Hard to believe it was that long ago. Time flies.

Box score here. Wherever today may find you, Scotty, this Bud’s for you.

 Seriously, shouldn’t today be a state holiday?

Not surprisingly, the national sports media has failed to note the most obvious story angle arising out of this year’s Final Four: that all of the entries have played important roles in the Razorbacks’ NCAA Tournament history. To correct this egregious instance of journalistic malpractice (and because it’s a really slow time of the year for Hog news), we present this overview of the ways in which UCLA, Memphis, North Carolina and Kansas have either sent our spirits soaring or broken our hearts during March Madness.

UCLA. There’s some room to quibble with the following statement, but one could reasonably say the Bruins are the alpha and the omega of the Razorbacks’ glory years. In 1978, the Hogs arrived as players on the national scene when they knocked off UCLA, which was not far removed from winning an incredible 10 national championships in a 12-year period, in the semifinals of the West Regional. Seventeen years later, the O’Bannon brothers and the insufferable Jim Harrick ended the Razorbacks’ quest for their own back-to-back national championships and closed the door on the magnificient Williamson-Thurman-Beck(-and-Dwight!) era. It doesn’t take the most powerful observational skills to note that Hog basketball has never been the same since.

Memphis. Like UCLA, the Tigers are responsible for a glorious high and a shattering low. Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first: In 1992, then-Memphis State, led by Anferenee Hardaway, sent the Hogs packing with a second-round, 82-80 win that was sealed with a near-last-second tip-in by Tiger forward David Vaughn.

I’ve tried my best to completely forget about this game, but due to my employer’s poor mental health benefits package, some memories still linger - for instance, the way in which Memphis native Todd Day, obviously seeking revenge for this game, looked like Michael Jordan for the first five minutes of the contest and then proceeded to score something like one point in the last 30 minutes, draw a technical for staring at the ref and foul out.

A truly weird moment took place when Isaiah Morris and Oliver Miller, both sprinting to the Arkansas basket with nary a defender in sight, couldn’t decide who should take the lay-up and passed the ball back and forth until most of the other players began catching up with them. As I recall, one of them finally converted the basket, but they made the play much more interesting than it should have been. We should have known then that the Hogs were in for a long afternoon.

(Read on …)

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…

When it comes to college basketball, it’s hard to find a school with more tradition and fan intensity (ask Tubby Smith) than Kentucky. With the annual Hogs-Wildcats battle looming, we figured this was a good time to check in with one of our favorite SEC bloggers, Truzenzuzex from A Sea of Blue. He was kind enough to give us his informative and entertaining thoughts on a variety of topics, including the Billy Gillispie hire, the most irritating 90s-era Hog to play against, and why Razorback fans maybe shouldn’t get too used to having John Pelphrey around. And when you’re done reading Tru’s take, head on over to his site to read our answers to his questions about the Hogs. Big thanks to Tru for his time…read on for the full scoop:

1. The Wildcats’ overall record is a very un-Kentucky-like 14-10. However, the team is 8-3 in the conference, has won seven out of its last eight games, and has wins over then-No. 13 Vandy and then-No. 3 Tennessee. Considering all of that, what’s the overall mood of Wildcat fans and what’s your impression of Billy Gillispie so far?

The fanbase, in general, is happy with Gillispie, particularly those who wanted Smith gone so passionately. But I would say that Gillispie has widespread support among the Big Blue Nation, and I am pleased to count myself included. There have been a few missteps and some questionable decision making, but given the difficulty we have had with injuries and the defection of Alex Legion, I think things have gone reasonably well, particularly since the SEC season began and we finally began playing decent basketball. In sum, I would say the State of the Big Blue Nation is satisfied pending future improvement. Essentially, he gets a pass for this season. The radicals can always blame Tubby Smith.

2. Give us a quick scouting report of UK: What are the team’s strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths:

• Shooting — Kentucky is currently second in FG% in the conference, and second in 3-point FG%, and 3rd in eFG%
• Defense — Kentucky is currently 3rd in the league in defensive FG% and 2-point defensive FG%.
• Blocks — UK is currently 5th in blocks/game.

Weaknesses:

• Ballhandling — 10th in TO’s, 10th in A/TO ratio, and dead last in turnover rate.
• Fouls — we foul way too much.
• Rebounding — We are 10th in rebounds/game, and only 6th in rebound %.

3. What are the keys to a Kentucky win on Saturday, and what is your prediction for the game?

• Turnovers — If UK turns the ball over > 5 times more than Arkansas, we will have trouble
• Patterson — If Patterson catches the ball much in the post, Arkansas will have its hands full.
• Defense — Joe Crawford must do a number on Patrick Beverly, defensively.
• Defensive intensity — When the defensive intensity is high, the Cats are very tough.
• Attack the rim — Kentucky is the best free-throw shooting team in the conference.

