Arkansas Razorbacks Basketball

With the arrival of the hoops season upon us, we decided it was time to chat about this year’s Razorback team with Chris Bahn, ArkansasSports360.com’s outstanding Hog beat reporter. Bahn covers both the football and basketball teams, and his work is an essential part of our daily sports reading.

In the first installment of a two-part Q&A, Bahn discusses John Pelphrey’s performance last season, the dynamic freshmen duo of Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke, and the likelihood of Michael Washington enjoying a breakout season.

Many thanks to Chris for his time, and be sure to check out his recent cover story on this year’s team.

What’s your opinion of the job John Pelphrey did in his first year as coach of the Hogs? How does he compare to other Razorback coaches in this stage of their tenures?

It seemed like Pelphrey did a nice job, at least from my vantage point. He inherited a bunch of underachievers and guided them to a second round NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in about a decade.

Pelphrey generally seemed to know what buttons to press with that group and, unlike Stan Heath’s tenure with the same players, you rarely heard them say the other team “wanted it more” when they lost. That alone was worth a contract extension for Pelphrey.

And Pelphrey had the best debut season of any coach in Arkansas history. That’s saying something, considering this program includes two Hall of Famers like Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson.

This doesn’t guarantee Pelphrey will have Sutton or Richardson-type success, but you have to appreciate how he started his tenure.

There’s been a lot of hype around Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke. What kind of seasons should we expect from them? Have any other newcomers caught your eye?

Freshmen tend to be pretty unpredictable, but I would be shocked if Fortson and Clarke didn’t appear in a lot of headlines and story leads this year. Individually, they are solid players and together they have great chemistry.

Watching Fortson drive the lane, draw in a defense, and then dish out to Clarke for a wide-open three-pointer is a thing of beauty. They’ll have their share of mistakes, but I like Arkansas’ future with those two guys in the backcourt.

I’m going to have to reserve judgment on the rest of the newcomers, but I’ll mention Montrell McDonald here just so I can say I did if he has a good year.

True or false: Michael Washington will enjoy a breakout season in 2008-09.

True.

Remember the past two seasons when Washington looked out of shape and winded after about six minutes?

That’s not going to happen this year. He’s completely transformed his body and seems to have the endurance to complement his natural athletic and basketball ability.

Based on what you’ve seen to this point, what are the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s squad? What Razorback team of the past would you say they most resemble? (Note: we’re hoping you say 1992-93.)

Well, just off the top of my head, I’d point to the 1996 team that included a quick, tough freshman point guard (Kareem Reid/Courtney Fortson) and a sweet-shooting freshman on the wing (Pat Bradley/Rotnei Clarke) with an underappreciated junior post presence inside (Darnell Robinson/Michael Washington).

Arkansas was 20-13 with a NCAA Tournament appearance in 1995-96. A year later they went 18-14 with an NIT Final Four trip.

I don’t know if this group will pull off that kind of success this year, but the key pieces remind me a little bit of the ones on those teams.

And exhibition games against non-Division I opponents at that. But we here at RazorbackExpats have been pretty impressed with the basketball Hogs so far and can’t wait for the real season to start this Friday. A while back, we weren’t sure we’d be feeling this way.

Some things we’re excited about:

New players. It’s always exciting when a large recruiting class arrives in Fayetteville. Some of our favorite seasons—88-89 (when MayDay and the Big O were freshman) and '92-'93 (when Corliss and Scotty came to town)—featured Hog teams with lots of newcomers. Will this season provide similarly good memories?

Rotnei Clark. In the two exhibition games, the freshman guard has averaged 18.5 points a contest, shot 63 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the three-point line (in fact, he’s only attempted one non-three-point field goal) and made all eight of his free throws. Hot damn.

Michael Washington. The 6′9″ junior forward has shown flashes of great promise during his first two seasons in Fayetteville. In his second year under the demanding Pelphrey, perhaps he’s ready to put it all together. The Hogs, who are awfully thin (and small) in the frontcourt desperately need him to.

