Joe Kleine Breaks Down Bobby Portis’ Post Game, Discusses North Carolina
Posted: March 20, 2015 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball | Tags: Arkansas and North Carolina, Bobby Portis, Joe Kleine, Portis in the NBA, UALR 1 CommentI had the chance to talk to the Razorback legend for a North Carolina-Arkansas mini oral history which runs on Sporting Life Arkansas today. Kleine, who recently finished his eighth season as an assistant coach with UALR, was pivotal figure in leading Arkansas to an historic 1984 win over No. 1 UNC. I couldn’t help also ask him about what will happen in Saturday night’s second round game between the programs, in which Arkansas has a shot to break into its first Sweet 16 since 1996.
Q: What’s your take on the Tar Heels?
A: I think they’re talented. Especially Marcus Paige – he’s a really good point guard. Any time you’re pressuring as much as Arkansas does, a really good point guard worries you. Because he gets through there, he can cause a lot of trouble.”
Q: Bobby Portis has had a great season, you agree. In order for him to take his game to the next, where do you think he must most improve?
A: I’m a little leery to critique him because I’m not there, seeing him every day. These are things I’ve noticed just one or two times – in his post play, as with all young post players, he’s got to develop a counter move with his left hand.
I’ve seen him do some things with his off hand but he’s got to get the point where he can put it up over his shoulder with his left hand as well as he does on the other side. Still, I love his face up game and his rebounding. He has a tenacity there that is a really, really good sign … He just has to continue to work on his face up game, get to the point where he can drive as well with his left hand as with his right.
Q: Sounds like he would do well to spend a little time in Hakeem Olajuwon’s post-up training academy.
A: I’m 53 years old, and I would be well served by spending time in that academy. That man is simply amazing.
Q: How good can Bobby be?
A: Worst case scenario, for Bobby Portis, I see Joe Kleine – a guy who can play a long time in the league, can spot shoot, can defend. Whether he can be a big time scorer, that remains to be seen. His ability to score against bigger, taller, more athletic guys is going to be indicative of what kind of career he’s going to have.
Q: Overall, who do you expect to win on Saturday night?
A: You could make an argument either way. You’ll have two good teams playing on edge, that have a lot to lose, with a lot of emotion. It’ll bring out the best in both of them … I’m a fan of Arkansas – that’s gonna push me toward them. I wouldn’t want to make a living having to pick the outcome of that game.
Q: UALR head coach Steve Shields was just let go. It’s hard for me not to ask: What are your plans now?
A: I want the job. I’ve thrown my name in, I’ll put that way.
Ranking All 46 NBA/ABA Arkansan Three-Pointer Shooters
Posted: February 17, 2015 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Pro basketball, Razorback basketball | Tags: Joe Johnson 2 CommentsIn few realms does the state of Arkansas travel the Middle Way. In politics, we’re among the reddest of the red. In education, we’re near the bottom of nearly all national metrics. Income stats, too.
It’s hardly a long shot to say Arkansans don’t do moderation well.
Except when it comes to producing world-classily average deep shooters. Arkansas ranks No. 25 among 50 states in three-point shooting in the NBA and the now-defunct ABA. That’s an accuracy only ranking, tallied by adding up all three-point makes and attempts by all NBA/ABA players born in each state. New Hampshire, South Dakota and Nebraska are tops here, with New Mexico, Delaware and Wyoming groveling at the bottom. Click here to nerd out more on this stuff, as I did for SLAM.
Looking at only native Arkansans, we see one reason for the state’s supreme averageness is the lack of any elite deadeye gunners. No Kyle Korvers, Hubert Davises, Dell Currys – or even Martell Websters or Anthony Morrows -have ever come out of our state. While Joe Johnson did briefly hold the NBA record for three point makes in one quarter (8), he hasn’t consistently been able to sustain the elite accuracy he showed early in his career with the Phoenix Suns.
Indeed, when it comes to accuracy, the best Arkansan long bomber isn’t even know for being an Arkansan. Mike Conley, Jr., son of Razorback track great Mike Conley, moved in childhood from Fayetteville to Indiana.
