard butterfly, the 200 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke, and the 100 backstroke will be the final events for the Razorbacks in November.

The final day will also consist of five events, with Arkansas set to compete in the 1500 yard freestyle, the 200 backstroke, the 100 freestyle, the 200 breaststroke, and the 200 yard butterfly.

Events on each day will be live streamed at usaswimming.org.

For more information on Arkansas Swimming and Diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.

Participants and Events:

• Sydney Angell – 100 and 200 breaststroke
• Emma Garfield – 100 and 200 breaststroke, 200 and 400 IM
• Vanessa Herrmann – 100 and 200 breaststroke, 200 and 400 IM
• Anna Hopkin – 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly
• Erin Kelly – 50 freestyle
• Marlena Pigliacampi – 100 and 200 butterfly
• Peyton Palsha – 200, 400, 800, and 1500 freestyle, 400 IM
• Lexi Ljunggren – 400 freestyle
• Madison Strathman – 100 and 200 breaststroke
• Kiera Michailoff-Russell – 50 and 100 freestyle
• Kobie Melton – 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke
• Molly Moore – 50 freestyle, 100 backstroke

???? Tuesday Halftime Pod — featuring Nikki Chavanelle

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Phil & Tye discuss tweeting at players, interview Nikki Chavanelle, plus Get Off My Lawn!

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday

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John & Tommy discuss the coaching carousel in CFB, interview Steven Lassan, and Would You Rather Tuesday!

Hogs will be better with Morris, despite what you think you know

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In the wreckage of a 2-10 season that left no one in Arkansas happy (well, except for some internet sociopaths who delight in other’s misery), everybody has a solution to fix things.

Nobody that really matters cares about those solutions, by the way.

Chad Morris inherited a mess.

Bret Bielema had success at Wisconsin while Barry Alvarez was looking over his shoulder, but in Fayetteville he basically had no adult supervision and did little to rebuild the wreckage he inherited from Bobby Petrino.

While it’s true this Razorback team had better players than Colorado State, North Texas, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, there were too many upperclassmen comfortable with losing.

Something happened above the shoulders to this program somewhere along the line in the 2016 season. I didn’t know it and thought they would be excited with a fresh approach at the top and buy in.

That was off … by about a mile or two. Very few players performed even at the level they did last season, which was 4-8 in case you forgot.

Fans think the coaches can control the players like they could 30-40 years ago. Lou Holtz could do things in his day with the Hogs not even he can do now.

Coaches who once motivated through fear are really hamstrung now. Players just quit before the fourth game of the year or transfer out if they don’t agree with the coach and there’s not a single thing now the coach can do about it.

It doesn’t take many of those before you have a numbers problem, which creates a depth problem, which means you are not going to win very many games.

Long gone are the days when a coach could come in run off all but about 25 players (like Bear Bryant did at Texas A&M in the mid-1950’s). In today’s game you will get your brains beat in if you tried to play with just 40 people because you’ve got to have that number at a minimum to have even a decent team.

No, this year there wasn’t a thing Morris could do about players who wanted something different from the plan he was selling.

That’ll be cleaned up now. With a large group of redshirt freshmen this year and a recruiting class that is being sought to come in and contribute immediately, let’s wait a year or two to judge.

And in case you’re wondering about those freshmen, every championship coach I’ve heard over the last 12 years has told me they don’t recruit players to redshirt … they only recruit players to contribute immediately.

It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Morris evaluated what he inherited, much the same way Holtz did in 1979 when he said, “I oughta redshirt everybody we signed,” but couldn’t and several contributed to a 10-1 season before a Sugar Bowl trip against No. 1 Alabama (Bryant’s last national championship powerhouse).

Morris will have 43 players on the roster next year that are his players. This past season he had 18. That’s a big difference.

With a schedule that might be even more favorable next season, if we’re back here at the end of November with another 2-10 mark I may have a different opinion.

Until then, let it ride with Morris.

Malzahn out at Auburn?

The rumor mill is flying that Gus Malzahn may be a multimillionaire in a position to do whatever in life he wants to do in a month or two.

Moon is a columnist with ALReporter.com, which is primarily a political website for Alabama politics … which is exactly the perfect place to pick up behind-the-scenes info as there isn’t a lot of separation between sports and politics in that state.

It took a few of posts on the Twitter to figure out who he was talking about.

Now, of course, Stoops is vehemently denying talking to anybody connected with Auburn about a coaching job, insisting he’s happy in retirement in Norman, Oklahoma.

However, a $75 million retirement plan like Jimbo Fisher got at Texas A&M could be enough to lure him out of there.

My only thought is to thank Auburn and Malzahn for their agreement last December.

Brown heading back to North Carolina

Mack Brown used success at North Carolina years ago to vault himself into the Texas job and now multiple websites are reporting he’s heading back there.

According to these reports, Gene Chizik will be coming on as defensive coordinator and Kliff Kingsbury as offensive coordinator.