He supposedly arrived on campus this fall in great shape, and he averaged 20.5 points a game during the exhibition season. He also averaged 8.5 rebounds a game and shot 61 percent from the field. Skepticism is warranted because of the level of competition, but still - so far, so good.

Courtney Fortson. For undisclosed reasons, Fortson only played in the Hogs’ second exhibition game. But he did nothing to dispel the growing excitement around this talented point guard, scoring 11 points and dishing out 10 assists. Fortson and Clark could become a pretty lethal combination.

The schedule. It isn’t always the case, but the Hogs have a pretty interesting non-conference schedule. This month will bring road trips to Missouri State and South Alabama. Those aren’t the sexiest opponents, but they are solid programs. Add in the Hogs’ inexperience, and these are bound to be tough games. And the end of the non-conference schedule features home games against Oklahoma and Texas. Not too shabby.

John Pelphrey. He did a solid job last year, particularly at the end, but the team was still too often dull as dirt to watch. We’re excited to see what the Boss Hog will do with more of his players.

Who knows—a month from now we may be singing a very different tune, but right now, Friday night can’t come soon enough.

It’s Election Day. Get out and vote.

In honor of today, we present this small collection of Hog-related presidential photos.

Above is a shot from one of the most glorious days in the history of mankind; it’s of Bill Clinton congratulating Nolan Richardson after the Razorbacks defeated Duke to claim the 1994 national championship.

Below is a March 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated featuring a cover story detailing Clinton’s obsessive Hog fandom.

Here’s a shot of Eddie and Patsy Sutton with Jimmy Carter, date and context unknown. I pulled the photo from a 1984 book celebrating Sutton’s first 10 seasons in Fayetteville, so it was definitely taken when he was coaching the Razorbacks. Perhaps Carter was seeking to rejuvenate his presidency by experiencing the vaunted healing powers of Eddie’s perm.

Below is a photo of Richard Nixon at the 1969 Arkansas-Texas football game.

On a related note, we, here at RazorbackExpats, were intrigued to recently discover that the infamous 18 and 1/2-minute gap covers up a fiery, passionate Nixon argument that, even though the Hogs lost the Big Shootout, they were the better team.

Our best guess is that Nixon erased the conversation to avoid the political difficulties that may have arisen from angering the state of Texas. Instead, he ended up creating a bigger mess for himself. Lesson: Never hide your admiration for the Razorbacks.

Being expats, we were unable to attend Friday night’s Red-White basketball game. However, like last year, we were able to persuade CharlieHog, proprietor of the excellent HogNation site and the terrific new RazorbackNine baseball blog (and, perhaps most importantly, our very first commenter), to file an eyewitness report. Many thanks, Charlie. The floor is now yours:

Here are my quick thoughts on the Red-White scrimmage. Obviously there isn’t much to report from 20 minutes of play.

• The arena is weird, sort of jarringly different. Press row is behind the home basket, the student seating now consists of benches, and the new luxury seats are in. Of course, the mid-court logo is now the “helmet” Hog. The ribbon boards have not been installed yet. The “bone/popcorn” Hog logo has been removed from the scoreboard. Only helmet Hogs to be seen everywhere.

• The band is under new direction. It’s the guy that always led the band at women’s events. Sorry, I don’t know his name. They sounded great, though.

• Courtney Fortson wasn’t there. I don’t know why.

• Rotnei Clarke can definitely shoot the three. He made 12 in the three-point contest held between the women’s and men’s scrimmages and hit his first four three-pointers in the scrimmage itself.

• Stefan Welsh is noticeably bigger, and Michael Washington also looks to be in great shape.

• Physically, Brandon Moore looks exactly like Sonny Weems to me.

• Overall, the team seems to be very long and athletic, even if it does lack height.

• Michael Sanchez is very physical.

• Montrell McDonald played well and stood out.

Overall, that’s about it. The defense looked pretty tight. The guys played hard. I’m not sure how many games they’ll win (since it’s October, I’ll say all of them—ha) but the potential is there, and I believe in coach Pelphrey’s ability to get them playing as a team and improving over the course of the season.

