Column: Arkansas baseball, Dave Van Horn, are a lot better and smarter than you
Dave Van Horn knows it. Hagen Smith knows. Peyton Stovall knows it. Anyone who has watched Arkansas baseball over the course of the last three weeks is fully aware.
The Diamond Hogs are not at the top of their game right now.
A fan base so used to frustration – and one that doesn’t understand how significiantly baseball is different than football and basketball – has suggested that not only have Arkansas’ struggles perhaps knocked them out of national seeding territory, but maybe out of hosting duties for the NCAA Tournament at all.
This, my dear reader, is nonsensical. Arkansas is 1-4 in its last five games, a disappointing mark on its surface. But consider all those games came against SEC foes all of which will make the Big Dance, too. Also consider that two of losses were by one run and two of the losses were almost wholly insignificant.
Van Horn, who has coached Arkansas baseball for more than 20 years and has made eight College World Series with the Diamond Hogs, knows what he’s doing. Being a top-16 is important. It allows teams to host regionals. But a top-eight seed? A nice-to-have. No, if every team that is supposed to win its regional wins, you won’t host that way. But when is the last time every team that is supposed to win its regional won its regional?
The odds are miniscule that Arkansas falls out of the top eight when the NCAA Touranment field is announced Monday. They’re non-existent that the Diamond Hogs will fall out of the top 16. Non-existent.
Sub-par football and men’s basketball seasons have turned casual fans into cynics, haters almost. They’re casual fans, though. They don’t really watch baseball. Not really. Few do. It’s understandable that those who root for the name ‘Arkansas’ on the front of a jersey no matter what are going to grow scared and blame their team as a defense mechanism. It’s the American way, after all: blame others for what you’re feeling.
For everyone else, don’t fall into their muck and mire. Read the experts. Baseball America. Kendall Rogers’ outfit. Even here if you want something local. Because that guy on the internet calling for Van Horn’s job?
Yeah, maybe he’s not the most reliable of sources.