14 Best NBA/ABA Arkansan Three Point Gunners
3 PT% | Made | Attempted | Native Town | |
Jasper Wilson* | 0.429 | 6 | 14 | Camden |
Mike Conley | 0.376 | 630 | 1677 | Fayetteville |
Derek Fisher | 0.374 | 1248 | 3341 | Little Rock |
Joe Johnson | 0.372 | 1671 | 4497 | Little Rock |
Fred Jones | 0.353 | 346 | 979 | Malvern |
Jimmy Oliver | 0.34 | 17 | 50 | Menifee |
Marcus Brown | 0.333 | 13 | 39 | West Memphis |
Quincy Lewis | 0.333 | 37 | 111 | Little Rock |
Jeff Webster | 0.333 | 2 | 6 | Pine Bluff |
James Anderson | 0.33 | 173 | 525 | El Dorado |
Scottie Pippen | 0.326 | 978 | 3002 | Hamburg |
Fat Lever | 0.31 | 162 | 523 | Pine Bluff |
Dennis Nutt | 0.294 | 5 | 17 | Little Rock |
Sidney Moncrief | 0.284 | 110 | 387 | Little Rock |
*I don’t consider Jasper Wilson the most accurate NBA Arkansan three-point shooter of all time. He just lucked out with a small sample size. A “not-small” sample size, in the context of this ranking, should probably begin around 200 career attempts.
Notice the rankings only consider birthplace, not where the player actually went to high school. That’s why even the most hardcore NBA Arkansan fan will see unfamiliar names on these lists. And while I technically shouldn’t have included Ronnie Brewer on account of his spending his first four years in Oregon, where his dad played basketball, I couldn’t help myself. Too many Arkansans would want the exception to be made.
Ronnie has never been known as a great shooter, so it comes as no surprise he ranks No. 14 in the
Worst 21 NBA/ABA Arkansan Three Point Shooters
Jeff Martin | 0.282 | 29 | 103 | Cherry Valley |
Ronnie Brewer | 0.254 | 90 | 335 | Portland, OR |
Andrew Lang | 0.25 | 5 | 20 | Pine Bluff |
Ron Brewer | 0.248 | 30 | 121 | Fort Smith |
Sonny Weems | 0.241 | 19 | 79 | West Memphis |
Jim McElroy | 0.206 | 7 | 34 | Cotton Plant |
Cory Carr | 0.167 | 5 | 30 | Fordyce |
Keith Lee | 0.167 | 2 | 12 | West Memphis |
Archie Goodwin | 0.159 | 7 | 44 | Little Rock |
Jeremy Evans | 0.143 | 1 | 7 | Crossett |
Wil Jones | 0.143 | 12 | 84 | McGehee |
Corliss Williamson | 0.136 | 6 | 44 | Russellville |
Caldwell Jones | 0.123 | 7 | 57 | McGehee |
Major Jones | 0.111 | 1 | 9 | McGhee |
Bryant Reeves | 0.074 | 2 | 27 | Fort Smith |
Jeff Taylor | 0 | 0 | 1 | Blytheville |
Jerry Rook | 0 | 0 | 2 | Jonesboro |
Gaylon Nickerson | 0 | 0 | 2 | Osecola |
Charles Jones | 0 | 0 | 6 | McGehee |
Joe Barry Carroll | 0 | 0 | 13 | Pine Bluff |
Michael Cage | 0 | 0 | 25 | West Memphis |
More of a surprise is the depth to which second-year pro Archie Goodwin’s shooting has submarined. Sure, Goodwin’s strength has always been driving to the basket. But he had made strides shooting from deep his senior year at Sylvan Hills and was better than this in his lone season at Kentucky. We’ll see how much he improves with more minutes, and more opportunities to get in a groove.
I should also be noted Sonny Weems has in recent years become a 37% three-point shooter in the world’s second-most competitive league.
Of course, some of the best NBA Arkansans never had a chance to prove their not-so-middling mettle in this realm. Below are mostly native Arkies who either played before played before 1979, when the NBA adopted the three-pointer, or who played but not in the ABA – which used the three from its 1967 get-go.
