u/lalavieboheme

Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNmaYL88FKY

Main concerns from Rob (the C+) was the center position (fair) and Wilkinson being really inefficient last year (he was but that’s because he has to carry the Georgia team).

What do y’all think?

I know big stats-keepers like ESPN, barttorvik or kenpom aren't keeping stats for Summer League games (completely fair), but I wanted them, so I compiled all four games' stats into one Google Sheet for us to comb over, over-analyze, comically-scrutinize for how limited data it is, and just have some silly fun with in some WAY-TOO-EARLY analysis of how the Arkansas Men's Basketball team played in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League. So here we are.

Since we won't have NCAA basketball for another three months, let's nitpick, over-analyze, and give ridiculously hot takes based on VERY little data to keep ourselves entertained for the time-being. Of course we didn’t see what perhaps will be the Hogs second-leading scorer in these games, Miikka Murinen, but let’s dive in:

Quick TL;DR:

• Jordan Smith Jr, JJ Andrews, and Abdou Toure were consistently incredible.
• Billy Richmond, Jeremiah Wilkinson, Davion Thompson, Maper Maker, and Caleb Ourigou showed flashes of their skill but struggled slightly at times.
• Cooper Bowser and Ilia Frolov need work and I fear they don’t have the natural skillset to be a leading Center on an SEC team.

Okay, back to the long version:

First, The Great:

• Jordan Smith Jr is absolutely fantastic and he played like it. To quote Calipari during the games “everyone on our team and the other team will know he will have the ball in his hands in the final seconds of a close game.” He’s the #2 recruit in the country and he looks like every bit of that and maybe more. 
• JJ Andrews has a really good argument for being the MVP during these four games. He has incredible stats and he led consistently across so many areas. It’s going to be hard for Cal to keep him off the floor, especially if his game continues to grow at the pace it has over the last year of high school. He’s like billy but has a 3 ball. Insane upside. Toughness, RB, and D of Billy with the shooting of Karter Knox, all rolled up into one awesome, homegrown Arkansas package.
• Abdou Toure is so good that I actually think Cal will eventually start him at the 2 just to get him on the floor more. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of Arkansas this year and piss of a lot of folks in Connecticut that he didn’t stay home to play there. Unbelievable athleticism but also sho the best 3 ball percentage of all games.

The Good:

• Billy Richmond III is exactly who he always has been but with another year of experience. He will be absolutely unstoppable. He didn’t do a lot to improve thoughts around his 3 ball this summer league, but I genuinely think that will improve this year. Everything else is the same or better, which is perfect.
• Jeremiah Wilkinson is great and will be just as good as he was last year at Georgia (if not better). He had to carry that team, he won’t have to carry this one. Hopefully he takes more thoughtful shots that increases his IQ and quality of play overall. He’s a great addition to the team.
• Davion Thompson is a sharp-shooter and he showed flashes of exactly that during these games. But he also looked speed up, out of control, and a little intimidated during some stretches of play. He’s only 17 and he will grow out of that as the season goes on, but I see him as more of a limited 3 ball specialist this year and less of a pure PG to lead the ball up the floor for 30 mins a game, as some had rumored during recruiting. I think he’ll be back next year and better than ever.
• Maper Maker has some stretches where he was the best disruptive force on defense due to length and athleticism. The problem? He didn’t play the 5 at all, which shows you he’ll be behind Miikka, which probably means only 10-15 mins per game there.
• Caleb Ourigou is young but BIG and strong. I think he has the potential to be the starting center come February.

 

The Needs to Improve:

• Cooper Bowser was the 196 best transfer in the portal according toe 247Sports, and the 31st best Center. Now that we know what we should expect, he looks like he played worse than even that. He was blown by, tossed around (he’s smaller for a true center), and he had the fourth best rebounding per minute number and the ninth best pts per min number. If you’re not big, can’t rebound against teams that max out at 6-7, and can’t score, what’s going to happen in the SEC?
• Ilia Frolov showed interesting stretches (especially rebounding) and didn’t really take a ton of long-range shots (which he’s known to do well), but he has the strength and showed that with his respectable rebounds per min number. I’m curious how this project will go once he’s able to stretch the floor a little.

Arkansas’ Big “Big” Problem Continues?

• There were reports that Cal either pulled back from or missed on Somto Cyrill (ranked as the 4th best center by 247), Moustapha Thiam (ranked 2nd), Massamba Diop (ranked 3rd), Obinna Ekezie (1st ranked freshman big in 2026), Malique Ewin, and Micah Hanglogten, and settled on Caleb Ourigou (ranked 83rd overall and the 12th best Center in the 2026 class). Is that going to be enough?
• Bowser dominated at Furmen but has a ways to go before he’s embarrassing SEC bigs; Frovlov looks decent but still not to the level of even a backup big in the SEC; Ourigou has a ton of potential but can he grow enough in time?
• Looks like the Center spot, once again, will be the most-critiqued spot on an Arkansas Calipari team for the 3rd year in a row.

A few crazy stats on this four game spread:

• Jordan Smith Jr had a triple double against Carleton with 20/11/11 in 30 mins of play
• Arkansas missed A LOT of layups (56-87 for 64.4%)
• Calgary didn’t have a single player over 6-7

My projected rotation by the end of the year:

1. Jordan Smith Jr., Davion Thompson,
2. Adou Toure, Jeremiah Wilkinson
3. Billy Richmond, JJ Andrews
4. Miikka Murinen, Maper Maker
5. Caleb Ouigou, Ilia Forlov, Cooper Bowser, Paulo Semedo

Baha Mar Hoops Sumer League MVPs:

🥇Jordan Smith Jr
🥈JJ Andrews
🥉Abdou Toure

Note: The stats in the link were compiled by me from the official stat sheets but main contain errors. Please let me know if you spot any and I'm happy to update it!

EDIT: The PNG version includes a minor error (corrected the overall shots from 153 makes to 151), so click the google sheets link in the comments for the correct stats page. sorry!

EDIT 2: I'm just realizing that I didn't export the PNG in a high-enough quality. Sorry guys! The original plan was to just post the google sheet (linked in the comments!) but that got removed by the mod filter. Sorry!