Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Nobody will confuse these for the glory days of Arkansas basketball. Making the NCAA is a long shot and even the NIT might be out of reach for the Razorbacks.

But if you are the sort of person looking for proof that progress is being made by Coach John Pelphrey and his staff, if you long for a glimmer of hope, pay close attention this week.

Arkansas (18-10, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) has won three of its last four SEC games and can clinch the No. 2 seed in the SEC West with a pair of victories to close the regular season. Beat Mississippi State on Wednesday and Ole Miss on Saturday and the Razorbacks can prove this season is truly different from the last two years. It would be the Razorbacks’ highest seed since John Pelphrey’s first season and give them a bye in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas last clinched a winning SEC record in 2007-2008, finishing 9-7. It was in 2006-07 that the Razorbacks last had a first-round bye in the league tournament.

So for the first time since Pelphrey arrived, the team is playing for something down the stretch. There is significance to the final week of the regular season.

"We knew we had it in us, and it was just the fact of us not doing what we had to do to win games at the end or whatever it was,” guard Rotnei Clarke told the Associated Press. “I think we've put it together, and we're on a little run here."

Extending the run would put the Razorbacks in a different position than last year. A second consecutive late-season collapse left supporters of the program scrambling for any proof they could find that Arkansas was getting better. Winning more conference games was a positive until taking into consideration how bad the team was down the stretch in 2009-10.

Pelphrey and athletic director Jeff Long pointed to a brief stretch where Arkansas led the SEC West as a sign of progress. There was a time when the Razorbacks were 6-3 in the SEC before going 1-6 to close the season. That 6-3 start, fans were told, was proof Pelphrey and the program was headed in the right direction.

Surely nobody bought that.

But if Arkansas clinches the No. 2 seed, no hard sell will be needed. Fans and critics will have to admit things are getting better. Maybe they’re only slightly better when you consider how weak the non-conference schedule was, but even the staunchest critic will have to take note of how the team finished.

There are other factors to consider when determining a coach’s overall success. But we’ll hit on poor recruiting/player retention and record low attendance another time. Today is a celebration of what the Razorbacks might be able to accomplish in spite of those factors.

Pelphrey, of course, is trying to downplay the significance of it all. It’s what he does, even if sometimes it seems like an unusual approach (remember a similar tact was taken prior to consecutive home losses to Georgia and Ole Miss that took the team out of the running for the division title).