Locked On Razorbacks - Daily Podcast On Arkansas Razorbacks Football & Basketball

Arkansas Razorbacks' Nelly Davis: Why His Ranking Surprises Fans

Are the Arkansas Razorbacks poised to dominate college basketball this season? With preseason rankings stirring excitement, the spotlight is on Arkansas players like Nellie Davis and Jonas Adu, who are making waves despite being ranked lower than some fans anticipated.

This episode unpacks the buzz around college basketball's preseason rankings, focusing on the Arkansas Razorbacks' position in player and venue lists. Discover insights into the emerging Arkansas-Kentucky rivalry and the anticipation surrounding Arkansas' first season under new coach John Calipari. The discussion also highlights the Razorbacks' passionate fan base and their presence in top arena rankings.

Join us for an engaging analysis of the Arkansas Razorbacks' potential impact this season and explore the dynamics of college basketball's evolving rivalries. Don't miss out on these unique insights and discussions!

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Broadcast on:: 16 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, it's officially list season for college basketball, which just gives us all something to debate about until the actual game start. And I'm sure Razorback fans are going to feel great about everything that's been coming out lately. You are locked on Razorbacks, your daily podcast on the Arkansas Razorbacks, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And good afternoon, everybody. Welcome in to the Lockdown Razorbacks Podcast, the pod at the Palace Palace Edition. I am Curtis Wilgerson here with you today. And like I said, it's list season. We're just trying to make the days go by until the college basketball season starts. I know a lot of fan bases feel this way, but especially the Arkansas Razorbacks fan base, looking forward to the start of the John Calipari era. And there's a lot of reasons to be excited, but we're still just kind of waiting for this thing to get rolling official practices start next week. But in the meantime, it's talking season, it's list season. So we're seeing all of these random rankings starting to come out from different outlets. Top five, this top 10 that, but it gives you something to argue about with opposing fan bases. It's fun. It means absolutely nothing other than this is what a particular outlet or a particular national media member thinks about your team, your players. And we'll find out a little bit later, your fan base, which some of those things I found pretty interesting. But I did want to dive into some of these and just see what people think. Do we agree? Do we disagree? I'm going to guess that most Razorback fans are going to think, hey, where's my guy? Oh, my guy's a little bit too low, but we'll see. And let's start with the things that the Razorbacks are included on a little bit. And some of these lists have been coming out. I saw this morning, John Rastin put out his preseason All-American list. He had a first team, second team and third team. No Razorbacks on that one, but in his honorable mention, he had Nellie Davis as one of the first guys listed there. So you're talking about a top tennis guard in the country, according to him. So that's pretty high accolades and I think it's about right. I mean, I look at Nellie Davis and I think about, you know, one of the top 20 players in the country when I look at him and that's about what you get. So I tend to agree with that. Now, what's interesting is the list that I'm going to be referring to a lot have come from March Madness Men's Basketball on Twitter and that's Andy Katz. Everybody knows Andy Katz and he's kind of been going through putting out his position rankings over the course of the last week or two. And it's been a little bit interesting. Since we're talking about Nellie Davis, let's start with the wings because what he wound up doing was listed in 16 different wings. That's a interesting number, I guess, to go with there. But 16 different wings that he went with throughout the course of the entire country. And John L. Davis did make that list. He was in at number seven. Now, an argument could be made and it has been made. There's been a lot of debate actually with me and others on Twitter as to whether or not Nellie Davis actually fits the profile of a wing. I don't know. I just find it interesting to include him, you know, a six, three, six, four ball dominant, I think guard or a guy who at least has the ball in his hands a ton to the same position as some of these names here, like Alex Caraban at UConn or Cooper Flag at Duke, Liam McNeely at UConn. Also, I just, I don't feel like that's the same position. Personally, I categorize Nellie Davis more as a pretty true two guard, but whatever. It's semantics. The cool thing is at the position that any cats thinks he should play or that he does play, he's got him at number seven overall. And that's pretty good. I'll give you the guys who are in front of him real quick. It's Cooper Flag at Duke and we know he's probably the number one draft pick or at least it's looking that way going into the season as a true freshman. That's high praise to be a freshman and be that high. Alex Caraban returning at UConn, Ace Bailey, a five star freshman at Rutgers, Dawson Garcia. He seems like he's like a six year wing at a at Minnesota. I think he started his career at North Carolina, maybe I could be wrong about that. Liam McNeely, who Arkansas pursued in the off season, who's at UConn now and then Tucker DeVries, who's transferred over to West Virginia. So having Nelly Davis there at number seven, that's pretty good. In terms of SEC, he is the first guy on the list there. So that's nice. Looking at