KeVaughn Allen Was Considering Becoming a Hog in Late 2014, But Not in January 2015
Posted: January 12, 2015 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball | Tags: Johnny Rice, K.J. Hill, Kahn Cotton, Kevaughn Allen 1 Comment Just got off the phone with KeVaughn Allen, the North Little Rock High senior who’s one of the nation’s top shooting guards. I was interviewing him for an upcoming story for SLAM magazine, but also wanted to know the latest on this two-time state champion’s recruitment status.Last April, Allen committed to the University of Florida. His high school coach Johnny Rice told me that until that point Arkansas had heavily recruited him but backed off after he committed to play for Billy Donovan.
Arkansas coaches could have tried harder, though, according to Allen’s long-time AAU coach and trainer Kahn Cotton. Cotton, who has trained Allen most mornings for the last five years, recalls that coaches with Louisville, Florida, Connecticut, Baylor, Tennessee and Memphis had all personally visited Allen or watched one of his games more times than Arkansas coaches had before last April. “Florida had been here three times and Arkansas came once in that time period … Baylor had been down four times, Tennessee three times, Memphis five or six times by that time.”
Arkansas’ coaches can’t speak for themselves on this matter, as Allen hasn’t yet signed with a program. But it doesn’t seem Allen was as high of a priority for Mike Anderson and his staff as other in-state players like Bobby Portis and now Malik Monk (Anderson and every Razorback basketball player except Alandise Harris [who was ill] watched a December double-header which included a game between Monk’s Bentonville team and St. Louis Chaminade).
There was a flare of hope among Razorback fans a couple months ago when Allen – who according to Rice is averaging around 23 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.8 steals per game while shooting around 55% on field goals and 38% on threes – chose not to sign early with Florida. Also last fall Arkansas commit K.J. Hill, his classmate and teammate, told Sync’s Nate Olson he would try to persuade him to join him on the Hill.
Twice, at different points in the phone interview, I asked Allen if he was going to sign with Florida in the spring and twice he said “yes.” I asked him if he planned to visit any other campuses and he said “no.” When I asked Allen how many times Hill had tried to convince him to come to the UA, Allen said “two or three times.”
I then asked him what he said in response. “I’ll consider it,” he said, referring to what he told Hill. I asked him if he’s considering it {going to Arkansas} any longer and he said “no.” He reaffirmed his plan to sign with Florida and said he will not visit any other programs.
He added the only current or committed/signed Gator player he’s in contact with is big man Noah Dickerson. It’s unclear where 6-3 Allen would fit in next year. Florida’s 2015-16 guard returnees will likely include star Michael Frazier, fellow 4-star+ talents in Kasey Hill, Chris Chiozza and Brandone Francis, along with incoming transfer Eli Carter. That’s a loaded backcourt which has already factored in two players – Braxton Ogbueze and Dillon Graham – transferring out of the program.
That’s why some programs like Tennessee, Memphis, Texas A&M, Missouri, California and Arkansas (by phone) are still recruiting Allen, Cotton says. He believes Allen would have the likelihood of significantly more playing time at other programs*.
Meanwhile, on the football front, it’s not exactly set where K.J. Hill will land.
The future of the dynamic, four-star wide receiver who may also play guard in college basketball is in doubt after the departure of Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Cheney was announced this weekend. Hill had said Chaney was a major reason he chose Arkansas in the first place.
“Jim Chaney leaving Arkansas for the same job at Pittsburgh makes receiver K.J. Hill’s commitment uncertain at this time, according to his stepfather Montez Peterson,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Richard Davenport wrote. “He said they have also heard rumors of receivers coach Michael Smith leaving and Hill will keep his options open.”
Allen says he has not lately spoken to Hill about his collegiate future.
* Like Florida, Arkansas doesn’t have a clear-cut opening in its backcourt next season. The Hogs’ guard returnees are Anton Beard, Manuale Watkins, Anthlon Bell, Nick Babb and Jabril Durham. While the Hogs lose an anchor in Ky Madden, they gain sharp-shooting transfer Dusty Hannahs and Jimmy Whitt, a scoring prodigy who’s putting up more than 30 points and four steals a game for his Columbia, Mo. high school.
