The Impact Of Billy Richmond's HUGE RETURN To Arkansas Basketball...

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]All right, guys. We're back here on Southeastern 16 presented by FanDuel.

[00:00:05]It's an SEC basketball Thursday. We knew we had some pretty big decisions on the Arkansas fronts and um you know outside I think probably again Tyler Tanner and Amari Allen who we'll get to like it was really the the combination of Arkansas guys, Billy Richmond and Malik Thomas. I think we said going into this, if you're an Arkansas fan, obviously batting a, you know, a thousand here and just getting both of them back, you're going to be thrilled at that. That's best case scenario. But, you know, if you bat 500, if you just get one of the two back, you should feel pretty good, I think, about where things stand. And so, that's what happened. Max, I don't think it's a big surprise. You and I have kind of been working, I think, on this theory the whole time. Um, we're expecting probably of the bunch, Billy Richmond was the most likely to return. Malik Thomas, as we said a minute ago, um, literally 15 minutes before we we started, 10 minutes before we started, um, officially staying in the 2026 NBA draft. And so, I don't think that's a huge surprise. Uh, all things considered, Billy Richmond coming back though, Billy the Kid back in the SEC. And so at least if you're an Arkansas fan, you pretty much know where things stand right now. And if you look at our updated depth chart here, um I mean your your backcourt perimeter play is pretty set. We talked about the freshman. Now you've got Jeremiah Wilkinson, Billy Richmond, two guys who played a gazillion minutes um last year for their respective teams. And then, you know, we still I think wait and see on what other spot maybe is filled in the front court. But hey, again, go going with the uh the 50/50 split here.

[00:01:53]I think if I'm an Arkansas fan, I'd be pretty pleased with that.

[00:01:58]Yeah, Hogs fans, I want to know for those of you that were keeping minute-by-minute tabs on this situation when John Rothstein at 6:31 Eastern PM last night tweets out source, this is quote source, Arkansas's Billy Richmond is staying in the 2026 NBA draft.

[00:02:23]How how low did the heart drop through the stomach? I mean, my it was just done done for. I felt like I got broken up with by a girlfriend I never had. And then 23 minutes later, Blake at 6:54 p.m. Eastern. Update all caps, Billy Richmond has just switched his course and will return to Arkansas next season.

[00:02:46]Are you kidding me? You can't write a script like this, Blake. You can't write a script like this. Billy playing with the heart.

[00:02:53]Coming right back to home. I was ecstatic. Absolutely ecstatic. Down into the dumps to on Cloud9 in a matter of 25 minutes. Billy, we're back. Let's go.

[00:03:04]And we're really excited for Billy because I mean, you look at how he was developing offensively, Blake, down the stretch. We've been talking about his hustle, his rebounding, his defense, his versatility, all the things that makes Billy Billy. We've been talking about that for years now. But how about the three-point shooting down the stretch and just how good that mid-range jumper started looking, too? I'm really excited for the offensive leap Billy can take here. I think this is potential, you know, top 20ish draft pick for next year, Blake.

[00:03:34]>> Well, remember he did have that stretch in SEC play. He scored what, 20 plus, five straight games, I think it was.

[00:03:41]>> Um, and then, yeah, finished the season on a pretty effective note when it came to just again the percentages, uh, and just knocking down big shots. And you know, the thing we like about him, like you said, he pretty much does everything. And I feel like that's kind of the guy you're going to need once again on on this kind of team. Um, you know, and we always say like the defined roles and all that. The defined roles for for Billy Richmond is just go out there and just do whatever you want.

[00:04:09]Like you're, you know, you're one of the more complete players, I think. And like you said, I think the offensive development last year, I don't remember what the final three-point uh attempts were, but I would expect that to go up again. You know, I want to say last year he's averaging what a couple a game maybe just in terms of attempts. You know, maybe that goes up this year. He expanded a bit more. Um, you know, still going to be such a big asset on the defensive side. Guy who can just grab steals. Uh, and you know, the rebounding just again, the guy does everything.

[00:04:37]Arkansas fans know that. He started the final. I don't know what it was. Um, what 12, 13 games of the season, something like that. Um, just someone you can't keep off the floor. And when you're projecting the roster ahead, I mean, I would anticipate him being one of the top I would say probably top five at worst in the SEC in minutes played next year.

[00:04:59]>> I mean, I think that's a good range.

