Perhaps it is time that the Southeastern Conference begin drug testing its coaches. Consider the remarks of Kentucky’s Billy Gillispie. According to ArkansasSports360.com’s Jim Harris, Gillispie said during a media conference call yesterday that he believes that the Hogs are capable of winning the national championship.

“I think Arkansas is a team that can win six games in a row and [coach] John [Pelphrey] has done a great job with them,” Gillispie said. “They’ve got six seniors. They have great players inside with great depth inside. They have guards who are capable. On certain days, they have the ability to shoot very well. They can shoot the ball.”

“If they get on a roll, they can beat anyone,” he added. “As a team that obviously earned their way in the tournament, just like everyone else they have difficult matchups awaiting them.”

Actually, we’re more inclined to attribute Gillispie’s comments to conference boosterism and the reluctance of most coaches to ever say anything but the most positive things about other teams. Still, maybe it’s time for the local authorities to see if Billy’s been attending any Pink Floyd laser light shows.

• In other news from ArkansasSports360.com, John Brady is the new coach of the ASU Indians Red Wolves. Objectively speaking, that’s probably a good hire for ASU and definitely one that will bring the Jonesboro school some national exposure. But Brady is one of our all-time least favorite SEC coaches. He was disagreeable enough to make the normally placid Stan Heath mad at him, for crying out loud. We’re still kind of disappointed that Nolan didn’t wind up with the gig.

In honor of this week’s official start of the national holiday known as March Madness, we’ve asked some of our regular contributors to weigh in with their takes on the tournament. First up is the inimitable Tab Prewett, who has previously shared his thoughts on a variety of topics, including the Cotton Bowl and the epic win over LSU last fall. Now, join Tab on a trip down memory lane that begins at Maxine’s Bar in 1978 and winds up (potentially) in Hawg Heaven this weekend:

While reading the brilliant series on the 1978 Razorbacks’ journey to the Final Four by Whit E. Knight, and now with March Madness upon us, thoughts about that magnificent season came back, like the beer often does from the night before. As a dual blurred vision of Maxine’s Bar and Sidney Moncrief dunking in UCLA’s All-American David Greenwood’s face returned to me, like little Marcel Proust chomping on a Madeleine, I recalled that transcendent night when we beat UCLA to move on to the Elite Eight. Several of us so-called students (athletes we were not) descended on Maxine’s and drank pitcher after pitcher while chanting in not-so-perfect harmony and unison: “We beat UCLA. We beat UCLA. We beat UCLA.”

It must say something about my academic interests that my most Proustian memories of my days at Arkansas revolve around March Madness and not scholarly research, but, hey, we’re Hawg fans, not uptight, snooty Dukies, or those holier-than-thou Chapel Hill UNC bluebloods that we may face this year in the second round. In 1995 Corliss put a pounding on Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse in the semi-finals and Arkansas took out another Basketball Hallowed Almighty, even with the Dean of the Four Corners Smith coaching. Beating UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgetown, Louisville, and, yes, Indiana – that’s why March Madness is so thrilling, because the chance of the upset always exists.

Of course, one has to assess the team with the chance to pull the upset, and that brings us to this year’s team, which by unanimous consent has been committed to the Arkansas State Hospital for the Insane for instant and intense psychotherapy. I watched the Georgia game and was as demoralized and as disappointed and yet totally unsurprised as everybody else. Now, it’s Monday afternoon and believe me, by Friday night I’ll be frothing with hatred of Indiana (doesn’t hurt that my ex-wife grew up in Indianapolis, otherwise a nice city) and high with anticipation of our victory. But do I realistically expect a win? No. Again, can we win? Of course.

The question is how, and I have five keys that within five minutes of the game Friday night will determine whether we win or lose. If Arkansas fails in any one of these five areas in the first five minutes, turn off your television, go to the internet, and start making flight reservations for some island to take your mind off your troubles.

(Read on …)

With the NCAA Tournament brackets unveiled last evening, there is no shortage of analyzing and prognosticating going on. Throughout the week, our analysts will work to keep you as updated as possible with what the media folk are saying about the Hogs and their tournament draw.

