Back in April last year, this 5-star guard de-committed from Kentucky and headed to Arkansas to join the Razorbacks, following the footsteps of John Calipari. Fland’s high school coach, Archbishop Stepinac’s Pat Massaroni had said that the guard had “a high level of confidence in Coach Cal that he developed over the last two years” and “Coach Cal also had a great relationship with his mom and dad.”

“He is a Hall of Fame coach who cares about his players. When he gave his Hall of Fame speech, his former players and coaches were up on the stage with him. He only wants the best for you. Off the court, he is a funny guy. He has a lot of jokes, and they are spot on. He told me this decision was like a marriage. You need to say, ‘I do’,” the 6-foot-2 point guard told ESPN when he committed to Kentucky. Well, their tie-up did do wonders when this guard took the court for the first time for Arkansas under Coach Cal against Lipscomb in July 2024.

The guard immediately made his presence felt as he finished the game with 17 points, three assists, and three rebounds, guiding the team to a victory. Despite that, Calipari, being Calipari, did not step back from pointing out the shortcomings of Boogie Fland. He thought that there was still plenty of room for Fland to grow. particularly, he believed Fland needed to take better shots and called him out following the game for his decision to keep shooting three-point shots.

“Why would you shoot a three? Boogie, you barely made one and it went clink, clink, clink. That was the one you made and you kept shooting. Shoot twos. I’m not going to tell you not to shoot, just don’t shoot threes. ‘Well, I’m trying to get my.’ No, no. We’re trying to win. You get in that gym over there and shoot threes,” Calipari had said. The same avatar of the coach came out after the Razorbacks lost to the Ole Miss (73-66) at the Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville on Wednesday night.

“Do you feel like maybe there’s too much pressure on Boogie in the offense right now?” This was a question posed to the head coach by a journalist. Shooting was definitely an issue for Arkansas, and it became worse when Boogie Fland had an off day. He shot 5-20, an abysmal 25% for his 14 points.

John Calipari, however, held the star freshman accountable. Fland is 10-for-35 (28.5%) from the field and 3-for-17 (17.6%) from three to start league play and has been forced to take more shots. He finished the night 5-for-20. “He took some shots he didn’t need to take, y’know? He just did. Like why, why would you take that when you haven’t made a shot? Why are you doing that? Create a shot for your teammate that they can make.”  

The six-foot-two guard has been the top-scoring Razorback this season, but Calipari still expects more. “Then again, he’s young. He’s trying to figure it out. All of a sudden you play like that, your life flashes before your eyes, but it shouldn’t be. But it does. Just calm down,” said Coach Calipari while talking about Boogie, “This is a long season. You didn’t play well, you didn’t shoot well, so? We move on…”

The Razorbacks just aren’t catching a break, and boy, do they need one. Back-to-back losses to start off conference play aren’t exactly inspiring hope in Arkansas fans, who were expecting a lot more. Not only the fans, but Calipari has also been expecting a lot more from his team. “I’m disappointed, but not discouraged… We just gotta play winning basketball, and that means collectively. They [Ole Miss] were the better team today,” the Arkansas head coach said in the recent post-match conference.

There were plenty of issues for the Arkansas-based team as they suffered their second consecutive loss. “We had some mix-ups defensively. We left some people open, we didn’t close to their three point shooters. There were times where the guy’s by himself with no one on him,” Calipari said, describing his team’s struggles in Tuesday’s match up, but he also gave credit where it was due. “I’m gonna have to watch the tape to say all right—where did we screw this up? But they also had to make them, and they did. We also had some, and again, we don’t make ’em.” 

In the final major play of the game, the Rebels set a screen near the logo. The defense got caught up, and the screener popped out, knocking down an open three-pointer. This sequence alone exemplifies what the head coach had been trying to emphasize. Arkansas’ start was great, pulling away from the Ole Miss 10-1 in the opening minutes of the first half. However, the Rebel tied the game by halftime.

The Hogs seemed to put everything they had in the beginning but ran out of steam before halftime. The Razorbacks made 12 of their first 21 shots, but they finished the night 22 for 59 and shot 31% after halftime. They struggled to create their half-court offense, and the transition game was nearly absent as Ole Miss took care of the ball and only committed 5 turnovers. This was the second straight game when shooting woes played a defining role in the Arkansas loss. The Hogs were tepid with nobody guarding them, going 17 of 24 from the free-throw line.

But they must move on, as Coach Cal said, while they face a tough challenge on Saturday. The Florida Gators are 4-1 in their last five games, and they’ll look to keep the momentum going. It’ll be interesting to see how Calipari plans to secure his first SEC victory with this matchup. In the post-match conference, Arkansas head coach John Calipari talked about his team’s shortcomings and plans going forward. But he has a concern.

John Calipari says league is tougher than expected?

What surprised the Razorbacks coach, however, was the difficulty of the conference this year. The SEC is having really good competitive basketball this year, and Coach Cal said so in his interview. “I didn’t think it would be easy, didn’t think it was gonna be this hard. But you know what? It’s hard. The league this year? It’s hard, and you got no breaks so we’ll see what happens going forward.”

But is it really tougher than expected, or is Calipari slipping up? Some fans believe it’s the latter. John Calipari’s exit from Kentucky was widely publicized and became a polarizing topic for fans. Many Wildcats supporters were ready for him to leave as quickly as possible, while others couldn’t believe their eyes. Calipari chose to opt out of his contract, saving the school the buyout, and in doing so, he gave Arkansas a chance for a quick bounce-back after Muss left.

Overall, one thing is certain: Coach Cal and his Razorbacks have a lot to prove. After a solid start to their campaign, they now need to bounce back from a string of tough losses. Their rebounding, which was a concern earlier in the season, definitely showed improvement in the matchup against the Rebels. If they continue learning from their mistakes and players like Boogie Fland step up consistently, the Razorbacks have a real shot at making history in the NCAA.