Like It Is

Hogs need talent more than rule changes

Bobby Portis, near, talks about his decision to enter the NBA Draft while Arkansas coach Mike Anderson watches on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Bobby Portis, near, talks about his decision to enter the NBA Draft while Arkansas coach Mike Anderson watches on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

Eventually the proposed rule changes in college basketball, if approved, might help Mike Anderson and the Arkansas Razorbacks, and popular thinking, endorsed by Anderson, is that a 30-second shot clock would help the Hogs.

Three major changes proposed by the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee include reducing the 35-second shot clock to 30 seconds, reducing the number of timeouts in each half from five to four and expanding the restricted area in the lane where defensive players cannot draw a charge from 3 feet to 4.

Almost from the start to the end of last basketball season, purists have been blowing hot air about reduced scoring, and thus comes the hope that a 30-second clock will provide more shots by each team.

Anderson is all about offensive possessions. He doesn't care if his team shoots 29 percent from the floor as long as he has one more point on the scoreboard at the end of the game, and the scoreboard always has been where the most important statistic is kept.

However, some are saying with a shorter shot clock that more teams might start pressing and trapping and that could level the playing court a little for the Hogs.

The number of timeouts being reduced is simply because so much of the TV airtime now belongs to commercials, thanks to four media timeouts in each half. The means if both teams used all 10 of their timeouts, plus eight for TV, games could be stopped 28 times.

The restricted area change is to allow more scoring in the paint. That one is plain and simple.

The reason those proposed rule changes, if approved, might not help immediately is that Anderson lost four starters and a freshman who was being counted on to help next season.

The Razorbacks need more than bodies. They need some athletes who can play basketball.

Anderson and his staff have been beating the bushes long and hard looking for some guys who could help immediately. North Little Rock's KeVaughn Allen could have been on of those guys, but from start to finish it appears he was never interested in being anything but a Florida Gator.

This isn't a prediction that there will be a huge drop-off from last year's team that won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2008, but there will be some. It is hard to replace four starters in one recruiting class.

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Someone at The Sporting News really, really, really likes Bret Bielema.

That website ranked the SEC football coaches and had Bielema, who has two conference victories in two years, as the third-best coach in the conference.

Bielema no doubt is turning it around at Arkansas. He's doing a great job, and the Razorbacks' improvement from the start of last season to the end of the season was obvious.

He's a player's coach with discipline, and that almost always works.

Alabama's Nick Saban was ranked No. 1, which is hard to argue with, and Stever Spurrier was No. 2, also hard to debate, but putting Mississippi State's Dan Mullen at No. 11 is a little hard to understand.

The Bulldogs were No. 1 in the nation for five weeks last year and finished 10-3. This is in Starkville, Miss., a nice little hamlet but not exactly a vacation destination if you aren't a part of the MSU faithful.

Oh well, rankings and polls are always subjective, and expect a few in this space during the dog days of summer.

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While I have not been involved in the Wally Hall Tournament of Champions for 11 years, it has been a great event for Benton and Saline counties and I believe it will continue to be.

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Sports on 05/20/2015

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