We’ve been a little slack in discussing this, but, per Brandon Marcello of The Slophouse, Patrick Beverley will be returning to Fayetteville for his junior season. Marcello’s report, which is based on a TBO.com blog post, says Patrick wanted to transfer to the University of South Florida to reunite with ex-Hog coach Stan Heath, but Beverley’s mom talked him out of the move. (We could get snarky and say that perhaps Patrick missed being part of a team that routinely blew double-digit leads and that couldn’t get past the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but we’re much classier than that.)

We originally thought that the hard-charging Beverley would mesh well with the hard-ass Pelphrey, but there’s obviously been some difficulties in the relationship. Considering the lack of proven SEC-caliber talent that the Razorbacks currently have on their roster, though, we’re very happy that Beverley Beverley’s mom feels that Pelphrey and Fayetteville are worth another look.

* Bye-Bye Beverley? - That’s the jarring headline of Brandon Marcello’s latest Slophouse blog entry. According to the post, Patrick has been making some comments on his Facebook page that could lead some to believe that he won’t be with the Hogs next season, including “I’m leaving.” Apparently, though, the page doesn’t make it clear exactly what he will be leaving. But … Marcello says he ran into Patrick at this weekend’s Real Deal on the Hill AAU Tournament, and Beverley wouldn’t comment on the matter. That doesn’t sound good.

* More Hoops News: Pelphrey continues to add to his 2008 recruiting class by inking 6-7 forward John Henry, who played high school ball in West Memphis and spent last season at Cincinnati Harmony Prep School. And, scroll down about halfway through this story, and you’ll see that the Hogs could also add 6-5 shooting guard Nick Williams of Mobile, Ala., this week. He might come in extra handy if indeed Patrick decides to take his act elsewhere.

* Draft Talk: Next Saturday marks the arrival of what I find to be the sporting world’s most obnoxious event: the NFL Draft. I usually avoid this like the plague. This year, however, there are two obvious reasons to tune in: McFadden and Jones, and I’m sure that a hefty percentage of this week’s postings will deal with speculation concerning the two. Here’s some material that’s sure to be a conversation starter: Fox NFL Analyst Brian Baldinger is no fan of D-Mac:

“I think he’s the colossal bust in this draft. He doesn’t run with patience. He’s a very incomplete back who tries to run you over. If he gets a crease, he can take it to the house. But he doesn’t break tackles and he fumbles. I’m not impressed.”

And add this unnamed scout to the list of those not overly enamored with No. 5:

“I can’t believe how skinny his calves and his shins are. It’s almost scary. It’s like a skinny wide receiver. At the running back position, you want a guy who’s a little wider on his base. is built on top, but he’s got a very skinny base. I think that’s a little bit of a concern.”

* Practice Makes Perfect - To stay on top of the football team’s spring practice, be sure to check out the Razorbloggers’ top-notch and highly detailed daily reports.

* I’m in Charge Here - Houston Nutt is back to doing what many Razorback fans think he does worst: calling plays.

Wow, it’s a lot more fun when you win these games! The Good Hogs certainly came to play tonight, firing on all cylinders in a most impressive 86-72 win over Indiana. It’s amazing how a big NCAA tournament win erases the bad memories of dismal midseason performances against, say, South Carolina.

Lots of thoughts are rattling around in my head right now, so rather than trying to write anything particularly coherent, here’s a rundown of a few of them:

Sonny, welcome to the club. With his 31 points on 12 for 14 shooting, Sonny Weems etched his name among the great Razorback postseason performances. Not too shabby.

I don’t know if I could pull off this quote, but I like the way it sounds. Patrick Beverley: “Sunny days when Sonny Weems plays the way he plays.”

This will probably eliminate any nostalgia for the Dana Altman era. Tonight John Pelphrey did something that Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson never did…won his first NCAA tournament game as Razorback coach.

He might not remember the name, but I’m sure he remembers the ball getting swatted back in his face. Afterwards, Indiana star Eric Gordon referred to Steven Hill as “that big 7-foot guy.”

Somebody give this man a raise. In our Q&A with Pat Bradley yesterday, the former Razorback said “it just seems like Indiana’s superstars — those two guys, Gordon and White — I think they’re looking at the NBA right now and couldn’t care less about the tournament.” After Gordon’s 3 for 15 shooting night, that analysis sounds pretty dead on.

Bring on the Heels! The Hogs have a good history playing North Carolina in the tournament, routing UNC in 1990, giving the eventual national champs a scare in 1993 and beating down their star-studded team in the 1995 Final Four.

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 …)

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.

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.

There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the basketball team in recent weeks (we’ll admit to engaging in a bit of that ourselves). But we were impressed with last night’s 20-point stomping of No. 25 and previously-undefeated-in-the-SEC Mississippi State. Oh, it still wasn’t completely easy on the eyes (after all, the Hogs did shoot only 36 percent from the field), but after back-to-back double-digit wins, we’re not in the mood to nit-pick.

For the second game in a row, special mention goes to Sonny Weems (22 points) and Patrick Beverley (19 points, 10 rebounds). The latter has now posted a double-digit rebound total in four of his last five games.

Other items of note: the Razorbacks shot 83 percent from the free-throw line and committed only 11 turnovers, while forcing the Bulldogs to cough up the ball 22 times. Those two stat lines have haunted Pelphrey & Co. for much of the season. Sustained improvement in those areas would go a mighty long way towards helping this team live up to its pre-season billing as the best in the SEC West.

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.

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.

OK - maybe not.

That wasn’t the most artful win, and at numerous points it was downright ugly. But, I’ll take it, I guess. After all, since we’d won one road game in the last 25 years heading into tonight’s game (or whatever the stat was), I figure we can’t be too choosy yet. Hats off to Patrick Beverley and to Sonny Weems, who for the second straight game really turned it on in the second half.

The funniest moment of the evening for me came when I received a text message in the second half from a dear friend and fellow Hog fan who lives in Memphis and who has one of the driest wits around. His message read, “Gary Ervin is frustrating to watch. And I’m being charitable.”

Speaking of Ervin, his clang of a free throw in the waning seconds has to be one of the most massive bricks I’ve seen since the times when Razorback two-sporter Matt Jones was forced to step up to the charity stripe.

Interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section.