All the same, plenty of programs could find minutes for a player the caliber of Allen.
The First D1 Arkansan Basketball Player to Notch a 20/20/4/3 Stat Line in Decades
Posted: December 22, 2014 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball | Tags: Anthony Livingston, Arkansas State, Montrelle Dobbins, Nicky Davis, Rashad Jones-Jennings, UALR 1 CommentArkansas State forward Anthony Livingston goes by the nickname “Big Ant” despite standing 6’8″ and weighing 230 pounds. He’s going to find hanging on to that alias even more difficult after notching a gargantuan stat line on Saturday, when he became the first Division 1 player in decades to score 20 points, grab 20 rebounds, dish four assists and block three shots for an Arkansas university.
The Red Wolves (4-4) needed every bit of the Washington D.C. native’s help against Marshall, too. Early in the second half, Arkansas State trailed the Thundering Herd by eight points but Livingston’s shooting helped key an 8-0 run while his energy on the boards helped the Red Wolves out-rebound Marshall by 15 in the second half.
Arkansas State won 67-58.
It was the second time since 1997 a Sun Belt player had a 20/20/4/3 and the most un-ant-like performance by an ASU big since January 1994 when 6’7″ Jeff Clifton lifted the program atop his shoulders and Incredible Hulked it to a 66-54 win against UALR with 43 points, 25 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks. That performance, which remains the most statistically dominant by a Division I big man at an Arkansas university in the last two decades, came on the heels of a UALR player boycott involving Derek Fisher.
Three years later, Trojan power forward Montrelle Dobbins put up 27 points, 20 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 steals and 5 turnovers in a 56-64 road loss to South Alabama. That same year, UAPB’s Fred Luckett had 22 points and 21 rebounds in a 68-116 road loss to Mississippi Valley State.
Since then, there had been only two 20/20 games by Division I Arkansans:
1. 1998
Nicky Davis (UA) – 24 points, 23 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 6 turnovers
UA won 97-71 at home against Jackson State
2. 2005
Rashad Jones-Jennings (UALR) – 23 points, 30 rebounds*, 1 assist, 0 blocks, 3 steals, 3 turnovers
UALR won 72-54 at home versus UAPB
*Jones-Jennings’ 30 rebound night remains the second-highest total in D1 college basketball since 1997. How impressive is that? It’s the second-best output out of more than 1.8 million individual performances.
Just in case you’re curious – and I’m guessing you’re slightly curious if you’ve made it down here – below are all Division I players to reach at least 20 points, 20 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks in a single game since 1997.
1. Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) 1997
2. Mike Sweetney (Georgetown) 2002
3. Brandon Hunter (Ohio) 2003
4. Yemi Nicholson (Denver) 2006
5. Michael Beasley (Kansas State) 2007
6. Matt Mullery 2009 (Brown)
7. Keith Benson 2010 (Oakland)
8. Tony Mitchell (North Texas) 2012
It’s very difficult to tell how many times – if any – an Arkansan student-athlete accomplished this stat line before Livingston. Former Razorback star Dean Tolson, for instance, had five games of 20 or more rebounds in the early 1970s, and it’s likely he also scored at least 20 points in some of those games. But it’s hard to find individual box scores from those games, and it’s time-consuming to search for them through newspaper microfilm. Plus, as my main HogStats.com man below points out, blocks and assists weren’t tracked in that era:
@evindemirel not yet, trying to find them. Arkansas did not record assists or blocks until later in the 1970s
— HogStats.com (@HogStats) December 22, 2014
Team USA vs. Best Basketball Players of Europe, Asia & South America
Posted: September 15, 2014 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Pro basketball | Tags: Basketball World Cup, Best African Players, Best Asian Players, Best Australian Players Plus Steven Adams, Best European Players, Best South American Players, FIBA World Cup, Tony Parker 2 CommentsOK, rest of the world. It’s time to cry “uncle” already.
I’m an American, who appreciates winning, steak, Will Ferrell, and all the rest. But I am tiring of the headlock Team USA has every other nation in. On Sunday, the United States beat Serbia 129-92 in a FIBA World Cup title game that after six minutes held about as much drama as “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.” The U.S. has now reeled off 63 straight wins, a run that was cool at first, when we had something to prove in basketball after losing three Olympic games a decade ago. Yes, the whole “Redeem Team” thing was fantastic. Millions of Americans tuned in to see the U.S. make a resounding statement in the 2008 Olympics to reclaim Gold.
Less enthralling was the “Confirmation Team” of the 2010 FIBA World Cup. Or Confirmation Team 2.0, or 3.0. We get it: America is unequivocally the sport’s King once more. It’s clear that since American basketball powers actually put their mind to it, the U.S. simply has too large a pool of hyper-skilled, hyper-athletic players – headlined by hyper-athletic, hyper-skilled young superstars ( e.g. Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis) – that no other single nation can hope to match.
Spain, of course, appeared to pose a threat this summer. They boasted multiple NBA All-Stars, and a roster that in total had logged more NBA games (3,223) than even the American roster (3,213). But the host nation went cold at the wrong time, against a French team with enough athletic wing players to disrupt the Spanish perimeter offense. With far more disruptive, quicker players, the Americans would have beaten Spain too.
Now that the sun is setting on Spain’s Golden Generation, as it already has with Argentina’s, the United States is accelerating beyond the teams that have hung with them in recent years. “If anything, the gap is widening,” ESPN announcer Fran Fraschilla said last week during the Americans’ semifinal win against Lithuania. To the point where no nation poses a legit threat to Team USA at the 2016 Olympics.
France could look best on paper, but they would need four Nicolas Batums to hope to slow a team with firepower including Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Paul George. If the San Antonio Spurs, a favorite to repeat as NBA champions this coming season, were allowed entry they would pose the biggest threat. But despite the Spurs’ Texan roots, they appear unlikely to seek political autonomy any time soon.
Instead of messing with the Olympics, it’s time to form another major international tournament that provides actual compelling and competitive basketball. Provide a venue in which the best players from non-U.S. nations team up by continent. Call it basketball’s “Pan-Continental Cup.”
On their own, Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Ricky Rubio et al won’t beat the U.S. in the coming years. Spain doesn’t have wing players big and athletic enough to defend the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant. But with France’s Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw on their side, they have a legit shot. Add long, imposing players like Joakim Noah, an intermittent French national team member, or England’s Luol Deng to the mix, and the U.S. would finally face a foe that rivals it in terms of skill, athleticism and size.
Pan-continental teams work. Look at golf, where the Ryder Cup has pitted a Team USA vs. a Team Europe since 1979. Meanwhile, bowling has its own USA vs. Europe competition. In each sport, over the years, the two sides have proven to be pretty much even.
The idea is already a reality at the youth basketball level. FIBA sanctions the Nike Global Challenge, an annual event in which a Pan-Asian team has competed against other nations including the U.S., and a Pan-African team still does. Another event, the Nike Hoop Summit, goes one step farther: It pits some of the United States’ best high school players against the best similarly aged players from all other nations. Just like in golf and bowling, this setup helps raise the game of both sides and provides better competition. Each side has won three games each in the last six years.
Who is in Malik Monk’s Inner Circle?
Posted: August 21, 2014 Filed under: Arkansas high school basketball, College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball Leave a commentGreat work by the folks at Courtside Films, who put together an authoritative summer highlight package on Malik Monk – the springy Bentonville High junior who is developing into one of the most highly recruited players in state history regardless of sport.
Here are two interesting take-aways from an interview in the video:
1. It’s unclear exactly how high Malik can jump these days, but he had a running vertical jump of 42 inches in the eighth grade. He told me last spring he helped develop some of that extraordinary leg power by running through the mud that would form in the rural backyard after it rained.
2. His home – before 10th grade – was in Lepanto, Ark., the Monks’ native town to which Malik gives a shout out in the above video. He also gave an shout out to The Woods, the neighborhood he grew up in (across the street from his cousin, Razorback guard Ky Madden). Finally, he gave props to “SYM,” which is something I want to find out more about.
