With the Hogs playing for their first NCAA tournament win of the 21st century tonight (!), it’s time to bring in a true Razorback expert: Arkansas Sports 360 editor Jim Harris. If there’s an Arkansas sportswriter doing better work than Harris right now we certainly haven’t seen it, and unlike certain other prominent local sports editors we could name, his columns are always light on fluff and heavy on interesting insights, analysis and opinions. Thanks very much to Jim for taking the time out of his busy week to answer our questions…now, check out what he has to say about Indiana, this crazy 2008 season and great Hog teams of the past:

1. What do you think of the Hogs’ chances against Indiana on Friday? And, if they win that game, how do you think they would fare against North Carolina ?

The Hogs’ chances are excellent if they bring the same game they showed against Vanderbilt and Tennessee. If Kelvin Sampson were still coaching Indiana, the Hoosiers wouldn’t be an eighth seed. But he’s not, and for good reason, and they’re playing now about like a 12th seed under Dan Dakich as interim coach. Nothing is settled there, and the team is having to rely on its two talented stars, Eric Gordon and D.J. White to carry them. Arkansas needs to focus on not letting the mystery guys beat them while trying to stop Gordon and White. They’re going to get theirs.

Arkansas must not let Armon Bassett or Jemarcus Ellis get loose on them in the backcourt, or somebody like Lance Stemler sneak in there and get 12-14 points inside. Let the two guys get their 40-50 and stop the rest. And if Charles Thomas can maintain what we saw the past two weeks, Arkansas should have a good night scoring inside, setting up the guards to deliver the knockout.

Arkansas will unlikely be able to follow that up against North Carolina . The Tar Heels have too many weapons for the Hogs to defend. Their only chance is if North Carolina is flat, and there is no reason for that.

2. What’s your take on the Razorbacks’ season so far? Have they exceeded your expectations, meet your expectations or disappointed you?

In some ways they disappointed me, because I though that all the hard work this staff put them through in the off season would have truly brought them together as people and good teammates. Instead, with the exception of a couple of people, such as Darian Townes and Weems through the SEC, they seemed to play most of the season divided again, just like they looked under the previous staff. On the plus side, Darian Townes has had a terrific year in both his scoring and his attitude. He got better defensively but had so far to go; still does. His rebounding in the tournament last week was terrific. Every time Pelphrey challenged him, he answered the call. Total opposite of the past. Don’t know where Thomas was all season, but finally when it counts he’s begun to look like the Thomas we saw at times his first three seasons.

Sonny Weems had to carry so much load for so long, and maybe it wore him out late, but his conference season was terrific. He finally looked like the comparison some made with his talents and Ronnie Brewer’s was accurate. His ballhandling was suspect, but his passing skills was never better than in the tournament. Patrick Beverley may have played too much basketball in the summer and was fighting himself for much of the league season. Finally, he has come around.

Gary Ervin has improved down the stretch. I’m not sure what took Stefan Welsh so long to show what he can do, but when Arkansas moved him to a shooting guard for the tournament and allowed him to shoot on the run without worrying about it, he was terrific. His ballhandling is not what it needs to be, as we saw against Georgia . Steven Hill had his moments, none better than beating Tennessee , plus his defense late against Vanderbilt in the tournament. I think one more season – having redshirted earlier – and we might have seen his potential realized. Michael Washington was the biggest disappointment. He just never seemed to fulfill what I thought he could do after his freshman year. He was such a defensive liability to this staff, and that in turn affected his offensive output.

This group took to coaching in rebounding, the defense improved in its rotation, and the offense had to adjust from motion to a pick-and-roll style that bothered them early but eventually they showed some efficiency.

3. It’s hard to judge a coach after only one season, but that won’t stop us from asking you this: what is your impression of John Pelphrey, and do you think he is the right person for the job?

(Read on …)

Absolutely electrifying. 

After enduring several strokes and a half dozen heart attacks, we can say that was the most thrilling Razorback basketball game - and the biggest victory - we’ve seen in a long, long time. That felt like the good ‘ole days.

The Hogs just beat the No. 4 team in the country, a team that annihilated them a month ago, on - of all things - a Steven Hill turnaround jumper! A surreal day in Atlanta just got even crazier.

We couldn’t be prouder of the team. So many heroes. They showed tons of poise out there today. On the several occasions when it looked like UT was on the verge of putting the game away, the Razorbacks came roaring back.

A few random thoughts:

* Charles Thomas Likes the SEC Tournament Semifinals. In last year’s semifinal victory over Mississippi State, he scored 18 points and hauled in 18 rebounds. Today, he was even better, in our humble opinion, leading the team with 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He’s looked out of it for much of the year, but today his focus and energy were off the charts.

* It Was a Good Day for the Razorbacks’ Frontcourt. In addition to Hill’s last-second heroics and Charles Thomas’ dominance, Darian Townes continued his recent top-notch play, totaling 16 points. For much of the last few weeks, he has looked almost unstoppable in the post. OK, maybe that’s something of an overstatement, but the point is this: he’s been damn good. If Thomas and Townes keep this up, next week just may bring the Hogs their first NCAA Tournament win since 1999.