the rest of the list, are there any other familiar names here? Yeah, there are. A.J. Story, Kansas is one that we'll know a lot about in the next month or so because Arkansas is going to face him, Jackson Robinson, who said he was keeping receipts about this. He's in at number 10. He's obviously at Kentucky now. So Razorback fans will be seeing him again, Riling Griffin, former Alabama wing also at Kansas. He's number 15. And they're all buddy, Traman Mark at number 16. How about that? Good for T-Mark. I hope he has a nice season there with Texas. It's going to be weird seeing him a couple of times outside of Razorback uniform, even though he was only on the roster for a year there. Let's move on to the Big Men real quick because this was this was also interesting to me. Again, Top 16 Big Men coming from Andy Katz here and I'm looking and I'm looking and I'm looking. Oh, there he is. Jonas Adou at number 15, hmm, interesting. I like the idea of Jonas Adou being on this list. I do think he's one of the top 15 Big Men in the country who's second team all SEC last year. It's kind of interesting though to see some of the names that are above him. So number one overall, it's Hunter Dickinson, which is going to be a great test for Jonas Adou in the preseason when Arkansas and Kansas play in that super scrimmage. Ryan Calkbrenner, you guys will remember him from that Creighton game in Maui. He's back again. That makes sense. Janai Broome at Auburn, number three overall. I think that's fair. Some other familiar names in there, you know, Northshad O'Mear who started his career at Arkansas State. The hogs pursued him in the transfer portal. He's at six, Great Osaboor, the $2 million man at Washington, Umar Balow, the big fell out of Arizona who's now in Indiana. So the more I look at it, the more I think, okay, you know what, there are some actually really, really good bigs in this country. But I was kind of surprised to see some of the other names that were ahead of Jonas Adou. Gaxle Lindborg, I like a lot out of UAB, but that's a mid major guy. You know, Adou was a guy who was an all lead player in the SEC, Coleman Hawkins, who I don't really consider a big by any stretch. He's a very tall guard almost, but I guess he'll probably play the four at Kansas State or maybe the five. He's at number 11, Cliff Homer-Yuri and Grant Nelson, it's going to be Alabama's two bigs. They're at 12 and 13, and then Robbie Avila, a transfer from Indiana State that's going to be at St. Louis University, all ahead of Jonas Adou. So whatever, it's cool to see him on the list. You like to see that, but I don't know, kind of thought Jonas Adou might be a little bit higher there. But if they run this list back at the end of the season, which was what will really matter, he probably will be just a little bit higher there. All right, folks, before we move on, I want to tell you about our friends over at Five Hour Energy, boy, it's Monday, which means I got a big to-do list for sure. 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On the site, you've got the option to build your own 12-pack or a 24-pack. You choose the flavors and it's delivered right to your door. If you go to Five Hour Energy dot com, that is the number five, by the way, Five Hour Energy dot com, and get some Five Hour Energy product today, you can use our promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off of your order. This offers only valid until September 30th, so take advantage now. On one order, cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Go to Five Hour Energy dot com today. Take advantage of the deal, it's a good one. All right, back in here on the Lockdown Razorbacks podcast, The Pot at the Palace edition. It's list season, right? We're talking about it, and we've kind of discussed where the Razorbacks fall on some of these lists. Nellie Davis has been on a couple, Jonas Ado on a list of the best bigs, but Arkansas has kind of left off on some of these other ones that I've noticed here, particularly the guards, which kind of surprised me a little bit. I'm not going to lie, so let me pull up this list real quick, and I think maybe, just maybe, part of it could be because of the way they categorize Nellie Davis, right? If he would have been a guard, like I see him as opposed to a wing like Andy Cat season, again, potato, potato, whatever, semantics, doesn't matter, he probably would have been pretty high on this list, but Arkansas has got some other really good guards. I mean, you got a five-star, really highly sought after McDonald's All-American, and Boogie Flan, DJ Wagner, who I get it, he didn't meet expectations as a freshman at Kentucky, but you're talking about a returning guard in the SEC, who was a double-digit scorer after Joey Three assists per game, but no Razorback love on the top 16 guards from Andy Katz. There's some familiar names there again, though, RJ Davis at North Carolina, Mark Sears at Alabama, a sneaky player of the year candidate, he's at number three, Caleb Love, former North Carolina guard, now Arizona guard is on there, Dewan Harris, number six, who Arkansas will see in that scrimmage. It's just going to be great for Boogie Flan, just great for him. He's in one of the best returning guards in the country on both sides of the ball. He's one of the best distributors, and one of the best on-ball defenders. That's going to be an awesome test for Boogie early. It's only going to make him better. Wade Taylor from Texas A&M, he's back, I know that's crazy, right? Number eight on this list, now he's a big-time scorer, but he's very, very inefficient. So again, I think about it, and it had no way Davis has been categorized as a guard. I think he would have been above Wade Taylor on this. So probably in that top