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!

A few short hours ago, the Hogs were still perched precariously on the NCAA tournament bubble, thanks to their rather lackluster stretch of games in late February. But, thanks to a very strong 81-75 victory over #17 Vanderbilt, Arkansas solidified its Big Dance credentials beyond any doubt. (They also continued one of their odder runs in recent memory…despite the very up & down quality of this team, they’ve now beaten the Commodores eight out of the last nine games.)

The defining quality of the Razorbacks this year has been their extremely schizophrenic nature, so it was a happy sight to see the Good Hogs show up for this game. In particular, props are due to Gary Ervin, who hit several big late game baskets en route to 18 total points.

At this point, the Hogs are playing for a better seed, and with Tennessee coming up there’s an opportunity for a big win to impress the selection committee (and the opposite, of course, but I’m feeling optimistic at the moment). If the Good Hogs show up again, who knows…anything is possible.

* It’s Senior Day for Vincent Hunter, Charles Thomas, Sonny Weems, Steven Hill, Darian Townes and Gary Ervin. What would you say is this group’s most memorable moment? It’s kind of strange to say this about a group that is in halfway decent shape for a third consecutive trip to the NCAA, but they haven’t produced an abundance of good memories. I’d vote for the come-from-way-behind upset of Tennessee, then ranked in the Top 10, in Knoxville two years ago.

* Nolan and ASU continue to flirt. According to the linked article, Nolan had this to say about Jonesboro: “It’s very progressive looking …” Apparently, he didn’t try to buy a drink while he was in town.

* John Moriello of FoxSports.com takes on Darren McFadden. (courtesy of ArkansasSports.com)

* Did you spend last night tossing and turning, repeatedly waking up drenched in night sweat, as you fretted about the Hogs’ chances of making the NCAA? Brandon Marcello of The Slophouse has the latest projections covered for you.

* That ‘ole hatin’ feeling: Looks like the renewal of the Razorback-Texas A&M football series is pretty much a done deal.

Enjoy today’s game. Let’s hope we’re still in the NCAA picture when it’s over.

Last year, with the help of two thrilling victories over Vanderbilt, the Razorbacks constructed a late-season, five-game winning streak that propelled them (barely) into the NCAA Tournament. If Arkansas makes it back this year, a heart-stopping March conquest of the Commodores would once again be a major reason why.

Just when we were ready to emotionally withdraw from the season, the Hogs pulled off their most impressive victory of the year and pumped new blood into their NCAA hopes. Some quick thoughts:

* Welcome Back, Patrick Beverley. Well, to be specific: Welcome back, Patrick Beverley’s jumper. After playing several weeks with his offensive game in deep freeze, No. 21 stirred visions of his magnificent freshman season by burying five of seven shots from behind the three-point line to finish the game with 17 points. We love the gaudy rebounding stats as much as anyone, but we’d much rather see Patrick making shots instead of hauling in missed ones.

 * Who Was That Team on the Free Throw Line? The Hogs provided a wonderfully refreshing change of pace on Saturday by making 72 percent of their free throws. Sonny Weems was particularly clutch, making seven of eight shots from the charity stripe and knocking down all six of his free throws in the game’s last 20 seconds. Here’s hoping such performance continues, but, frankly, we aren’t holding our breath.

* Kudos, Gary Ervin. The senior point guard can be exasperating to watch, but he put on a fine display Saturday, totaling 13 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds (including a huge one in the game’s waning seconds) and only one turnover. We’ve never doubted his effort, so it’s great to see him come through in such an important game.

* Preach On, Brother Pelphrey: We loved this post-game quote from the Boss Hog, courtesy of Nate Allen of the Northwest Arkansas Times: “I don’t know how to say this. I’m happy that we won but I’m not happy with this team. Tonight you saw courage, toughness. I want to see that when we pack up to go on the road. Bud Walton is electric, but (on the road ) we don’t need mommy cutting corners off our bread and cutting our chicken nuggets for us. We need to be men and play that way.”

On to Oxford.

Well, it was another wobbly win, but as was the case on Thursday, we’ll take it. For the first time in six years, the Hogs are 2-0 in SEC play. (Perhaps that’s not a great omen: after winning their first two conference games, the 2002 Razorbacks ended SEC play with a 6-10 record and Nolan got fired.)

And as was also the case with Thursday’s victory, you get the sense that Sunday’s win was the kind of game the Hogs of the preceding several seasons likely would have lost.

More thoughts to come later, but a quick hats off to Gary Ervin. The often-maligned point guard pretty much saved the Hogs’ bacon in overtime, nailing a three-pointer with less than two minutes to play to put Arkansas up by one and then completing an old-fashioned three-point play with less than a minute left to extend the Hogs’ lead to 68-64. As sloppy as much of the game was, that was an awfully stirring stretch of basketball.

Also of note: 6-1 Patrick Beverley led all players with 13 rebounds. That’s pretty insane.

As alway, please chime in with your observations in the comments section.