Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

After the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team got its first road win of the season, 89-78 on Saturday against Vanderbilt, many fans reacted the same way: “That was unexpected.”

The response is understandable given how poorly the Hogs have performed on the road over the last two seasons. But a win is a win. This one looked particularly impressive as Rotnei Clarke and Michael Sanchez (not a misprint) combined for 56 of Arkansas’ 89 points against the Commodores in Memorial Gymansium, traditional as tough on road teams as any place in the SEC.

While this victory may give fans some sort of hope for the remainder of the John Pelphrey era at Arkansas, my reaction is different than the optimistic supporters of Pel’s Piglets:

“Nice win, now do it again.”

A couple of things to consider before jumping back on the Titanic.

Rotnei Clarke, who had 36 points on Saturday, has never eclipsed 20 points on the road until now. Sanchez has never scored 20 points in his career. In fact, Sanchez eclipsed his point total for the entire season (17) against Vandy. The Razorbacks also shot 57 percent from the field against the Commodores. The last time the Razorbacks did that under Pelphrey on the road in the SEC was the FIRST time he coached a road game in the SEC.

The, “nice win, now do it again,” reaction seems a lot more level-headed now, doesn’t it?

I’ve grown very tired of the Pelphrey support rhetoric over the last two seasons. Be honest with yourself: This win isn’t progress. It isn’t the sign of change, or turning the corner or any other tired cliché you want to slap on it and call it Razorback Basketball.

Many fans argue that Arkansas’ problems as a basketball program already existed long before Pelphrey became head coach, and they are right. The problems were already here and had been growing for sometime. But these fans are asking the wrong question. What they should be asking is whether or not Pelphrey is the answer.

However improbable the Hogs' win over the Commodores might have been, it is still a win. The Hogs might win 20 games this year. But one win will never serve as the staging ground for the turnaround of a program.

Many times we rely on platitudes in sports to define what we love in our teams. Pelphrey had an excellent quote in a press conference before the Vanderbilt game that mirrored something I say quite frequently: “It’s easy to be a leader when things are all going well. But when things aren’t, what are people going to look back and say about you?”

The basic premise of the comment is that how you perform under tough circumstances, not easy ones, will determine how you are measured.