Attendance was OK. I’d guess around 5,000 to 6,000.

It’s hard to believe that the start of basketball practice is just a few days away. Time, it does fly. Seems just like yesterday that the Tar Heels were making mincemeat of the Hogs.

And if you go by the pre-season prognostications, it would seem that lots of teams will be making mincemeat of Arkansas this year. Here at Razorback Expats, we’re not ready to give into the gloom and doom just yet.

Yes, the Hogs have lost a ton of production from last year’s squad. But, there appears to be some real talent among the newcomers, including a few guys who may even be able to shoot the ball, a skill that there hasn’t been an overabundance of in Fayetteville in recent years.

To some extent, the situation reminds me of the fall of 1992. Back then, the Hogs had lost of ton of seniors (albeit ones that were much more accomplished than Weems, Ervin, Hill, et al.). The incoming recruiting class was fairly well-regarded, but, overall, the team was deemed too small and too inexperienced to pose much of a threat that season.

The returning player with the highest scoring average, point guard Robert Shepherd, had averaged a whopping 6.7 points per game the previous season. The best-case scenario seemed to be an NIT invitation.

The result? Seniors Shepherd and Darrell Hawkins and newcomers Scotty Thurman, Corliss Williamson, Corey Beck and Dwight Stewart—to name just some of the heroes from that year—busted their asses, embraced Nolan Richardson’s full-court-pressure style of play like no Hog team before or since, and made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

If I had to pick any Hog season as my favorite, this would be the one (although picking my favorite Razorback basketball season is a little like picking my favorite Beatles album, i.e., an agonizingly difficult decision).

The 1992-93 season started off with a bang when the unranked Hogs defeated No. 8 Memphis State (the team that had ended the careers of Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller several months earlier) after rallying from a 20-point deficit. Four days later, they defeated No. 9 Arizona in Tucson. Surely they’re playing over their heads, many thought. Surely they aren’t this good.

(more…)

From the moment the 2008 football schedule was released, the Expats organization has employed a team of PhD statisticians working overtime to develop a mathematically precise prediction of how the season would unfold.

However, as they were preparing their report for us this morning, their computer crashed and their massive trove of data was lost (apparently they forgot to hit the save button).

In a pinch we turned to this fellow on the left, for what he lacks in expertise and education he more than makes up for with a cool outfit and a crystal ball.

So, without further ado, we present to you the 2008 Arkansas Razorback Expats soon-to-be-laughably-wrong football forecast:

Western Illinois (8/30) 

No Appalachian State-style D-IAA upset here as the Bobby Petrino era begins with an easy win. Expect plenty of offensive fireworks. W

Louisiana-Monroe (9/06) 

Petrino does what Nick Saban couldn’t do last year…beat the mighty ULM Warhawks. W

@ Texas (9/13)

Wouldn’t a win in Austin be just about the best thing ever? Alas, we don’t see it happening. L

Alabama (9/20)

Our soothsayer tells us that the Hogs have at least one ‘upset’ of the SEC’s big guns in them this year, and this feels like the game. Sweet revenge for that heartbreaker in Tuscaloosa last year. W

Florida (10/04) 

Tebow vs. Petrino—gosh, who will ESPN be pulling for? The Hogs will make it respectable, but don’t have the defensive studs to contain the Gators for four quarters. L

@ Auburn (10/11) 

Auburn is tough. SEC games on the road are tough. We’ll score more than 7 points this year, though. L

@ Kentucky (10/18) 

John Pelphrey’s boys play the game of their lives to upset the Wildcats in Rupp—wait, wrong sport. Anyway, this feels like a win. W

Ole Miss (10/25) 

Banner-making companies and charter pilots in NW Arkansas are salivating over the revenue opportunities for this game. We simply have to win it—no other options. W

Tulsa (11/01)

Hint: there might be a pass or two thrown in this game. With HDN out of the picture, the drama factor is a lot lower (that’s a pretty blanket statement, actually), but still should be a fun one. W

