Johnell Davis Shouldn’t Get the Blame for Walking into a Perfect Storm

Johnell Davis, Davonte Davis, Devo Davis, Arkansas basketball
photo credit: Craven Whitlow

Something’s rotten in the state of Arkansas.

After the Razorbacks fell to 0-3 in Southeastern Conference play with a home loss to eighth-ranked Florida, coach John Calipari is in the midst of his worst league season since his first year of collegiate coaching, period, way back in 1988-89. 

But, see, that smell emitting from the Natural State is not the Arkansas basketball team. It’s the Hamlet-like madness and rage of the Razorbacks’ fan base. Arkansas could absolutely still qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but the question as to whether that’s even enough to satiate a fan base already eager to send the mob is another issue

The Arkansas hire of John Calipari is turning into Tubby Smith at Memphis. At the moment they are projected as an 11 seed. Best win so far was against Michigan. This week they get LSU (easy W) and rival Mizzou (another bubble team)

It’s Ryne (@therhancock19.bsky.social) 2025-01-12T11:14:28.004Z

The target of their latest ire – after stabs at KJ Jefferson, Rocket Sanders, Sam Pittman, Eric Musselman, Trevon Brazile, Devo Davis, Mason Molina and Kendall Diggs all over the last 18 months – is both Calipari and, more pointedly, guard Johnell Davis. 

Johnell Davis Targeted By Fans

Davis, one of the most highly regarded transfers in the portal this past offseason, has struggled to meet the standard he set at Florida Atlantic. He was a two-time first-team all-conference player with the Owls and helped them to an improbable run to the Final Four in 2023. But the struggles at Arkansas pronounced themselves with substantial evidence on Saturday as the senior shot 0-of-8 from the floor, including a 0-for-5 day from 3-point range, in the loss to the Gators. His former teammate at FAU, Elijah Martin, exacerbated things by leading Florida with 14 points. 

Undoubtedly, Davis has been poor, especially against the best teams Arkansas has played (14 points on 4-of-29 shooting in 98 minutes against the Hogs’ four ranked opponents so far). But the player nicknamed Nelly, much like the man with the same surname who played for Arkansas last season, has been the primary fall guy for the Hogs’ entire season worth of struggles. Nevermind the Hogs don’t come close to beating Ole Miss on Wednesday without his performance and wouldn’t have beaten Miami back in early December without him, either. 

Razorbacks cannot score. Bought a dud in Nelly Davis off the portal. I don’t see anything on the team to hang my hat on. Don’t see anything they do really well. #Arkansasrazorbacks #WPS

Ellen Turney (@ellenturney.bsky.social) 2025-01-11T23:40:29.799Z

The reality is that Arkansas basketball just isn’t very good right now. It’s a reality that has proven itself over the last half-decade, too. The Razorbacks started SEC play 2-4 in 2020-21, 0-3 in ‘21-22, 1-5 in ‘22-23 and 1-6 last season. In those first two years, Musselman led Arkansas to the Elite Eight and in the next, the Sweet 16. Last year, the worm didn’t turn and the man was practically chased out of town, opting for a more relaxed environment at a private school that has made the NCAA Tournament as many times in the last four years as the Hogs have.

See Arkansas Sports For What They Really Are

Instead of seeing Arkansas sports as regressing to the mean, fans have dragged the torches and pitchforks back out of the shed in what is now a quarterly exercise. It’s no wonder the state is the second worst in the nation when it comes to mental health.

In the 2020-2022 range, it seemed like Razorbacks were outpacing expectations everywhere you looked. On the football field, Pittman took the Hogs three straight bowls, including landing a nine-win season in 2022. Basketball went to the Sweet 16 three straight times. And baseball came one win shy of another College World Series appearance.

But there’s been a mighty downturn since then when it comes to actual production versus expected production from a multitude of stars across the three big sports. It was into that perfect storm that Johnell Davis walked, and is now paying the price for his unlucky timing. 

The bigger problem when it comes to the Hogs is a lack of realistic expectation and historical knowledge. For whatever reason, folks think it’s the 1960s still (or maybe they just wish it were) and Arkansas should be up among the powerful of college football. Bret Bielema, Chad Morris and Sam Pittman are not Frank Broyles, Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield (for the record: Danny Ford, Houston Nutt and Bobby Petrino aren’t, either). The SEC’s money will keep the program relevant for as long as current FBS structure allows, but the SEC’s foes will keep Arkansas on the proverbial sidelines for the same time period. 

The Razorbacks overachieved massively in 2021 and 2022 in football thanks to Jefferson and Sanders, the former of whom re-wrote the school record books. When things went south, the fans proclaimed them dead-weight, leading to their transfers. Arkansas basketball’s three straight deep postseason runs provided fuel for the fans to chase away Musselman after one disappointment and brand Devo Davis, once a folk hero, a lost cause. Even in baseball, Hagen Smith (and to a lesser extent Kevin Kopps) didn’t get their deserved due for the two greatest Arkansas baseball seasons in history. 

Any notion that Smith, Brady Tygart and Mason Molina would be the best rotation in the country was silly. So was the thinking Boogie Fland, DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis would be the best backcourt. We call those pipe dreams and the sooner they’re realized as fantasies, the happier. But, rather, such things are simply – wrongly – expected to the vitriol-spewing heathens in the online space. 

It Ain’t The Media’s Fault

One of the grandest ironies, of course, is that such folks lambaste ‘the media’ (though I’m certain anyone who uses that term has no idea what it actually means) for creating these expectations. That isn’t how the media works. Or, even if it were, perhaps some self-reflection would do some good, those who buy into any such proclamations would be better off doing their own research.

*Ahem*

Unfortunately, this is what college sports fandom has become. Hell, it’s what America has become. If things aren’t going absolutely swimmingly, things are miserable. Gray areas, too many of the teeth-knashers believe, do not exist. Perhaps it never did and the internet is only shining a light on something that was always there.

I don’t believe that, frankly. People are, at their core, reasonable. It’s just that disinformation and delusion have corrupted decency and perverted it into a lust for greatness and achievement. Davis, Davis, Jefferson, Musselman, Pittman, Calipari – they shouldn’t and won’t pay the price. Your mental health will.

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Why Arkansas was so high on Johnell Davis to begin with:

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