In what is truly one of the most glorious developments in the history of time wasting, Sports Illustrated recently opened up the vault and put its entire magazine archives - as in all of it - on its website. For free.

It’s an amazing thing, but can be extremely dangerous to anyone with even the slightest tendency towards procrastination. So, as part of our ongoing effort to provide a public service to our loyal readers, we have unleashed our team of hardworking and underpaid Razorback Expats interns on the site to bring you the very best bits of this massive treasure trove. While they slowly go insane due to the enormity of it all, you can just sit back and enjoy the fun.

Today’s focus is on one of the greatest Hog basketballers: Alvin Robertson. It’s sometimes forgotten just how damn good Alvin was, both at Arkansas and in the pros (towards the end of his career, Michael Jordan singled him out as one of the toughest defenders he’d ever faced), so these articles are a nice nostalgic refresher.

November 28, 1983: Season Preview - #13 Arkansas

This article, from a classic SI issue featuring Jordan and Sam Perkins from #1 North Carolina on the cover (incidentally, that team would remain undefeated until a certain fateful day in Pine Bluff) describes Alvin as the best guard in the SWC, but my favorite bits are the descriptions of the rest of the team. You have the “husky” Joe Kleine, references to Ricky Norton and Willie Cutts as being potential replacements for Darrell Walker, and a quote from Eddie Sutton saying that Keenan DuBose “has a chance to be as good as Moncrief”. Whoops.

July 23, 1984: “Hooray for the Red, White, Black and Blue!”

In this article about the 1984 Olympic basketball team - almost certainly the best amateur team ever assembled - Alvin gets a nice shout-out as the team’s most consistent player. During the pre-Olympic warm-up games he led the team in rebounds and steals, was second in assists and minutes played, and was fourth in scoring. Not too shabby.

April 21, 1986: “Spur of the Moment - Alvin Robertson is pro basketball’s new Man of Steal”

Alvin gets the full feature treatment in this highly complimentary article (I don’t remember ever reading it before now, which is odd given that it came out during the peak years of me scouring the pages of SI for signs that the Razorbacks were being disrespected). Written during the high point of his NBA career - he had just been voted to the All-Star starting lineup in just his second year as a pro - it focuses on him stepping up to be “the Man” in San Antonio in place of the recently traded George Gervin. It also spends some time talking about what a model citizen and good community member he was, which is both sad and ironic given his numerous later legal troubles. Bonus: the description of Alvin bonding with Patrick Ewing over their shared love of reggae while on the 1984 Olympic team.

I think we can all agree that it’s time for a break from the current unpleasantness of Razorback basketball, so with that in mind let’s discuss a more appealing subject: which ex-Hogs should have their numbers retired and jerseys hung from the rafters at Bud Walton? (This topic comes directly from Arkansas Sports 360, which has a good article asking why Arkansas doesn’t retire basketball numbers, so definitely check that out for your background research.)

As a starting point, here’s a very hastily put-together and poorly researched list of possible candidates…feel free to pick it apart and/or suggest your own version in the comments section.

In rough chronological order:

Sidney Moncrief
Ron Brewer
Marvin Delph
Darrell Walker
Alvin Robertson
Joe Kleine
Eddie Sutton
Todd Day
Lee Mayberry
Corliss Williamson
Scotty Thurman
Corey Beck
Nolan Richardson

This doesn’t include the larger-than-lifesize statue of Dwight Stewart that we’re recommending be placed outside the entrance of Bud Walton. That one is such a no-brainer it’s almost not worth mentioning here.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts…

Feb. 12, 1984.

That’s the day that Arkansas defeated the No. 1-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, who brought a 19-0 record into that Sunday afternoon nationally televised contest in Pine Bluff and featured the greatest basketball player who has ever lived. Jordan’s teammates weren’t too shabby either. They included Sam Perkins, who would go on to enjoy a 17-year pro career, and Brad Daugherty, who was the No. 1 pick in the 1986 NBA draft and who played in the pros for eight seasons before injuries forced his retirement. Also wearing Carolina uniforms that day were Matt Doherty, who was coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons earlier this decade, and Buzz Peterson, who coached the UT Vols from 2001 to 2005. (Kenny Smith was on the Tar Heels that year but didn’t play in the game because of a broken wrist.)

The Hogs, who were led that year by Alvin Robertson and Joe Kleine, brought an 18-4 record into the game but were not ranked. The day before, they had defeated SMU in Dallas and were only able to arrive in Pine Bluff a couple of hours before tip-off after a line of severe thunderstorms played havoc with their travel plans. Suffice to say, not exactly an ideal way to get ready for the game.

No matter.

The Hogs came out roaring and led by as many as seven in the first half before going into halftime with a 38-34 lead. The second half was a tight affair, and Jordan put his greatness on full display and was basically unstoppable in the final 20 minutes, finishing the game with 21 points. With under a minute to play, he drilled a jumper to put the Tar Heels up 64-63.

That’s where the score stood when forward Charles Balentine etched his name into Razorback history by hitting a game-winning, eight-footer from the baseline with seconds left to play. Carolina guard Steve Hale fired off a buzzer-beating shot that rimmed in and (thankfully) back out to give the Hogs a 65-64 win (NBC broadcaster Al McGuire famously screamed, “It’s good!” as Hale’s shot approached the rim).

(Read on …)

I recently came across these photos of a nine-year-old, bowl-cutted me taken at a Razorback autograph session and, needless to say, got a good laugh out of them. The pictures were taken in the summer of 1982 in downtown Little Rock. The photo in the upper left corner is me with, of course, then-Coach Eddie Sutton (my frownish look is because I was embarrassed that my dad was taking our picture). The upper right shot shows Alvin Robertson signing an autograph for me, and the bottom left photo is me with Darrell Walker (my dad had asked Darrell to put his arm around me, and he doesn’t appear to be too thrilled to comply). Finally, the bottom right shot is of Sidney Moncrief, by then one of the best players in the NBA. One of my favorite things about these pictures: Alvin’s collared camouflage shirt. The autographs are after the jump.

(Read on …)