Prediction? I think the Cats have a good chance to win if they play well.

4. With John Pelphrey returning to Rupp, Saturday’s game will obviously be a special day for both him and Kentucky fans. Describe what Pelphrey the player was like and give us a sense of what he and the rest of The Unforgettables mean to UK basketball.

(Read on …)

It’s January, the basketball team is driving everyone crazy, and Darren and Felix are gone. Perhaps you’ve come to this post looking for something to lift your spirits.

Keep looking.

With it being a slow news day and all, I thought I’d throw this out for discussion: What do you consider to be the most painful Razorback basketball loss?

Although Hog hoops has definitely produced its fair share of heartache, for me the answer is pretty easy: the loss to UCLA in the 1995 NCAA championship game. I so desperately wanted those Hogs to carve out a place in history by winning back-to-back national titles. And after a tournament full of heart-stopping finishes, close calls and plain ‘ole good luck, I was nearly convinced the Razorbacks would complete their quest to repeat when they took the court against the Bruins. Instead, they got beat pretty soundly as Corliss and Scotty both played miserably. (That night launched my intense dislike of Jim Harrick, which proved to be well-founded as the years went by. I watched his demise at Georgia with something close to glee.)

Add in the fact that the defeat marked the end of the most glorious era in Razorback basketball, and surely you can see why I’ve tried to block this game from my memory.

If only I had succeeded.

To be an Arkansas fan is to be convinced that other sports fans and the national sports media don’t give the Razorback program the respect it deserves. I guess it’s in part the consequence of growing up in a small and often-maligned state.

In the fall of 1994, however, as the Hogs were gearing up to try to defend the national basketball championship they had won months earlier, the sports media was anything but dismissive of the Razorbacks. In fact, at least one writer was heaping an amount of praise on them that looks pretty over-the-top 13 years later.

In an edition of Sport magazine that I bought in the fall of 1994 and rediscovered during a recent visit home, Darryl Howerton penned an article entitled, “Hog Wild: Arkansas is Loaded with Pro Prospects, and the NBA is Waiting with Open Arms.”

Here’s a sample paragraph: ” Arkansas’ team photo looks more like an NBA scouts’ most-wanted list than a collegiate squad. If you didn’t know better, you might think the 1994-95 Razorbacks were one of the new expansion clubs joining the NBA next fall.”

Here’s another: “‘To give you an idea of how loaded Arkansas is, let’s just say I can kill six or seven trips around the country by going to just one game in Fayetteville,’ says an NBA Western Conference scout.”

(Read on …)

This is sort of old news, having originally been announced before we started this blog, but it’s still worth mentioning that Scotty Thurman was inducted into University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor last weekend. He accepted with a sense of humor, thanking Dwight Stewart “for fumbling the ball so I could make history.”

In addition to hitting the shot against Duke that, to me, is the single greatest Arkansas sports moment of my lifetime, Scotty provided fans with a list of classic plays too lengthy to list here. From his very underrated freshman season (when he practically carried the team while Corliss was injured for a long stretch) to his clutch shots in the ‘95 tournament, he helped define the winningest era of Razorback basketball. Simply put, when the ball was in his hands (especially at the end of the game), you just knew good things were going to happen.

I’m not sure what took so long for him to receive this honor, but from us at RazorbackExpats, congratulations Scotty and thanks for the memories.

Rivals.com has ranked the top 10 college basketball teams of the 64-team NCAA Tournament era. Topping the list are the 1990 UNLV Rebels, who compiled a 35-5 record and stomped Duke 103-73 in an NCAA finals that bored the hell out of everyone outside of Las Vegas.

The 1994 national champion Arkansas Razorbacks are ranked No. 8 on the list. In the accompanying profile of the team, former Duke star Grant Hill gushes, “I remember watching the film of Arkansas as we prepared to play them and seeing all the weapons they had. You realized they could embarrass you. They were the kind of team that could blow you out.” Did I mention that I’ve always liked Grant Hill? (Of course, Arkansas did anything but embarrass the Blue Devils in that year’s tournament finals, as the two battled to the end, setting the stage for Scotty Thurman’s late-game heroics and the Razorbacks’ One Shining Moment.)

I didn’t leave the list feeling all fuzzy and gooey inside, though. Ranked one spot ahead of the Hogs is the team that foiled their attempt at back-to-back titles and a little slice of hoops history: the evil 1995 UCLA Bruins. Thurman, for one, doesn’t give his victorious opponent too much credit, telling Rivals.com, “If we had played our best ball, we would have won easy.”

Let go of your pain, Scotty - and when you do, let me know how you did it.