@ South Carolina (11/08)

Defense figures to be the Hogs’ weak spot this year, and we don’t like the odds of holding off the Spurriers on the road. L

@ Mississippi St (11/22) 

We’re bumming ourselves out just predicting this, but we feel a Crooming coming on. Like we said, SEC road games are tough. L

LSU (11/28)

A letdown after last year’s epic thriller is inevitable…the Hogs will “bring that wood”, but it won’t be enough this time. L

Summary: So, the total comes to 6-6 (our PhD’s helped us figure out the tally). To those counting on a nine win season that might be grounds for breaking out the anti-Petrino banners and FOIA’ing his cell phone records, but even in our giddiest days we’re realists at heart and that feels about right.

The schedule is BRUTAL, folks.

The way we see it, getting six wins out of that murderer’s row in such a rebuilding year would be a great sign of things to come.

Just to be clear, we are extremely bullish about the future of the football team and know that the Hogs will be a real handful for opponents in 2009, but this year is more about building a foundation for upcoming glories.

Whatever happens, the Razorbacks will be a blast to watch, and we can’t wait to see what happens.

Of course, that’s just our take our fortune teller’s take on it—what do you think?

On NBC’s Meet the Press, the late Tim Russert would routinely try to create great theater by presenting interviewees with video clips or quotes that showed them taking contradictory positions.

If he were still around, he could have a field day with (former? current?) Razorback guard Patrick Beverley.

Beverley was declared ineligible for the upcoming season nearly two weeks ago.  Citing the Family Rights and Privacy Act, U of A officials have declined to say why he won’t be able to suit up, so what little we know about the situation comes from Beverley—and he hasn’t exactly been clear.

Early reports on Web sites such as CBSSportsline.com said that Beverley’s ineligibility stems from academic reasons.  However, in a subsequent report on Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman’s blog, Beverley said, “It had nothing to do with academics.  I violated NCAA rules and what happened went over the coaches’ heads.  A lot of people thought it was because of grades, but I go to class every day.”

Beverley also told Goodman that he had signed with an agent and intended to play the upcoming season overseas before entering his name in next year’s NBA Draft.

However, Beverley later told The Sporting News’ Sean Deveney that he’s ineligible because of an issue with a class paper, and he also denied that he’s hired an agent, saying he’s weighing his options and that he hasn’t ruled out donning a Razorback uniform again.  “My first choice is still to go back to Arkansas,” he said.  “I love that place.  I love the whole state.”

“Everything happens for a reason,” he added.  “Hopefully, what comes out of this is what’s best for Patrick Beverley.”

Whatever stress Patrick may be feeling about his current predicament, it’s good to see that it hasn’t impacted his ability to speak in the third person.  That’s when we would really start worrying about him.

• In some welcome good news for the basketball team, the NCAA has declared that incoming freshman guard Courtney Fortson will be eligible for this upcoming season.

Warning: this post contains enough rampant speculation and uninformed commentary to make Buzz Bissinger’s head explode.

As Stephen noted yesterday, Patrick Beverley is out for the season and that definitely “kinda sucks“. That alone is certainly bad enough news (interesting that both the football and basketball teams are now entirely in rebuilding mode), but it seems like there’s a larger issue out there going undiscussed: will Beverley ever don a Razorback uniform again?

After a stellar freshman season, Beverley’s performance was a bit disappointing last year. Maybe it was a garden variety sophomore slump, but reading between the lines it’s easy to speculate that things were never quite right between him and John Pelphrey. I have no idea what they would have clashed about or why, but the fact that Beverley gave serious thought to transferring to South Florida (and Stan Heath) after the season indicates that something was amiss in that relationship.

As for the actual announcement that he won’t be playing next year, it seems a little fishy. Totally absent the usual language about academics or the ubiquitous “violation of team rules” it certainly raises more questions than it answers…one would think that if the reason for his not playing were one of those garden-variety issues we’d know more about it.