[00:05:01]>> I mean, if we want to redo our we want to redo our uh like breakout star episode again and just throw in throw in Billy to immediately ascend to all SEC level. Sign me up for for that take right there. Um, nice little bit here from Sam. I think it's Vini Vini Vini.

[00:05:21]Um, senior writer for The Athletic, does a lot of the NBA stuff for them. Uh, quote from Sam last night. When I saw Billy work out in Santa Barbara, thought the mechanical tweaks on his jumper were really coming along nicely. He could really establish himself as a first round pick next year given his athleticism and defensive play that's already there. Couldn't agree more.

[00:05:44]Basically what I just said, um I'm I'm I'm all in now on the Hogs back court.

[00:05:50]We got to add another piece in the front court. Need a little bit more beef there. Need a little bit more beef to be able to bang down low with the big guys of the SEC. But in terms of one through three, Blake, I' I'd take Arkansas's one through three pretty much against anybody else's one through three at this point.

[00:06:09]I think that entire combination in the again backport slashperimeter of just having those five guys >> um Smith, Wilkinson, Té, Richmond, Andrews like >> man, you got a you got a lot to work with there and that would be one of the better groups I would say just in terms of pure skill I would say you're going to see nationally. Um, and I think that's where like with Billy Richmond's return to me, I am fascinated by the Jeremiah Wilkinson aspect of this, right? Because we talked about like what the expectations are for Billy Richmond.

[00:06:44]Like he's gonna >> you feel like, you know, maybe doesn't have to score as much, but he can. Like I think that's something that could be interesting in terms of his role specifically. Um, but then it's like, you know what you're expecting from Jordan Smith. like he's going to be someone that is kind of, you know, one of the impact guys in the entire SEC clearly. And then I think we said like Wilkinson in terms of the volume. I just I think that's going to be the most interesting thing to me is like >> you had to project like what's the what's the scoring splits between Smith, Wilkinson, and Richmond. Like I have no idea how that that turns out because like we said, I think you're you're still going to lot some of that to I think a couple of the other freshman and then we don't know exactly what the front court looks like. So >> I mean yeah, >> Abdu Toué is still flying up my my offseason hype board. He's he's right at the top flying that up that thing. It's gonna be hard to keep Té off the floor.

[00:07:42]It is going to be tough in the preseason to do uh you know all of our projections, you know, our bold takes, our you know, LSC awards just because there's so much talent stuffed into these three positions here. I mean, I guess you could go small and throw Billy at the four. I mean, there isn't anything the guy can't do. It's the Billy Goat.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah, >> but >> you could do that. You could do a Smith, Wilkinson, Té, Richmond, Mirin. Like, you could do that. You could play that way.

[00:08:11]>> Sure. Bowser. I mean, you know, you got you got options there, but I I mean, it is still Yes. Like, they need another big guy. Like, I mean, there's no there's no question about it. Um, and I think, you know, that's not just saying that because, hey, we don't we're not saying that that Mirinan and and Bowser can't be key players. They are going to be, but we always say it's like depth and entries. And if anyone knows that better than anybody, it's Arkansas. like what has been the theme, you know, again for a couple years, like that is the theme is you always want to have more depth just because of injuries and that kind of stuff. So, I think yes, like now we wait and see where they're headed in that regard and once we maybe see what that next big piece is. Um, you know, pun intended, it's got to be a big man.

[00:08:59]>> Yeah. I mean, right now I think you're and we we played the game of like underrated, overrated when who was it?

[00:09:05]Someone had um Arkansas at seven, right?

[00:09:09]Um and then I was like, I don't know, like we still need to see the big man, but now it's like we're locked in here with the the perimeter play and all that. And so, yeah, >> transition offense, you're going to hear us say that one talking about Arkansas probably 500 times this year. Get ready for it. It was a plentiful. It was It was pretty much your entire offense this past year ripping and running. Trevon Brazil, Billy flying down the court. Get used to it again. Stacking up great perimeter athletes that love to just fly and and play with a ton of pace. It's going to be a fun offensive team. High totals this year for the Hogs, Blake. High totals over at FanDuel.

[00:09:50]>> I think so. Uh points points points again for the Hogs who what last year >> seventh in offensive efficiency uh and you know we mentioned pretty much top 15 three-point shooting team. All those things we're going to have our eye on again I think for Arkansas when it comes to their offensive output uh this upcoming season. So big win for the Hogs. You'd like to have Malik Thomas back, but getting Billy the Kid back in the saddle in Fateville heading into the 26 27th SEC basketball