• Check under the “Home Cooking” subhead of his East Regional breakdown, and you’ll find that CNNSI.com’s Luke Winn appears to predict that the Hogs will beat Indiana and then lose to UNC. (You should also check out his “Breaking Down Arkansas” blog entry from Sunday to see some very detailed “X’s and O’s” analysis of the Hogs’ offensive sets during their victory over the Vols.)

• The saintly Bob McClellan of Rivals.com says the Hogs will beat Indiana; the evil Mike Huguenin, also of Rivals.com says they won’t.

• In his East Region breakdown, Gregg Doyel of CBS’ Sportsline.com writes, under his “Five Random Notes” subhead, that “Indiana’s Dan Dakich will find a way to beat Arkansas in the first round, giving him another crack at North Carolina in the NCAA tournament. The last time that happened, he was shutting down Michael Jordan in the 1984 Sweet 16.”

• Click here for FoxSports.com’s summary of the Hogs (there are some things to quibble with, we think). The site’s Jeff Goodman previews the East Region and, while he doesn’t offer predictions, he labels the Arkansas-Indiana duel the region’s best first-round match-up and also says that Indiana is the most underrated team in the region. Great.

• Blogger and big-time Florida Gator fan Dan Shanoff, in a piece for the Wall Street Journal, picks the Hogs to beat Indiana and then lost to UNC.

Our staff of analysts is busy chugging Red Bull and consuming massive quantities of amphetamines in order to stay up through the night analyzing the Arkansas-Indiana first-round match-up. We’ll present the fruits of their labor throughout the rest of the week.

In the meantime, we want to hear from you.

Thoughts? Predictions?

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.

On March 14, 1981, U.S. Reed hit what is undoubtedly the most memorable buzzer-beater in Razorback history: a half-court bomb that knocked defending national champion Louisville out of the NCAA Tournament and propelled the Hogs into the Sweet Sixteen.

Another indelible moment took place seconds later when the NBC cameras showed then-Texas coach Abe Lemons (the game was played in Austin) joining a group of Razorback fans for a post-game, celebratory Hog call. Abe, who unfortunately passed away in 2002, was quite simply the wittiest basketball coach I’ve ever seen and one of the game’s true characters. I always think of him when I see clips of Reed’s shot.

I think the only truly appropriate way to mark the anniversary is for one of the current Hogs to beat Vandy today on an identical shot. I don’t think that’s asking too much. Anyhoo, if you happen to run into U.S. today, be sure and buy him a beer and give him a hearty thanks for the memories.

[Note: the above picture was taken from the back cover of the 1981-82 Razorback basketball media guide; to see the shot in all of its glory (and to hear Paul Eells’ thrilling radio call), just click here. And click here for the box score of the game.]

Awhile back, it dawned on us here at RazorbackExpats.com that the Arkansas basketball program has a very special anniversary coming up this spring. Thirty years ago this March, Eddie Sutton led the Hogs to the Final Four, marking the school’s first modern-era appearance in college basketball’s showcase event. Whit E. Knight, one of our favorite commenters and an occasional contributor, has commemorated this seminal event with a three-part series. In this final installment (click here for the first and here for the second), he recounts the Hogs’ five games in the 1978 NCAA Tournament. Many, many thanks, Whit. Once again, the stage is now yours:

Arkansas’s first-round game in the NCAA tournament was in Eugene, Ore., against unranked Weber State, which had finished the season with an impressive winning streak and its conference tournament title. Weber State kept it close early, but Brewer finally began penetrating the Wildcats’ zone, and with U.S. Reed and little-used Alan Zhan getting extended playing time while Moncrief and Schall were on the bench in foul trouble, the Hogs pulled away to a 73-52 victory. Delph finished with 20 points, Brewer 19 and Moncrief 16. The Arkansas Gazette noted that the game was remarkable for one thing: an almost total lack of intensity. That would soon change.

