Whew!

Well, the basketball season-opener proved every bit as nerve-wracking as the football season-opener.

Southeastern Louisiana isn’t the biggest name, but I think, considering it was their first time playing together in a game that counts, that that was a pretty nice victory for the Hogs. A gutsy comeback in the final minute of regulation. A great effort by Michael Washington and very solid debuts by Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke. I’ll take it.

Free throws – the bane of so many Razorback teams of the recent past – were a problem again tonight as well, particularly for Fortson and Washington. Hopefully, that will change.

What are your thoughts?

(P.S. – We hear they’re really happy in Lexington tonight.)

Filed under: Basketball — Stephen at 8:56 pm on Friday, November 14, 2008

5 Comments »

Comment by robb white ellett

November 14, 2008 @ 11:07 pm

looked to me like bud walton was about 60% full. it did get early barnhill loud a few times. lotsa fans left disgustedly around the 3:40 mark, only to miss a very gritty comeback.

i’m pretty sure the wheels came off when we refused to make early free throws, the cajuns got comfortable, and we left moore, clark(no e), and henry in too long. they may not be real good this year.

clarke looked like a super star in the first half with the quickest release of all time ever. fortson is more outta control than kareem reid and they have a very similar game. not sure pelphrey knows how to capitalize on the strengths of his players just yet, and that showed, i thought, in the lack of cohesive offense. letting fortson drive and get lost over and over reminded me of the days where it felt nolan wanted the kids to bang it off the rim as hard as possible and hope satchell got a rebound and put back.

all said, great late effort by the kids. britt played solid. sanchez’ll be servicable. washington, fortson, clarke will have to do all the scoring and hope that welsh can pick up a few here and there.

probably gonna mirror the football season, but with these guys as a base, the next few years should be ok, but i’m not nearly as excited as i was prior to watching the game.

Comment by Whit E. Knight

November 15, 2008 @ 5:56 am

Oh no! Please don’t tell me Fortson is more out of control than Kareem Reid. I was just to the point of banishing my memories of his career.

Comment by J. Hawg 3

November 15, 2008 @ 8:17 am

Wow. The review from Robb does not fill me with confidence. I agree Whit, I have heard more than once, “I hope Courtney isn’t another Kareem Reid.”

I know we have some weakspots, but Fortson was supposed to be the prize of the class.

Well, I thought SE La might be tough, with a pretty experienced team. The Hogs don’t have to worry about being overconfident after this one.

Comment by Stephen

November 15, 2008 @ 8:34 am

Robb White,

That is a somewhat sobering account. I kept track of the game via Yahoo’s Gamechannel, so I had no idea what they looked like in person. Thanks for the eyewitness report.

For now, I’ll tell myself that it’s only one game.

Pingback by The Odd Couple | Razorback Expats

November 17, 2008 @ 7:59 pm

[...] Quotes like those make me practically giddy. If I ran a network, I would immediately launch a reality show based on their time at Arkansas. Imagine the possibilities: Courtney and Rotnei chilling in the dorm room talking about life. Courtney and Rotnei meeting each other’s families. Courtney and Rotnei hanging out with each other’s high school friends. Courtney and Rotnei going on a double date. Courtney and Rotnei playing practical jokes on their teammates. Courtney and Rotnei making big plays to win games (ok, that one already happened). [...]

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