Chizik left the Tar Heels a couple of years ago to watch his son finish high school and now that’s apparently over. Kingsbury got fired Sunday after a six-year run with the Red Raiders.

And before anybody guesses, former Tech coach Mike Leach shot down any discussion of him leaving Washington State to go back.

“They still haven’t paid me for 2009,” he said Monday.

 

???? Monday Halftime Pod- featuring Kevin McGuire

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Phil & Tye discuss football season being over and interview with Kevin McGuire!

Hogs’ linemen Wallace, Watts invited to play in East-West Shrine Game

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas seniors Brian Wallace and Armon Watts have accepted invitations to participate in the 94th East-West Shrine Game on January 19 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

It is the second time in three years Arkansas has been represented in the longest running college all-star football game in the nation, as Brooks Ellis, Jeremiah Ledbetter, Drew Morgan, Dan Skipper and Deatrich Wise, Jr., were invited to the 2017 contest.

A total of 45 Razorbacks have participated in the event since Arkansas’ first selections in 1938 (Jim Benton and Dwight Sloan).

Wallace, from Florissant, Missouri, started 33 of 35 games played during his Razorback career on the offensive line, including each of the last 19 at right tackle. He appeared in 1,998 offensive snaps over his four years, with a career-high 756 in 2018.

PHOTO BY TED McCLENNING | HITTHATLINE.COM

With almost 2,000 snaps logged as a collegian, Wallace only allowed 10 sacks, giving up three in each of the last two seasons.

In 2016, he was a member of an offensive line that paved the way for Rawleigh Williams III to capture the SEC regular season rushing title with 1,326 yards on the ground and Austin Allen to throw for an SEC-best 3,430 yards.

Wallace entered the 2018 campaign as a preseason third-team All-SEC honoree and a graduate.

Watts, also a Missouri native from St. Louis, put together a memorable season in his final year as a Razorback on the defensive line.

A starter in 11 of 12 games in 2018 and a graduate, Watts racked up 49 tackles, including 8.5 for loss, as well as a team-high 7.0 sacks and three forced fumbles.

It was the most sacks by a Razorback since 2015 and one off the 10th-most in a single season by an Arkansas defender.

A force in the backfield for opposing offenses, Watts created fumbles against Eastern Illinois, Colorado State and Tulsa, with the latter earning him the Crip Hall Homecoming Award, which is given to the top-performing senior in the homecoming game.

He was also recognized by Pro Football Focus multiple times throughout the season, earning National Team of the Week honors in week two, SEC Team of the Week accolades in week eight and was a member of the Midseason All-SEC Team.

Wallace and Watts will take the field at 2 p.m. on January 19 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, with the game televised on NFL Network.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

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John & Tommy discuss Thanksgiving weekend, the CFB Playoff, interview Tom Murphy, and more!

Razorbacks steal win over undefeated Wisconsin in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas needed a big rally and some last-second heroics to pull out the 69-68 win over undefeated Wisconsin in the final game of the Challenge in Music City on Sunday.

Down one, 68-67, with 11 seconds to go, the Badgers took a timeout and advanced the ball to half-court. Redshirt sophomore A’Tyanna Gaulden tipped the in-bounds pass and pushed it ahead to senior Malica Monk who broke for the basket on the steal.

Monk laid it up and in, giving Arkansas a 69-68 lead with a little more than four seconds to play.

The Badgers again called timeout advancing the ball to half-court. They put it in play but stepped on the baseline on a drive to the basket. The turnover gave Arkansas the ball back and Wisconsin had to foul but the Razorbacks hung on for the win.

Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Dungee earned all-tournament team honors with a game-high 20 points including a 3-point field goal to tie the game at 54-all with just over six minutes to play. Dungee was 3-for-5 from distance and 7-for-10 from the line.

Junior Kiara Williams and Monk scored 13 points each while junior Jailyn Mason added 12 points, all in the second half comeback. Sophomore Taylah Thomas posted a season-best 12 rebounds allowing Arkansas to edge Wisconsin on the boards, 44-43.

Key Run

Arkansas trailed by as many as 15 points, 50-35, but finished the game on a 39-18 run for the win. Junior Jailyn Mason scored all 12 of her points in the second half, keying the comeback.

Notes

• Arkansas Starters: Alexis Tolefree, Malica Monk, Kiara Williams, Jailyn Mason, Chelsea Dungee

• The Razorbacks forced Wisconsin into five first quarter turnovers and did not have a turnover in that period. The Razorbacks finished with just 10 turnovers.

• Malica Monk had 13 points against Wisconsin and has 925 career points.

• Arkansas is 2-0 against Wisconsin with the only other meeting coming in the WNIT Championship in 1999.

• Chelsea Dungee has scored in double figures in every game (6) this season.

• Malica Monk has scored double figures in five of six games

Up Next

Arkansas returns home hosting Oral Roberts on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m.

The Razorbacks go on the road traveling to Iowa State Dec. 2, as part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge.