Arkansas Razorbacks Basketball is ready to Boogie

Razorback Reels: Kansas Exhibition Game

I’ve never been a cool guy.

My problem is that I care too much, so I can’t perfectly thread the needle between aloof and interested. That bedhead look, for instance, always felt too forced—too manicured—to read as authentic on me. It just screamed, “Try hard.”

That’s not to say I don’t have my crowd. I’m not just dumping on myself for the sake of it. In the right room, I’m a cross between Bogey and The Fonz. Luckily for me, writing about the Arkansas Razorbacks is the right room, but I’m starting to veer full-tilt boogie into the wrong lane. This ain’t about me.

The point is that I’m not the prototypical cool guy, but that is who I have to channel in analyzing Arkansas’s exhibition win against preseason number one-ranked Kansas. Hog fans everywhere have to straddle the line between guarded optimism and Googling hotel accommodations in San Antonio for early April.

On the one hand, while neither team was at full strength, Arkansas handled their business against the highly-regarded opponent in front of them. On the other hand, the Razorbacks did the same thing in last year’s exhibition against National Runner-Up Purdue, but it had no real impact on the in-season product.

So pull up a chair, turn it around backward like A.C. Slater, and get comfy.

Let’s roll the tape, but stay cool, Hog fans.

Arkansas unveils some surprising offensive sets

If you read our posts about John Calipari’s dribble drive offense, then you weren’t surprised to see possessions that looked like this one:

It’s got all the calling cards of Calipari’s signature offensive approach. The possession begins in a 4-out alignment with the one player inside the three-point line starting on the weakside block, there is passing and movement along the perimeter, and it ends with a speedy guard putting pressure on the rim off the dribble. This clip would hang in the Calipari Museum of Basketball.

Here’s another great example featuring Zvonimir Ivisic:

After initially bringing the ball up the court, Ivisic dishes to Boogie Fland, who pauses for a minute and allows his team to get set up in the 4-out alignment. Ivisic sets a high step-up ball screen for Fland, who snakes around it and dribbles to the right elbow. Both defenders go with Fland, which gives Ivisic the space to pop into a wide-open attempt from deep.

There were some trips down the floor with variations on that 4-out theme.

In this example, the primary difference is that Trevon Brazile keeps moving to stay on the strong side of the ball. Admittedly, I haven’t seen an alignment like that from a Calipari team, so this may have just been an early-season wrinkle that needs to be ironed out. Otherwise, it ends with the Calipari dream of a ballhandler pressuring the rim.

Watch the constant motion of the two bigs (Brazile and Ivisic) during this possession.

Wagner notices that Kansas is switching ball screens, so he keeps calling his bigs up to the top of the key until he gets switched on a matchup he can exploit off the bounce.

What is fascinating about the Brazile/Ivisic lineups is that it allows Calipari to experiment with some 5-out alignment as well, which he did multiple times against Kansas on Friday night.

This is a Delay set, a 5-out alignment in which the first action is a pass back to the trailing big at the top of the key. Here, Ivisic passes the ball to the right slot and then sets consecutive down screens on the weak side. Fland comes off the first one and receives the pass but cannot gain an advantage off the dribble. Ivisic comes up from the weakside corner, sets a high ball screen, and pops into another three-point basket.

Consider Friday night's exhibition proof of concept and not the final draft. With that caveat on the record, Razorback Basketball fans should feel excited about Calipari's optionality on the offensive end. The Basketball Performance Center is a repository of diverse weapons, and Cal deserves credit—even after one exhibition game—for experimenting with how each five-man cadre can be most effective.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

While we did see some diversification of offensive alignments in the halfcourt, Calipari might have tipped his hand on his favorite set on baseline out-of-bounds (BLOB) opportunities. Every single one looked something like this:

The Hogs set up in a box formation with a guard inbounding the ball. The guard throws into the strongside low big, who immediately turns around and passes it to another ball-handling guard at the top of the box to initiate the offense. Rather than using the BLOBs as an opportunity to draw up a quick-hitter, Calipari used them to get into his preferred halfcourt offense. In the long term, you’d love to see Calipari infuse more variety on those chances, but again, we’re playing it cool and not overreacting to one game.

Big Z’s in Hog Town

Fland got a lot of attention after his performance, and rightfully so. I appreciate what he did as a fellow little guy who is fond of little guy basketball, but I’d be lying if I said that Big Z didn’t steal my heart. He kept showing flashes of tools all over the floor (18 points, six rebounds, four assists, and one blocked shot) which leads me to believe he will demand a significant role this season.

For starters, there’s the passing:

Do you think Bobby Petrino would like a 7’2” quarterback? Because that’s what Ivisic looks like slinging the ball around like that. He just demonstrates fantastic court awareness with the ball in his hands.

Everything I had heard about Ivisic before transferring to Arkansas made me think he was a pure finesse big. While no one will confuse him for Shaq Diesel, he did show some flashes of low post prowess against The Jayhawks.

Ivisic does not need to become a low-post maven for the Razorbacks to have an above-average offense. However, having a few go-to post moves in his repertoire will earn him more minutes and add to the aforementioned optionality. Becoming a true low-post presence allows Calipari to play him as the five-man next to Brazile, which will be incredibly valuable when Jonas Aidoo is off the floor.

To achieve that, Ivisic must also be able to anchor the defense. We saw some flashes of that on Friday as well.

I call this missile defense system defense because while it’s big and fancy on paper, it’s primarily just acting as a deterrent. A ton of space is available for the Kansas ballhandler when Ivisic starts his close-out. A speedy player should aim to get to the rim in that situation, either to get a shot attempt off or draw some contact. Seeing Ivisic there makes him stop and pull up for a difficult jumper. A defender who makes opposing players get in their heads is a valuable tool at Cal’s disposal.

Friday night’s win will never appear in the official record of Calipari’s first year at Arkansas, but it’s real to me, damnit. It’s the night we got introduced to Boogie. It’s the night Big Z made his first impression. It’s the night we beat Bill Self and Kansas in Bud Walton Arena.

I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time playing it cool.