So, given all the various factors at play, I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Patrick Beverley has played his last game as a Hog. You can take some comfort in the fact that I’m often wrong, but that’s how I’m seeing it. What do you think? I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Razorback fans living in Memphis: be strong.

You’ll need to be, because ESPN.com has given Tiger fans yet another bragging right over their Hog-loving rivals. In case you haven’t heard, the Worldwide Leader in Sports has compiled its list of the most prestigious college basketball programs since the 1984-85 season.

The Hogs slide in at No. 15. Not too bad, you might say, especially considering the all-out crappy play that plagued the program throughout much of this decade.

The good feelings—if you can call them that—won’t last long, however. To be exact, they will last as long as the time it takes your eyes to scroll down to No. 14. That’s where the Memphis Tigers—at one point perhaps the Razorbacks’ biggest rival—reside.

First, Memphis coach John Calipari says Arkansas is not a “national program” and discontinues the annual series between the schools. Next, Memphis has completely and thoroughly outshone the Hogs for the past five years or so.

Then, when Frank of the Ozarks calls Calipari to see if he’s interested in the Arkansas job, it apparently takes the Tigers coach less than a nanosecond to say, “No.” And now, this ESPN ranking.

Oh, the humiliation.

When this rivalry was at its height in the 1990s, there was no team I hated losing to more than Memphis. I don’t have that level of animosity any more, thanks to court-ordered counseling and to my befriending a couple of Tigers fans over the years. I even found myself rooting for Memphis during the past few NCAA Tournaments.

Still, when those friends invite me over, I’d like to have something to gloat about for a change.

John Pelphrey has hit the nail on the head with this year's recruiting class.

After his first season at Arkansas, Pelphrey took a team of Stan Heath's players to the NCAA tournament and a first round win over Indiana before losing to eventual Final Four competitors North Carolina.

As Pelphrey enters his second season, he will be depending on a few key returning players like Michael Washington and Patrick Beverly, but he will also be depending on incoming talent in Arkansas' best recruiting class in years.

On four major recruiting web sites, the lowest rank Pelphrey's class receives is 24th by Scout.com, and it is ranked as high as sixth by CSTV.com, a CBSsportsline site.

The head of the class features two outstanding guards in Courtney Fortson, out of Patterson School in North Carolina, and Rotnei Clarke from Verdigris High School in Oklahoma.  Fortson is rated as the sixth-best point guard of the class by ESPN.com and ninth by Rivals.com, who rates the class at 16th.  ESPN ranks the class at 11th.

Clarke became Oklahoma's career all-time leading scorer in his last season at Verdigris, scoring 37 points in his final game to lead the team to a 3A state championship.  Clarke chose Arkansas over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, and Gonzaga, among other schools.

Fortson helped lead Patterson School to a 33-1 record and has been highly regarded by Pelphrey, who saw him play against some other big national recruits.  Here is what Pelphrey had to say in an interview with Hogs Illustrated.

"Courtney Fortson has just been a tremendous winner...I had a chance to see him play against Brandon Jennings and somebody else (on staff) saw him against Tyreke Evans—two of the top point guards in the country...Courtney competed very well in terms of a individual basis on points and assists, but more importantly his team won both games.  That is exciting as a coach."

Fortson turned down Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Minnesota, Kentucky, Iowa, Clemson, and Florida State to join the Hogs.

Rivals also has recruit Jason Henry rated as the 13th-best small forward in the country.

Another ESPN-noted recruit is 6'6" shooting guard Montrell McDonald out of Fort Worth County College in Kansas.

CSTV is also big on 6'7" signee Daniel Payne, who should help add to the three and/or four spots of the recruiting class.

With a young but talented group, Pelphrey is expected to have a rebuilding year, which it certainly could be.

But if recruiting continues the way it has been going, look for Pelphrey to have the Razorbacks back in the national spotlight in the next few years.

Note: The class recently dropped in a few polls  (26th in rivals, 13th in CSTV) with the recent decommit of a key recruit, although not Fortson or Clarke.