There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the basketball team in recent weeks (we’ll admit to engaging in a bit of that ourselves). But we were impressed with last night’s 20-point stomping of No. 25 and previously-undefeated-in-the-SEC Mississippi State. Oh, it still wasn’t completely easy on the eyes (after all, the Hogs did shoot only 36 percent from the field), but after back-to-back double-digit wins, we’re not in the mood to nit-pick.

For the second game in a row, special mention goes to Sonny Weems (22 points) and Patrick Beverley (19 points, 10 rebounds). The latter has now posted a double-digit rebound total in four of his last five games.

Other items of note: the Razorbacks shot 83 percent from the free-throw line and committed only 11 turnovers, while forcing the Bulldogs to cough up the ball 22 times. Those two stat lines have haunted Pelphrey & Co. for much of the season. Sustained improvement in those areas would go a mighty long way towards helping this team live up to its pre-season billing as the best in the SEC West.

As reported by a great series of articles on Arkansas Sports 360, Nolan Richardson spoke at the Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club earlier today, and his remarks indicated that he’s put a lot of the bitterness from the last several years behind him. He led off his speech with a hog call (that video really should find its way to YouTube) and followed up by speaking in depth about his positive feelings for the team, the state and the fans.

Personally, I’ve always felt like Nolan’s exit from the team and the subsequent treatment of his legacy (in which the school shamefully ignored the 1994 team on the 10-year anniversary of Arkansas’ only undisputed major sport national championship) to be one of the sadder and more disappointing things about Razorback sports. Regardless of who was responsible for the nastiness and negativity on either side, it just felt wrong.

In his article on the speech, Arkansas Sports 360 editor Jim Harris sums up the situation more eloquently than I could, so I’ll just quote him directly:

“It’s time for Arkansas to honor the 1994 national championship team with a big to-do next season, the 15th anniversary. It’s time to name the basketball court after Nolan Richardson, because whether or not you agreed with his feelings about his ouster in 2002, it’s Richardson’s style and winning that created the need for 19,000 seats for basketball spectators instead of the 9,000 in the building that preceded it.

It’s Eddie Sutton who made Arkansans love basketball and travel in great numbers in March, but it’s Richardson who made them go crazy about it and expect to contend for national championships regularly. It’s why Stan Heath’s 21 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year wasn’t good enough. It’s why much is expected of first-year coach John Pelphrey.”

That sounds right to me. Let’s leave all the bad feelings in the past and recognize the man and his teams for what they accomplished. It’s about time!

Last week we announced that we were unleashing the awe-inspiring full power of this blog and its readers on the project of tracking down legendary basketball walk-on Eugene Nash. Without spoiling any surprises, I’m happy to report that we’ve made significant progress towards our goal…thanks to everyone who helped with your comments and emails.

We’ll have another update next week, but for now here’s a quick look at some of the things we learned (and hopefully this doesn’t come across as stalkerish…that is SO not our intention):

* Commenter FreeThrow tipped us to this feature on Eugene and his daughter in High School Sports the Magazine.

* Commenter and occasional contributor Whit E. Knight tracked down a Eugene Nash reference in a recent article in the Morning News.

* Lastly, this article in the Benton County Daily Record has a nice anecdote at the end about Eugene hanging out with former teammates Marvin Delph, Ron Brewer and Jim Counce.

Tough Love: Charles Thomas was suspended indefinitely today. Pelphrey isn’t saying why, but, according to Chris Bahn’s article on ArkansasSports360.com, the coach said of Thomas, “As a head coach, I’ve never been more disappointed in a young man’s choices.”

Cause for Optimism: I didn’t get to see Saturday’s game, but it sounds like a nice, solid win. I know, I know: LSU is no great shakes, but given this team’s recent history, any road win is a cause for celebration; a double-digit, never-really-in-doubt road win is cause for a ticker-tape parade.

Special mention goes to Sonny Weems, who drained all five of his three-point shots while notching a team-high 21 points, and Patrick Beverley, who continued his Dean Tolson/Nicky Davis/Dennis Rodman impersonation by hauling in 15 rebounds. 15! The 6-1 guard has now posted double-digit rebound totals in three of his last four games. His offensive game has shown definite signs of a sophomore slump, but make no mistake: this guy is a special player.

Overall, we’d say that the LSU win was impressive enough that perhaps Pelphrey should consider making those 1:30 a.m. Sunday practices a weekly event.

Future Hogs: Three recruits made oral commitments over the weekend to play for the Hogs and Bobby Petrino. Somewhere, Sean Salisbury must be fuming.

In an odd footnote to the Lane Kiffin-to-Arkansas rumors from the Great Football Coaching Search of 2007, it seems that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis is asking Kiffin to resign. Only thing is, Kiffin won’t do it (this really seems like a George Constanza situation).