* Battle of the Boards. If you look at the box score, you’re struck by how even the teams were: the Hogs shot 55 percent from the floor, the Vols 54. The Hogs made eight three-pointers for a 44 percent clip from behind the arc, the Vols 11 three-pointers for a 45 percent success rate.  Additionally, the teams had an identical free-throw line: 20 of 29.

The one big difference: rebounds. Overall, the Hogs grabbed 32 of them, the Vols 21. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that the Razorbacks had 12 offensive rebounds to the Vols’ six. That may have been the difference in the game right there.

* Just in the Nick of Time. Just when we were about to file a missing persons report on Sonny Weems, he hit three huge field goals down the stretch. Stick around for a while, Sonny: Chances are we’re gonna need you again.

* Kudos, Again, Steven Hill. We still can’t believe that you made that shot, but we couldn’t be happier for you. You’ve always struck us as a helluva guy (and your post-game interview was hilarious). Enjoy your time in the sun. You deserve it.

Now it’s onto the championship game. Here’s hoping for a repeat of 2000!

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.

Borrowing a page from the John Pelphrey playbook, we here at RazorbackExpats had threatened to not let our staff go home for Christmas if the Hogs lost to Appalachian State. Like Coach P, however, we relented. And to help us keep the site churning during the holiday break, we have turned to one of our regular commenters, the always insightful Whit E. Knight. He and his wife have graciously agreed to provide their take on the basketball team. Without further ado …

Whit E. Knight (W): Mrs. Knight and I are thrilled that the Razorback Expats have asked us to give our impressions of the basketball team so far and how we think they may fare the rest of the way. Of course, our excitement is a little tempered after watching the Hogs suffer a disappointing loss to Appalachian State at Alltel.

Mrs. Whit E. Knight (M): The Hogs were outplayed; it’s that simple.

W: Neither of us was a fan of Stan Heath, so we were glad to see him go. I was tired of listening to TV announcers talk about how scary talented the Razorbacks were while they were en route to another mediocre season. Mrs. Knight was elated when it was announced that Dana Altman would be the new coach; Pelphrey she was not so sure about.

M: It wasn’t Altman so much as that somebody showed up to be the coach and then called the Hogs. And then he went away! So I was a little disappointed with the whole Razorback-basketball-coach thing, as I had been for a few years, and didn’t want to get my hopes up again. But Pelphrey’s been here — wow — the whole season, and I like a lot of what I’ve seen, so I’m onboard. I like his energy, as some might say. He is sort of like a tall terrier.

W: I think Pelphrey will turn out well. But so far he has not managed to shake the current crop of Razorbacks out of the Heath mindset. The holdovers appear to still be undisciplined underachievers. Their record is not bad at 9-3, but with their talent they should be 11-1 right now. The Providence loss was a total team effort - everyone looked flat. But they showed a lack of character in the end against Oklahoma, and you can blame the refs and Appalachian State having an incredible shooting night, but that is a game they have to win.

So credit Pelphrey with getting them to lift their game some, but I think he has a way to go to get them to play up to their talent level.

(Read on …)

As you attempt to wipe away your UT-induced football funk (John and I are looking for any helpful tips) and get ready for Pelphrey & Co.’s appearance in Puerto Rico this weekend, gaze upon these items of interest:

• Move over, Atkins. Eat your heart out, South Beach Diet (brilliant play on words firmly intended) and make way for the Charles Thomas Fitness Plan.

• Richard Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has a nice primer on the four basketball recruits expected to sign national letters of intent with the Hogs today. The list includes Courtney Fortson, a 5-11 point guard from The Patterson School in North Carolina; Brandon Moore, a 6-9 forward from New Orleans; Terrance Joyner, a 6-2 point guard from Genesis One Prep in Mississippi; and Andre Clark, a 6-10 forward who is also from Genesis One. After these guys sign, Pelphrey will have two more scholarships to hand out.

It will be interesting to see where the basketball gurus place Pelphrey’s signees, although I learned in 1995 not to put a whole lot of stock in the hype surrounding a recruiting class. That was the year Nolan brought in Jesse Pate, Kareem Reid, Sunday Adebayo, Pat Bradley, Derek Hood, et al., to try and continue the success established over the preceding decade. There were some nice players in that group, but, by and large, I think it’s abundantly fair to say that class failed to meet expectations.

• Tip of the Day: If you haven’t checked out the new Basketball Prospectus Web site, you should. It’s the companion site to Baseball Prospectus, which started about 10 years ago and uses all sorts of fun, geeky statistical tools to analyze the game and blow away much of the long-standing conventional wisdom surrounding it. Click here to read the site’s preview of the SEC West. Teaser quote: “the Arkansas D ain’t broke but the new coach has promised to fix it. And that is what might be called a gamble.”

• For the “Where are They Now File?”: Former Hog QB Ron Calcagni will coach Arkansas’ All-American Football League team.

That’s it for now. Here’s hoping Patrick Beverley is not late for the team bus to tomorrow’s game.