What if Calipari doesn't take Arkansas to a Final Four?

[Applause] [Music] what's up everybody Curtis Wilkerson back for another episode of the inside Arkansas hoop Hog's video mailbag and we've got a little bit of a double dip situation today a couple questions that weren't exactly similar uh but close enough to where I think we could talk about both of them in one episode so let's give that a shot and see how it goes the first question here comes from Pierce and it's a good one he says with Cal's recent struggles to get deep into the tournament should we expect the same fate with the Hogs he goes on to say why or why not obviously he's a big-time recruiter but Kentucky fans seem to think that he can't coach well first of all don't listen to anything Kentucky fans have to say they're salty it's it's the wounded ex-girlfriend situation we we know this right uh but it is fair I think for them to question some things given recent results like you mentioned there um we should absolutely not expect the same results for the Hogs no way is that acceptable to me I will say though to those who say that you know Cal can't coach anymore or he's lost his fast ball or whatever the game's pass him by I do think that's a really lazy take uh he's an active Hall of Famer he didn't just forget how to coach basketball overnight now has the game changed absolutely uh does he need to evolve in some ways yeah for sure but I think we've seen him doing that in ways since arriving at Arkansas so it's the why or why not part of your question U I think one Cal knows that he can't be so Reliant anymore on freshman it's a game that's gotten older and it's dominated by the transfer portal well he's only got three young players this season now they're all going to be really important but he's not relying on them solely right will that pay off I don't know we'll see um but that to me is him consciously admitting a fault and trying to address it and make it better I think that's a good sign another thing you know he he does need to adapt to the way the game is played now uh the dribble Drive the floppy action there's a place for all that stuff it can still be used but you got to make some tweaks you got to keep up with the times um it's it's why not having John Welch who was basically his offensive coordinator last year at Kentucky uh which was a really really really good offense and they were a lot of fun to watch um I'm anxious to see what not having him at Arkansas is going to mean for how this team looks offensively U is he going to carry some things over from that system that they had last year or is he going to show some stubbornness and kind of fall back to some of his old ways uh you know with with the old Playbook and uh and some weird wonky lineup combinations that he kind of fell into a trap of using u in the past I don't know we'll see U his teams have to be better defensively they just do I went and looked at the Kim pom rankings the last five years U and his Kentucky teams finished 52nd 35th 36th 68th and 109th in adjusted defensive efficiency that just that ain't gonna get it done well you look at the roster hey I I really like the rim protection with this team um I like theier and Nelly Davis as perimeter Defenders I think DJ Wagner is an underrated on ball Defender especially if he's healthy with that ankle so the individual pieces are there for this to be a pretty pretty darn good defensive team but they have to be solid schematically and I thought they lacked in some of those areas the last few years ball screen coverage and everything now I don't know if that was a product of Oscar sheway just being a as good as he was he was kind of a liability on that end now he was crazy good on the backboards right you get one shot and you're done because that dude's gon to get the rebound uh but he really struggled in in space defending the pick and roll teams just put him in ball screen after ball screen they really struggled with that the rotations were late U and so I wonder if there's going to be some progress made on that end because if there's not it doesn't matter what your personnel looks like so uh those are three things that that I think that they could really work on to improve it I'm seeing signs early that I'm I'm struck by it with with Cal it's like okay I recognize these are some deficiencies I'm gonna clean them up we'll see how it pays off we won't know until we know at the end of the day though C's teams the last three years yeah they've been really disappointing in the end but they've a avered over 23 and a half wins per season uh they've been a three seed and a two seed during that time and that year in between you know he didn't make the second weekend and people get you know irritated about that or whatever but they won a tournament game they beat um I guess it was who Providence a couple years ago in the first round they lose to Kansas State in the second round that was a Kansas State team uh that was loaded and made a Deep Run in that first year under Jerome Tang yeah the St Peters thing never should have happened the Oakland thing never should have happened uh but they have been really really good in the in the regular season and in SEC Play It's just got to translate over uh to the big dance and I think that they're better equipped for that that leads us to the other part of the equation here in the second question that I wanted to pair up here and it comes from nope that's the wrong one there we go if coach C never makes a final four will he be considered a successful coach at Arkansas that comes from Nicholas man that's a that's a thought-provoking question isn't it kind of goes back to some of the things we just talked about um in terms of we know it's the Hall of Fame coach John kelip Perry is his own brand uh this is huge huge for the program uh but what should the expectations be um given all the factors plus kind of the struggles that he's had here recently um I hate using final fours as a barometer because it's just so unbelievable hard to get to that point I mean it really does take like this special blend of talent and coaching and peing at the right time and and having the right matchups once you get there and honestly you just got to have some luck that falls your way uh to get to that point I've said it before but uh was North was NC State one of the best four teams in the country last year no but they made a final four uh was FAU or San Diego State even the year before no of course not but they were RedHot and they were playing the best basketball at the time um and they had some luck of the draw even in Arkansas's runs to the elite eight those few years uh they did have some luck of the draw involved I mean when you've only got to beat Vermont and New Mexico state to get to a sweet 16 you know I think that's very doable when you have to beat a a really good but still what was it a 15 seated Oral Roberts team to advance to an elite eight that's a lot different having to face what would have been a a two seed in Ohio State or a Florida team that uh that they also beat to get to that point so U all those things really matter there but here's what I will say I said all that to then turn around and say they are paying Coach Cal a crap ton of money and they've equipped him with a war chest of nil uh to take this thing to The Next Step which would be a final four right so from that standpoint yeah I mean in a way you can look at it from that standpoint and say yeah dude you you do need to make a final four if you want to consider this run to be a success he's he's made several final fours before he's won a National Championship uh why would you not expect him to do that uh at his at his final stop here and why wouldn't that be a qualifier for Success the only thing for me is if if Cal had a five-year run like mus did with three sweet 16s and two Elite eights I mean I'd have a really hard time calling that type of run a failure you know so so it is a tricky conversation to have and I don't know that there's a right answer I think you can look at it from a few different lenses um either way the expectation is for him to win a lot of games and that includes NCAA tournament games but the entire point of bringing him in here was to get Arkansas to that to a place quite frankly that they haven't been since 1995 U and they they've been knocking on the door and now they've got to get over the hump is C the guy to get him there I think he certainly can be and I hope that he is but a couple really good questions there from Pierce and Nicholas really appreciate both of those and I hope I answered them both in in a short amount of time here uh but guys keep keep plugging away with those questions uh really cool you know we've been posting these every morning um at 8 AM we're going to try to continue rolling through those uh until we get to the start of basketball season that's a lot of questions to be asked but I'm pretty confident that we can get it done otherwise I wouldn't have combined two questions just now I Tred to drag it out day by day uh but they just keep flooding in so hit me up on Twitter Curt Wilkerson I've got a a thread pinned at the very top of my profile page where a lot of those questions have flooded in you can shoot me a DM you can get in the YouTube comments here and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube page where you're going to be able to find all these at inside Arkansas and I'm going to get out of here because we got another one of these to record another one coming out for you guys tomorrow but it's been a lot of fun appreciate you guys the engagement the interaction all very cool having a having a just a ton of fun with this I can't overstate that but we'll catch you guys real soon this been Curtis Wilkerson with inside Arkansas and the pot of the palace everybody have a good one