From a Razorback perspective, the real shame is that Kiffin isn’t a defensive coach. After all, he’s known to have at least a modicum of interest in the school, and from what I hear we could use someone to lead that side of the ball.

In other Oakland/Arkansas news, the Raiders seem like at least a somewhat realistic destination for McFadden. For the record, all Hog fans should hope that this doesn’t happen…that franchise is a disaster. If any team could mess up D-Mac’s potential for NFL success it would be the Raiders, so keep your fingers crossed on his behalf.

that the Hogs taught the Wildcats how to play. One of my favorite all-time Razorback memories, a great moment in a pretty disappointing year. If you run into John Pelphrey today, try not to rub it in too much.

* Carolina on His Mind: After less than three weeks on the job, Razorback defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson has resigned to take the same position at South Carolina. Johnson replaces Brian VanGorder, who left the Gamecocks to become defensive coordinator of Bobby Petrino’s former employer, the Atlanta Falcons. Petrino (or, more likely, the athletic department’s PR person) was gracious in remarks contained in a news release, although, let’s be honest: Is there anyone on the planet who has less of a right to be upset, even if the resignation comes less than two weeks before national signing day?

* Don’t Forget: Help us find this man.

* 799 Down, 1 to Go: Eddie Sutton finally got his first victory as coach of the University of San Francisco last weekend, meaning that he now has to win only one more game to reach 800 career victories. His next chance at reaching the magic number comes this Saturday against St. Mary’s. The San Francisco Chronicle points out that four of Eddie’s wins could be seen as a gift from Oklahoma State administrators. Whatever. If/when Eddie achieves the milestone, no one will be cheering harder than the staffers at RazorbackExpats.

* Coach Hard Ass: Let it never be said that John Pelphrey isn’t trying to toughen up and wake up his slumbering band of Hog hoopsters. After returning from a 13-point drubbing at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Pelphrey put his team through a one-hour practice at Bud Walton Arena that began at 1:30 am. We’d like to think that being put through the wringer like that will result in an inspired performance this weekend in Baton Rouge, but we’re not holding our collective breath. Four years of watching this senior class will do that to you.

* Spot On: Jim Harris of ArkansasSports360.com has an inspired take on this year’s basketball team and the constantly shifting opinions of Razorback fans.

As Stephen so eloquently explained in a recent post, the Razorback Expats organization has always had a particular fascination with basketball walk-ons…those unsung heroes who would dominate mere mortals in a pickup game, yet ride the pine while the big names do battle on the court.

In the pantheon of Razorback walk-ons, no star shines brighter than that of Eugene Nash, that legendary crowd favorite from the mid-Eddie Sutton era. However, his tale has largely been lost to history…a sad state of affairs that we are now seeking to correct.

So, if you know Eugene Nash, have information about his whereabouts or, best of all, actually are Eugene Nash, please contact us at razorbackexpats at yahoo dot com. We would very much like to track him down and conduct an informal interview to share his story with the world (and give us the chance to chat with one of our favorite ex-Hogs).

After hiring away Bobby Petrino before the NFL season was over, the Razorbacks aren’t among Atlanta Falcons fans’ favorite teams. However, according to a mock first-round NFL draft recently compiled by Rivals.com, Atlanta fans may soon have less reason to hate the Hogs. That’s because Rivals has the Falcons taking Darren McFadden with the No. 3 pick in the first round. (Note: the exact order of the No. 3-5 picks has yet to be determined.) Alas, Felix is nowhere to be found.

However, Felix does chart - at No. 29 - on the site’s ranking of the top 100 draft prospects. McFadden is No. 3, behind Matt Ryan and Glenn Dorsey.

It’s January, the basketball team is driving everyone crazy, and Darren and Felix are gone. Perhaps you’ve come to this post looking for something to lift your spirits.

Keep looking.

With it being a slow news day and all, I thought I’d throw this out for discussion: What do you consider to be the most painful Razorback basketball loss?

Although Hog hoops has definitely produced its fair share of heartache, for me the answer is pretty easy: the loss to UCLA in the 1995 NCAA championship game. I so desperately wanted those Hogs to carve out a place in history by winning back-to-back national titles. And after a tournament full of heart-stopping finishes, close calls and plain ‘ole good luck, I was nearly convinced the Razorbacks would complete their quest to repeat when they took the court against the Bruins. Instead, they got beat pretty soundly as Corliss and Scotty both played miserably. (That night launched my intense dislike of Jim Harrick, which proved to be well-founded as the years went by. I watched his demise at Georgia with something close to glee.)

Add in the fact that the defeat marked the end of the most glorious era in Razorback basketball, and surely you can see why I’ve tried to block this game from my memory.

If only I had succeeded.