Arkansas Basketball SWOT Analysis

[Applause] [Music] good morning everybody Curtis Wilkerson here with inside Arkansas on the pot at the palace coming to you with another episode of The Hoop Hogs video mailbag where you ask me an Arkansas basketball related question and I do my best to answer it we've been doing these every day for getting closing in on a month now we're trying to do one every single day leading up to the start of the college basketball season we got plenty to get to so we're going to get right into it with today's question and it comes from Jack Benson it's a good one he says what do you think will be this team's biggest strength and biggest weakness so um I thought about this question for a little bit I think I'm actually going to expand on I'm going to take it a step further if you don't mind uh we're going to get into if you're taking a business course you're probably familiar with a SWAT analysis it's SWAT being SWOT and what that stands for is strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats just an old business term uh an evaluative tool that's using and we're going to do that for this Arkansas basketball team because uh it's a little bit hard to say right now with all the new pieces put together you haven't seen him play haven't seen him practice don't know how it's going to pan out so there's some projecting that's involved so there's a few things I feel pretty strongly about but a couple other things that I have my eyes on so we're going to do that so for the SWAT analysis obviously we'll start with the S the strength and for me it's it's Talent man I mean it's kind of hard to deny I mean when you look at this rock roster you've got you know three McDonald's all-americans on this roster you have a fourth festar on this roster and in Billy richond you've got two of the top 10 transfers incoming in the country and and Nelly Davis and Jonas Adu you've got two you know draft potential upper classman in Adu theier people think he might be able to pop and become you know a first round pick next season trevan Brazil Who we've seen when he's healthy he's every bit capable of being an NBA draft Prospect so you know one through nine on this roster you look at it super super talented super super athletic so uh to me you know like independent of that weird graphic that's been floating around on on Twitter that says Arkansas is the 18th most talented team in the country or something uh that's crazy they they've got the talent the size and the athleticism to play with anybody they're not going to be overmatched that matters U and and all you can go off right now is on paper well on paper Arkansas is is one of the more talented teams in the country so that's definitely a strength for him uh well okay on to the W what about a weakness uh for me this is tricky um and I could have gone in one or two directions it'll make a little bit more sense here in a minute u i could wind up being wrong and I hope that I am uh but looking at it again on paper I worry a little bit about three-point shooting with this team I do um there's a chance there that Arkansas can be a good a serviceable to good three-point shooting team there is uh Nelly Davis is a proven three-point shooter plus 40% got good volume uh he's going to be able to knock it down he's also going to be Arkansas's go-to scorer U so it's not like he's got a catch and shoot guy from you know the wing or whatever he he gets to drive and kicks and knocks him down it's not really going to be his game uh but he's probably going to be your best shooter we know that you know Brazil can shoot the three probably not a ton of volume there uh but he's proven that that he can be consistent out there but really outside of that you're really relying on projections more than you are production right and and that's why I identify it as a potential weakness um I think ad do theier can make more than the 10 three-pointers he's made in two years combined I think DJ Wagner can shoot better than 28% from three I think that Carter Knox could be a 33 perish three-point shooter if he has better shot selection than he did in high school I think Boogie flann can step in and be a guy who can shoot it at high percentage and give you good volume from three um I think all of those things but I don't know all those things to be fact so until we see it a little bit more and how it plays out um it's hard to say big Z another one that I didn't mention there I think he can give you Tremor Brazil type of volume from three but we don't know that for sure and so until we do I kind of look at it and I see man there's not a lot of proven three-point shooting production on this roster it doesn't mean they can't prove it but they haven't yet so it's something I have my eye on as a potential weakness and then you get to Opportunities and and I think what we mean by opportunities here is um something that you have an opportunity to turn into a strength it might not be one just yet I think this team has the opportunity to be really strong defensively I like a lot of the pieces I mean I like I like the rim protection there uh with Jonas Adu with big Z with Trev Brazil I like the The Versatile lock down Defender uh who who's switchable in a d The Arrow I think that Davis is a very underrated Defender I think DJ Wagner is an underrated Defender Boogie fland is a guy who I think can be disruptive and pesky on the ball and getting into passing lanes they've got the pieces to be good defensively but Cal's teams have not been good defensively the last few years