eight range there, let's see, any more SEC guys on here? Yeah, a couple, 15 and 16. Number 15, Matthew Morrell, guys remember him from Ole Miss, and then Zakai Ziegler at number 16. So pretty point guard heavy on this list, and so from that standpoint, I think it makes sense there, point guards, combos, what you're seeing a lot of, but no Razorbacks there. How about that? That's kind of crazy. I'm going to be really interested to see if they continue to do this, like they've done some position stuff, we're going to talk about maybe the fan base angle of this in just a second, but I hope they come out with projecting their most improved players or their breakout candidates, because I think if they do that, that's where you'll really start to see some of the Razorbacks pop up there a little bit more frequently, right? Trevin Brazil could fit the mold there as a breakout candidate or maybe most improved. I mean, a dude with the arrow, a lot of people were saying, "Hey, this guy could be a first round draft pick." On average, seven and five at Kentucky last year, so he could be that, DJ Wagner could fall into that mix. Maybe they'll start putting out a list of freshmen to keep an eye on, impact freshmen. And I've seen some of those who popped around earlier in the summer, and all three of Arkansas's guys were on there, and Boogie Flan and Carter Knox and Billy Richmond, but I think that from a national standpoint, the closer we get to the year, the more people are going to be talking about Boogie and Carter in particular. Maybe more so, Boogie. I'm a big Carter Knox fan. Everybody I think who has been listening to me since he became a Razorback knows that for sure, but I think maybe just maybe once they get into the weeds a little bit, we'll start to see the Razorbacks pop up there a little bit more. What about coaches? What if they put out a top 16 coaches in the country with John Kelli Perry still be on that list? He's got to, right? Other people believe that or not, I mean, he's an acting Hall of Famer, so you would certainly think so, but I wonder where he really falls in the eyes of some of these national media members. Maybe if it's just national ranking of the top coaches or even SEC, right? It's hard not to wonder about that, because I think we all have a very favorable opinion of John Kelli Perry, because he's ours now, right, with the Razorbacks, but this time last year, we were probably talking about how the game had passed him by, and maybe he was washed or whatever, or he's not hip to modern basketball, or he's relying too much on the youngsters, and he's changing all those things now. I wonder if people are paying attention to it. Again, what really matters about all this is what comes of it after the fact, the postseason list. That's where you want to be a first or second team, all Americans, sit on honorable mention, or you want to be on the list of the top guards or big men in the country, because you just proved it as opposed to what people expect out of you a little bit there. Fun stuff to look at nonetheless. All right, everybody, I want to talk to you real quick about our friends over at FanDuel. You've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel. It's America's number one sports book. We have something a little bit different for you, though, now, through September 22nd. That's coming up quick here. We've got about a week, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then, with a YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of market game. That's important. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and you can cancel any time. Just visit FanDuel.com, download America's number one sports book that's FanDuel.com. All right, everybody, back here for the final segment of the Lockdown Razorbacks Podcast, the Pot at the Palace Edition. We talked about the it's list season, so we've been pointed out for the Razorback players and the team, too. If you go look at pre-season power rankings in top 25s and bracketology, Arkansas's included in all those. It's been around that five-seat range in most people's top 20. I haven't seen a ton of top 10s, but some are floating around out there. People know who the Razorbacks are, but do they know about the Razorback fan base? Some really interesting stuff. I'm kind of surprised I didn't find this out until last night when I was doing a little bit of research, but they've been coming out the same place NCAA March Madness and Andy Katz with their favorite college towns, their best venues, the fan bases, the student sections. Interesting to say the least, let's talk about it a little bit. First of all, Andy Katz had his top 10 arenas, and we're just talking arenas in general, I think, not necessarily atmospheres or crowds or the loudest or whatever, just arenas in general. Would you have Bud Walton on there? He does, thankfully. He's got him at number five. Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas is number one, Cameron Indoor Stadium and Duke is number two. Mackie Arena produced number three, Paulie Pavilion, UCLA is number four, and then Arkansas at five. I don't know. I mean, an argument could probably be made for Arkansas to be a little bit higher there, but top five in the country, you can't complain about that, right? Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State was six, the Pulestra at Penn. You guys know about the Pulestra is number seven, Breslin Center, Michigan State eight, the McCall Center, Arizona nine, and then the pit at New Mexico, which is really, really cool, is number 10. But as I take a look at this, top 10 arenas, yep, Arkansas is the only one in the SEC that made the list. So you got to feel pretty good about that, right? I know I feel good about it. Bud Walton Arena, they don't call it the basketball palace in America for no reason. All right, so I made you happy, now I'm going to make you mad. He also has his top 10 students sections listed. We're talking Andy Katz here and, nope, Arkansas ain't on it. Oof, Duke Purdue, Kansas, Michigan State, Gonzaga, Yukon, Auburn, San Diego State, Rutgers, and Providence. So a no-go for the Razorback student section. And you know, it's not even fair for me to weigh in on that because if I sit there at press row, I'm literally in the student section and right by the pet man. So I feel like they, more often than not, especially for basketball games, they show up, they show out, they're loud, you got, you got the themes, you got shark and saw, they're engaged. I wonder how much this is impacted by the location of the student section on the floor. Like, you know what I mean, like it's kind of that weird, caddy corner, you know, across from the benches. If it was betterly placed, I think that this would be on the list for the Arkansas student section. I really do. But as far as Andy Katz is concerned, nah, didn't make it on the top 10 there. So that's the student sections. How about college towns? Top 10 college towns. And obviously, he's talking college basketball, but anytime you see these lists come out, it's oh, Fayetteville, Arkansas, the best in the SEC, oh, it's top five college town in America. I was really surprised to not see Fayetteville, Arkansas on this particular list. You got a few SEC schools in here. Madison, Wisconsin, number one, Austin, Texas, number two, Boulder, Colorado, number three. And listen, I've been to Boulder and it's cool, but this is the prime effect. If I've ever seen it, I would take Fayetteville as a college basketball town or a college athletics town over Boulder, Colorado, 10 times out of 10. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, number four, Tusk, Luca, number five, Lawrence, Kansas, six, Gainesville, Florida, seven, Athens, Georgia, eight, and Auburn, Michigan, nine, and UCLA, Westwood, California, 10. That's crazy to me that any LA school would be included on this because the people don't go to games. And it's not a college town at all. You've got the Lakers, the Clippers, you've got all of the professional teams, Hollywood, all the glitzing glamour. Nobody cares about college athletics in Westwood, California, or the LA in general. So I don't know how that, if you don't want to include Fayetteville on there, fine, but you could have done better than that for number 10. That's crazy to talk to me, I can't believe it. I think we had one more here. Let me see if I can find it. There was a fan base, a fan base one somewhere or not, that student section. That's rivalries. We'll talk about that in just one second. Ah, here we go. Yeah. The top 10 fan bases. Okay, Andy, catch you redeemed yourself here with Reza back because they'll get you on Twitter now. You better watch out. Number nine though for Arkansas in terms of fan bases, I don't know again, like I'm a little bit biased because I'm around you guys all the time. I think you're crazy. I think you're nuts. I'd have you higher than number nine for sure. Kentucky and BBN at number one, that's going to tick some people off, but I get it. Yukon number two, I don't know, maybe Kansas three, fair enough, Duke four, okay, Purdue five, that's an awesome home atmosphere, Illinois six, North Carolina seven, Indiana eight. You got some blue bloods mixed in there, Arkansas nine, and then Iowa State, which I think is underrated, is number 10 there. So at least Arkansas if you're not going to include the student section, which include the fan base overall, the student section is part of the fan base, they got you in the top 10. All right. We'll let you get by with that. The top 10 rivalies final one here from Andy Katz. I wonder how quickly this might change because that nothing on here for Arkansas. Number one Duke UNC, yeah, number two, Kentucky Louisville, okay, three Indiana versus Purdue. Sure, Xavier, Cincinnati, I know that's a big one UCLA USC. Does anybody really care over there at number five, BYU Utah, yeah, that's a big one, Illinois and Missouri. I lived in Missouri for a long time. They take that very seriously, Gonzaga, St. Mary's, I could definitely see that college basketball, New Mexico, New Mexico state, all right, pin and Princeton there, yeah, whatever. How quickly is Arkansas and Kentucky going to be getting close to the top of that list? I think it's going to take that February 1st game in Lexington to get a little bit weird and you know that it's going to, but if Cal is going to be at Arkansas for five plus years, that thing is going to be absolutely wild. It's a travesty that Arkansas and Kentucky are not playing two times during this college basketball season. Maybe they'll meet in Nashville again for the SEC tournament, but I, you don't want to put them in the top ten rivalries right now, okay, fair enough, because we haven't had a game between Arkansas and Kentucky in these current circumstances, even though I think they're the two best programs in the SEC that have a lot of history with one another. I bet that it's going to be on there really, really quick. So that'll do it folks, a fun episode today. Like I said, it's list season, it's talking season, but we're just a little bit away here from starting to get some of those nuggets coming in from practice and before you know it, we'll be playing these exhibitions against, against Kansas and TCU and then really be rolling. So looking forward to it, but appreciate everybody for tuning in. As always, this has been Curtis Wilkerson with the Lockdown Razorbacks Podcast, the Potted Palettes edition. And we will see you guys next time. Everybody have a good one.