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.

* Overall, you’d have to say that Wally’s column from today wasn’t too bad, particularly by his standards. Still, get a load of this groaner: “[Stan Heath’s] sideline de-meanor bothered a lot of the fans because he seemed docile. Pelphrey is quite different. The more mistakes the players make, mental or physical, demeanor he got.”

* John Brummett gets all huffy about Arkansans booing the Texas Longhorns in Alltel Arena this past weekend, and ArkansasSports360.com’s Jim Harris, who recently stopped by this site for a visit, says that Brummett could use some history lessons.

* For the “Sun Rises in the East” file: A Razorback football player has a brush with the law.

* For the “Good News” file: Marcus Monk appears to have improved his draft stock.

* Sweet (New) Home Chicago? Bears coach Lovie Smith recently lunched with former Hog running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

* Quick Programming Note: With the basketball season just completed and the new football season still a few months off, posting may be a bit slower than usual here at RazorbackExpats.com - at least for the next few weeks or so, as we take a little time to pause and catch our breath. But, we have an active spring and summer planned - with the unveiling of the RazorbackExpats Hall of Fame and more Q&A’s with various Hog heroes on the schedule - so check back often.

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.

So much for a tiny bit of history. That one brings back unpleasant memories of the Heath era.

My holidays were going just swimmingly until last weekend, when I caught a nasty little cold that knocked me flat on my ass for a day or so. My halting recovery didn’t get much help when I forced myself to sit through that thoroughly miserable Cotton Bowl. Add in a return to work - with the attendant mountain of e-mails and voice messages that had piled up during the break - and I’ve definitely been fighting a case of the post-holiday blahs.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure the basketball team will be providing help anytime soon.

Until the last year or so of the Nolan Richardson era, few things were more anti-blah for me than Razorback basketball. And after John Pelphrey took control of the program last spring, I couldn’t help but believe that the Hog hoopsters, seemingly so talented, would immediately start providing liberal amounts of feel-good therapy once again.

I remain very confident about the future of the program under Pelphrey. But the team’s performance so far makes me worry that the 2007-08 season will be yet another ho-hum (or worse) year. The trademarks of the Stan Heath Razorbacks - the turnovers, the boneheaded late-game decisions, the constant heaving of bricks - are still on display, and I’m afraid they will continue to be until Pelphrey’s highly-rated first recruiting class arrives next year.

The season is still somewhat young, and several moons ago, I cautioned against making too much of the early part of the schedule. However … the season is not that young anymore. Thirteen games of largely uninspiring play is legitimate reason to scale back one’s optimism; perhaps this current crop of Razorbacks just isn’t that good.

The conference season is almost upon us, and the accompanying increase in regionally and nationally televised games will make it easier for me to follow the team. And watch I will, hoping for that big win or two that might finally get this team on track. But I will tune in with adjusted expectations, with the realization that it likely won’t be until next year that Razorback basketball is once again a steady source of good times.

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 noted below, today marks the start of college basketball’s early signing period - and the folks over at Rivals.com have wasted absolutely no time in ranking teams’ recruiting classes so far.

The Hogs clock in at No. 27 on the site’s list of the top 30 classes. Decent enough, I guess. But here’s the not-so-great news: Eight SEC teams made the ranking and only one - Georgia at No. 30 -is lower than Arkansas. The other conference teams to make Rivals’ list: Florida at No. 5, Alabama at No. 10, Mississippi State at No. 12, LSU at No. 18, Kentucky at No. 19, and Tennessee at No. 23 (what recruit could possibly resist Bruce Pearl’s patented brand of extra-wacky zaniness?).

As also noted below, I take all of this with a Rock of Gibraltar-sized grain of salt. After all, Stan Heath’s recruiting classes were very well thought of.

(Speaking of Stan, our friend The Hog Blogger notes that he is up to his old tricks in Tampa; like Razorback fans everywhere, we wish Heath the best, but we have to wonder how long it will be before South Florida fans are saying something like, “He’s a very nice, classy man, but …).