The Arkansas Razorbacks (8-4) have had quite the December. The Hoop Hogs are this 3-1 month, with the lone loss coming in a neutral site matchup against a tough Oklahoma team.
On paper, that doesn't sound too bad, but the team hasn't performed well for a full contest this month, and outside of a late push to defeat Furman by 14, none of the wins have been convincing.
It hasn't all been bad, though. Washington transfer Keyon Menifield was ruled eligible by the NCAA and has appeared in two contests, and he's looked well as he continues to try and shake the rust off.
RELATED: How Eric Musselman discovered Keyon Menifield Jr.
The Razorbacks have just one matchup left in December on Dec. 30 against UNC Wilmington and then conference play begins.
HawgBeat opened up the mailbag to end the year to answer reader questions on the state of the season, rotations, problems with the offense, and more. As always, all question on The Trough premium message board are answered, while just a select few X (formerly Twitter) questions are answered.
"If you were Muss, what type of changes do you make that would help us improve quickly given we have zero time before conference?" - HawgBeat user @Shaquille.Oatm3al
First thing I’m doing is utilizing Trevon Brazile as a true stretch four and rim running threat. It seems he’s more or less been stuck on the perimeter to catch and shoot and play guard when the ball is in his hands.
Musselman has talked about doing isolation and dribbling drills and skills with Brazile for his NBA stock, which I understand for when he takes that jump, but right this second, for this team, I think that focus is hurting more than helping.
He spaces the floor on the perimeter, but you don’t force the defense to have a sense of urgency to defend him anywhere else if he just stands there. Use him in the pick and roll and pick and pop, throw different looks at the defense to keep them honest and keep spacing at a premium and movement constant.
From there, I’d really try to find a shortened rotation and let guys play through mistakes so long as they’re giving effort. Then getting into Xs and Os stuff I’d use Brazile more like I said above and run more back screens and double screens away from the ball to open up cutting lanes. Muss’s teams have been great cutting teams since he’s been here, and this one is too, but it’s not cutting near as often as past teams.
Devo is the hardest player to figure out. He's had 20 FG attempts the past 6 games, 63 the first 6 games. Does Muss shut him down, or does Devo just go on these no shooting binges on his own? - HawgBeat user @SpudM70
I think he adjusts to the gameplan. Musselman has talked about him being able to play any position on the floor because he’s been in the system so long, so when someone else on the court doesn’t know a spot Devo Davis can essentially fill it. I think that versatility within sets extends to matchups where, if he has the matchup, he’s comfortable being a scorer and attacker, but if he doesn’t, he can facilitate and let other guys work.
The other side to this could be that the first six games he shot too much as a result of no one really knowing their roles, and Davis as the elder statesman just sort of took it. As people are finding roles now he isn’t having to shoot as much.
With SEC play looming, how far do you think the hogs make it in the big dance? Has your opinion changed since the offseason/Preseason? - Twitter user @Turtle_Racer
Right this second I'm skeptical this team even makes the NCAA Tournament. There are so many areas where they need to improve, and the conference is as strong as ever. With the rise of Ole Miss this season, South Carolina looking solid, plus the same teams looking impressive at the top in Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee, wins are not going to be easy to come by.
Arkansas needs to improve, quickly, to make the Dance. Can it be done? Absolutely, but at this juncture this is looking like a bubble team with an opening round loss in the postseason.
This is definitely a far-cry from my preseason expectations. In my mind, this was a Final Four roster. It was the highest level of retention Musselman had had in his tenure in Fayetteville, two highly ranked freshmen coming in and another strong class in the transfer portal with experienced guards.
Musselman and staff added much more shooting, and that has been evident so far this season with a solid shooting percentage from the perimeter, but the issues have been defensively, lack of movement on offense, and consistency.
I don't exactly know where these issues stem from. I can point out what the team does wrong in film studies, but finding the root cause becomes a little more dicey because a majority of the mistakes are so fundamental that it's difficult to understand how they haven't been resolved yet.
Maybe the pieces didn't fit together correctly or as well as I expected. Maybe I put too much stock into some returners' development. Maybe I'm even being too hard on the team for the issues they've had thus far.
Whatever the case may be, the team's performance so far is nowhere close to what I expected coming into the season. I projected this team to be undefeated in the non-conference, only for them to drop a game to UNC Greensboro at home and lose all but one of its neutral site games.
Why hasn’t Baye Fall played much? We are basically getting nothing from the 5, and he at least can hustle and block shots." - Twitter user @KeithHardin3
This is a tough question, and I'll give you the short answer: I don't know.
Some of the issues with this team this season have been completely effort-based at times. Musselman has talked about it in pressers and praised freshman Layden Blocker for his energy and effort, but Fall has not gotten the same opportunities.
I will say, he is still very raw and does need to gain weight, but with as soft as the froncourt plays at times anyway, I don't think it matters a ton.
The biggest issue at the five spot, in my opinion, is the inconsistency. Whether it's Chandler Lawson, Makhi Mitchell, Jalen Graham or Trevon Brazile, they each have spells of playing very well and spells of making no impact.
As I write this, maybe that lack of consistency is part of why Fall hasn't seen the floor. Three of those players I listed are super seniors on their last year of eligibility, and the other is a third-year player with NBA first round potential. The thinking could be if those guys aren't consistent, why or how could a true freshman be?
Of course there's something to be said for Fall's effort and athleticism, but Musselman does also see these guys in practice every day. Maybe he's just not ready for the stage yet, especially in close games. I do think if Arkansas was handling business as they were supposed to and expected to, Fall would have gotten a lot more run right now. That just hasn't been the case, though.