Next up was 10-time NCAA champion and No. 2-ranked UCLA in Albuquerque, N.M. It is hard to realize today just how daunting the game must have seemed to the Hogs and their fans. As Counce said, “From the time I was 7 until I was 17, UCLA was the national champion every year but one.”

The deck headline in the Gazette sports section the day after the game said it all: “Hogs Display Courage, Poise in Record Win.” Arkansas led by 10 at the half, but was down by two with 7:34 to go. The Razorbacks shook off the memory of their collapse against Wake Forest the previous year, steadied themselves, regained the lead and answered every UCLA threat the rest of the way to prevail, 74-70.

Delph, who had been snubbed out of high school by UCLA, which had no interest in a 6-4 center from Conway, was 10 of 11 from the field in the first half and finished with 23 points. He and Brewer, who scored 18, played the entire 40 minutes. Moncrief, who tallied 21, played all but the last few seconds. He had to leave the game after he suffered a mild concussion, jammed finger on his left hand and considerable bruises on his shoulder and neck when a hard foul from 6-9 All-American David Greenwood sent him crashing to the floor. Counce played 39 minutes. With Schall again on the bench with four fouls, Zahn contributed a solid 21 minutes.

It was the most physical game the Hogs had played all year, but even though they were a finesse team, they were clearly the better squad and deserved to advance. This game announced to the world that Arkansas now belonged among the elite in college basketball.

(Read on …)

• Nolan Richardson won’t be coaching the ASU Indians Red Wolves. That’s disappointing.

• Jeff Long says the Hogs will likely continue to refuse to play in-state schools. That’s also disappointing.

• Done deal: the Hogs and Texas A&M Aggies will renew their football rivalry with an annual match-up in The House that Jerry Built. That’s not disappointing. (The series starts in October 2009.)

• Oh, the irony … what if John Pelphrey’s former team keeps his current team out of the field of 65? Well, that would be very, very disappointing.

With Selection Sunday less than a week away, it’s time for the last installment of our Pulitzer-winning “Where We Stand” series, which is designed to give you a quick look at what kind of shape the Hogs are in for an NCAA Tournament bid. Without further ado:

RPI (Ratings Percentage Index): 43 (last week’s ranking: 38, Feb. 25th ranking: 35).

Record over last 10 games: 5-5.

Bracketology’s March 10 NCAA Tournament Projection: a No. 10 seed in the West Region, slated to play No. 7 seed Southern California (this is sounding familiar) in a first-round match-up in Little Rock.

CNN/SI.com’s March 10 Projection: a No. 10 seed in the West Region, scheduled to play No. 7 seed Kansas State.

Bracketography.com’s March 9 Projection: a No. 11 seed in the Midwest Region, slated to play No. 6 seed Butler in Omaha, Neb.

CBS’ Sportsline.com’s March 10 Projection: Says the Hogs are in, but doesn’t specify a seeding.

FoxSports.com’s March 10 Projection: a No. 12 seed in the Midwest Region, slated to play No. 5 seed Washington State in Tampa, Fla.

SportingNews.com’s March 10 Projection: lists Arkansas as a No. 10 seed, but doesn’t specify first-round opponent.

Rivals.com: In its listing of bubble teams, the site places the Razorbacks in the “looking good” category.

Last night’s game was broadcast in the Atlanta area, but I didn’t watch it. Displaying a frightening sense of priorities, I decided to go out to dinner with a friend instead. My feeling was this: If the Hogs lose, I don’t want to see it, and if they win, big deal - it’s Auburn.

After reading the game stories and looking at the box score, one thing definitely jumps out: Patrick Beverley is back. That sounds like quite an offensive display he put on: 27 points, making all six of his shots from behind the three-point line. That’s about all of the penetrating insight that I’ve got right now.

So, with the regular season behind us and the conference tournament looming, the big question, of course, is what kind of shape are the Hogs in for an NCAA bid? If I were a betting man, I’d say they are currently on the outside looking in. I just can’t get past their 3-5 finish. Win a game or two in Atlanta, of course, and it’s a different story. But if the Hogs get bounced on Friday, I think we’re looking at the NIT.

Chime in with your thoughts in the comments section.