“SYM” stands the Lepanto friends of Malik and his older Marcus Monk, Marcus told me via text. Marcus Monk, as well their mother Jackie, are definitely at the top of the Malik Monk Inner Circle Hierarchy (which I refuse to henceforth refer to as the I.C.H.)
Back in Lepanto, the family has a lot of close friends and relatives, including the Maddens (Indeed, Ky Madden often Tweets out #sym) and Malik’s brothers Byron and Aaron Scales. On Malik’s Twitter page, Malik pays homage to his cousin Troy Tucker, who died three years ago from complications of sickle cell anemia. Next week, in an interview for Letterman Magazine, I’ll ask him and Marcus more about who/what “SYM” are, but Malik might have thrown out a clue by mentioning two people below:
do it for the woodz @RodWinkler @Dero7_GH pic.twitter.com/Hmzz0JcG3l
— Kilam (@AhmadMonk) August 21, 2014
I don’t know who @Dero7_GH is, but it appears that Rod Winkler is a University of Arkansas student who loves himself some basketball. Based on the profile image of his Twitter account, this appears to be the same Rod Winkler who caused a minor stir last January by getting into a heated, impromptu defensive positioning tutorial with Kentucky guard Aaron Harrison after UK lost to Arkansas in Fayetteville:
It doesn’t appear Winkler is from Lepanto (his Twitter feed and this article cite Little Rock as his hometown), but I don’t want to speculate. Maybe he lived in the Lepanto area earlier in life, after all. He probably never lived in Auburn Hills, Michigan, as the following image created by Kentucky Sports Radio of Winkler taking his game to the proverbial next level would have the simpletons among us believe.
Thank you for your explosive dunking, Malik Monk. And so long as you don’t get involved in actual Malice in any sort of Palace, I also give thanks to you, Rod Winkler, for making our world a less boring place.
Nolan Richardson’s Official HOF Enshrinement Program Profile Part 2
Posted: August 19, 2014 Filed under: College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball | Tags: Basketball Hall of Fame, Mike Anderson, Nolan Richardson Leave a commentAs far as I know, this is the only version of the 4-page thing available online. Here’s the first half. Below’s the second:
[Below is text not entirely visible in the above and below sections]:
He coached five seasons at Tulsa, going 119-37 for a searing .763 winning percentage. But every great character in American literature faces adversity … faces heartbreak. And so it was for Nolan Richardson.
“It was Monday, right after the NCAA pairings were released (in 1985) and we thought our daughter Yvonne was sick with the flu,” he said. “We were getting ready to play UTEP in the NCAA Tournament…
Sidney Moncrief on Nolan Richardson’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction
Posted: August 8, 2014 Filed under: Arkansas high school basketball, College basketball (non Hogs), Razorback basketball, Uncategorized | Tags: Basketball Hall of Fame, Nolan Richardson, Sidney Monrief Leave a commentIn the late 1990s, Sidney Moncrief was nominated to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame four straight years. The Little Rock Hall High alumnus wasn’t voted in, though, and now stands as the one of the top two non-inducted guards in the game’s history. “I think in time that will happen,” Moncrief, a former Razorback All-American, told me on the phone today. “There’s a time frame for everything.” Former NBA commissioner David Stern, who’s being inducted today, told me Moncrief deserves to join him one day. I believe such a moment will happen sooner than later but that’s a story for a different time.
In the meantime, let’s focus on a Razorback who got in on his first try: Nolan Richardson. Few Division I coaches not named Roy Williams or Jim Boeheim have won 500 games in shorter time than he did, and nobody before or since has taken the University of Arkansas to the same heights. Tonight is Richardson’s night, and here’s Moncrief’s take on it:
“I was very excited for Nolan. The impact he’s had on the game of basketball and people-wise … It goes beyond basketball; It’s overall impact on people, more specifically when you’re a college coach, it’s all about the young men you are leading and the impact that you have on them. And he’s done that for years. I’m very proud he was [chosen to be] inducted.”
PS – Moncrief now lives in Dallas, where he runs his own business and has written five books. He’s currently working on a book called “Your Passport to Manhood,” the latest in a Passport-themed series. Last season, he worked as a Milwaukee Bucks analyst but he said it isn’t set if he will return to that position.