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It has been a disastrous start to the season for Arkansas basketball in its first season under John Calipari. The Razorbacks showed signs of promise early in the season, but they have now lost their first five games in SEC play and are one of the worst teams in the conference.
On Saturday, things went from bad to worse for Arkansas. Calipari and company fell behind 18-2 against Missouri in what ended up being an uncompetitive 83-65 loss, leaving many more questions than answers about the state of the team and what they can do moving forward.
Arkansas and its fans aren’t the only ones who are wondering about those things. Opposing coaches in the SEC also have their thoughts about the first season of the Calipari era and not all of them are positive, according to Jeff Goodman of Hoops IQ.
“They have a ton of individual talent,” one coach said, per Goodman. “But none of their pieces fit. None of them.”
“I don’t think Calipari and his staff can adapt,” another coach said.
Arkansas has a ton of talent after Calipari brought in a majority of his returning players from last year’s Kentucky team along with former Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis. However, Davis hasn’t been able to find his footing and is really struggling to score and the other pieces aren’t gelling together as expected. As a result, you have a team who has reached high highs in its win over Michigan but also very low lows in SEC play.
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Boogie Fland injury makes Arkansas’ outlook more ominous
If getting blown out by Missouri on Saturday isn’t bad enough, Arkansas lost one of its best players in the process. Star guard Boogie Fland’s hand injury flared up and Calipari said after the game that it doesn’t look good. Calipari made it sound like Fland could be forced to miss time, which is bad news for this Arkansas team.
Fland is the second leading scorer on the team with 15.1 points per game and has been one of the driving forces for this Arkansas team on the offensive end of the floor. This is a team that struggles to shoot and space the floor, so Fland’s ability to create shots for himself and others is very valuable to making them effective on that end of the floor.
If Fland does have to miss time, Johnell Davis must step up and look more like his old self at Florida Atlantic. After averaging more than 18 points per game at FAU last season, Davis is averaging just eight points per game on just over 40% shooting from the field so far this year. He has been of the most disappointing players in the nation so far this year, but he absolutely must return to form if Arkansas wants to get back on track without Fland in the lineup.