and it hasn't been because of a lack of talent and ability it's been because schematically it's just been a mess they they've really really struggled in ball screen coverages uh they've struggled in helps side rotations they have struggled uh you name it it's it's kind of been a mess and they're gonna have to really tighten the screws on that thing and play good solid fundamental team defense uh because it is very much a you are as strong as your weakest link kind of situation uh those guys they have to be on a string defensively and and those Kentucky teams just haven't been that um so if they can take a step forward in that regard and be really sound fundamentally there uh all the pieces are in place for them to be good to have opportunity to be good on the defensive end and then I also think this Arkansas team has a has the opportunity to Feast on certain portions of the schedule and really rack up wins U this this non-conference schedule is a little bit misleading like you have some great games u in some really cool places the Baylor game is going to be really tough but you know like Michigan is a team you should beat on a neutral Miami is a really good opportunity for a key Road win uh Illinois kind of same idea from the neutral standpoint but the rest of the non-conference they should really Feast um ear SEC play and wrapping up SEC play it's light comparatively speaking so I think there's some pockets in the schedule where they could really have the opportunity to rack up some wins and then you go to the final portion here the threats and so if we had opportunities for strengths we have threats for something that could become a weakness and and that I do think is depth for Arkansas now the good thing is you might you might not see it matter right if if Arkansas stays healthy um and if everybody hits and that's the biggest part about this too you think okay they got nine guys they can really count on as long as they avoid injuries knock on wood they'll be fine um yeah as long as they avoid injuries and as long as their evaluations were all solid if all these guys hit if these freshman come in and are able to make the impact and pop right away if Trev Brazil gets back to uh the player he was pre-injury if Adu theier does make that leap if DJ Wagner does make the Freshman the sophomore leap there's a lot of what ifs there um for this team and and you need certainly more better answers than than wrong evaluations right um but you know yeah you can absorb an injury and be fine playing seven eight guys and SEC play and down the stretch but if you get a couple I mean this thing can look super thin in a hurry right I mean it's fair to say because there is a a pretty massive drop off after the top nine and that's by Design This is a risk that they're taking hoping that the reward is to have better chemistry guys who aren't looking over their shoulder guys who understand what their roles are going to be and know that they can play through some mistakes um you've already had two bigs in a boot uh recently here in practice and that you know that stuff is out of precaution I think people get a little bit panicked about a boot like it's not a cast um I I worked in in athletic training at the college level for 10 years somebody rolls an ankle we put them in a boot somebody has a heel bruise we put them in a boot if their you know calf or Achilles tenant is sore we put them in a boot and and it's not because it's it's stabilizing the thing or that it's a brace or anything like that um it just takes pressure off of it helps you heal quicker um and so it's a precautionary thing like I've seen Ricky Council walk into Bud Walton Arena in a walking boot and win a dunk contest that night I've seen Anthony black walk all over Vegas or all over uh Cedar Rapids Iowa in a boot and then play 40 minutes and and beat Kansas to get to a sweet 16 I mean it's just you kind of you see those things um but still anytime you have guys who aren't practicing or appear to be hampered by some sort of injury uh you wonder about it but when Jonas Adu and big Z are both in a boot uh you look out there on the floor and you go okay all right well Arkansas's front court is Trev Brazil and nobody that's it that's all they have because they didn't get a bunch of death there in the front courts that's a little bit alarming you'd rather have that problem now than in January or February or whatever uh but that depth is something to keep an eye on for sure so uh hopefully that went above and beyond and in answering your question but I really do appreciate it uh that was good stuff there and folks keep them coming uh like we said we're trying to post one of these about 8 o'clock every single morning leading up to the college basketball season but that's on you you got to keep asking the questions we still have a ton to get to if you're wondering how to do that um I have a thread pinned on my Twitter profile it's Curt wilgers where you'll see the hoop Hogs video mailbag just drop your question in the comments uh if you watch these videos on YouTube first of all make sure you're subscribe to our inside Arkansas YouTube page uh and comment on there if you have a question I go through and check in on those every day and I've kind of got a running list of the questions that I need to get to and I will definitely get to yours so appreciate you guys as always we will be back tomorrow with another episode of The Hoop Hog's video mailback it's been Curtis Wilkerson with inside Arkansas and the pot at the palace everybody have a good one