Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Saturday’s celebration was a long time coming for Razorback basketball fans. The excitement tied to introduction of Mike Anderson as the new head coach created an incredible amount of buzz in the state as evidenced by an estimated 5,000 fans showing up to Bud Walton Arena on a rainy, cold day. The event was part pep rally, part press conference and a marketing stroke of genius that validated the hire. A far cry from the underwhelming announcements of  Stan Heath, Dana Altman and John Pelphrey announcements in years past.

More than a decade of pent up frustration over the decline of the beloved Razorback basketball program was suddenly solved, and fans are filled with hopes of a resurrection of the glory days. Instantly fan discussions turned to “40 Minutes of Hell”, running through the SEC West, Final Fours, packing Bud Walton regardless of opponent and nabbing star recruits from the Memphis area again.

Jeff Long hit an out-of-the-park, grand slam home run.  And a thank you or two go to the Board of Trustees and the big-dollar donors for putting any anti-Nolan agendas to bed and letting Mike Anderson stand on his own merits.  Thankfully, the majority involved realized the Razorback basketball program was dying. The fan base had grown apathetic. Even at the end of Rollin’ with Nolan with the program declining for various reasons, the fans cared, showed up, supported and complained. The end of the Pelphrey era…very few cared.

The University of Arkansas is one of the few power conference schools that truly has an affinity for the two revenue sports with realistic sell out potential. Throw in Razorback baseball’s incredible attendance numbers, and I am not sure another school in the SEC can match that level of support across multiple sports. The current state of Razorback athletics is an athletic director’s dream.

Historically, only Kentucky consistently supports basketball at a high level.  A few SEC schools pack the stands for football and baseball such as LSU or South Carolina. Most really only show up for football, and if one of the other sports gets going, the fans show up for an important game or two.

Give a Razorback fan a winning team to cheer for, and they will fill the place up for a game of checkers.

So in comes Mike Anderson with “Fastest 40 minutes in basketball” style and nine years head coaching experience. Anderson is a proven winner and program rebuilder two times over. He inherits a program in far better shape than what he encountered at UAB and Missouri. Neither of those schools had the tradition, resources and support of the University of Arkansas.

Snap your fingers and the Razorbacks will instantly be a national power again. Easy, right? Not so fast my friend.

1. How many current players return?
   A solid core of returning players will set the tone for Anderson’s early success to build on going forward. Fans saw glimpses of some capable, talented players on this year’s roster. If I heard it once, I heard it fifty times, “Give [insert favorite coach here] this roster, and I guarantee they win 22-24 games.” I can buy into that a little, but for whatever reason, Pelphrey couldn’t coach them up game-to-game and perform at the levels that knocked off the likes of Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Losing to LSU? Really?
   
   Can they handle the new style, the intense conditioning and change in strategy? Will the players’ personalities mesh with Coach Anderson and his staff?  Those questions are bigger hurdles than most casual fans may think. It’s hard not to expect some turnover in that roster, and that is understandable, from both the coach’s perspective as well as a player’s. Need more fits, than misfits.
   
   I do hope someone shows Rotnei Clarke and his uncle highlight tapes of Pat Bradley, Alex Dillard, Lee Mayberry and others dropping uncontested 3s in the “40 minutes of hell” format.
2. Will Pelphrey’s signing class stay intact?

Not many coaches walk into a job with a consensus top 10 recruiting class due on campus for their first year. Pelphrey did an outstanding job of locking up the star in-state kids and grabbing some high profile regional recruits. Anderson has to resell the idea of coming to Fayetteville to these kids to play for a new staff and a new style of basketball. BJ Young of St. Louis is the only one he actively recruited while at Missouri. Many of the same hurdles Anderson faces with returning players will come up with the signees. If someone backs out, look for Anderson to reconnect with unsigned 6-foot-9 small forward Otto Porter of Sikeston, Mo. Porter is the No. 42 overall player according to ESPN and was considered a lock for Missouri prior to Anderson leaving.

1. Can the returners mesh with the newcomer’s?
   
   Any Razorback fan that saw the recent Michigan Fab Five documentary on ESPN surely had thoughts of Arkansas’ incoming class of five setting the world on fire. In the documentary, a fair amount of time was dedicated to the blending of these hot shot, all-world incoming freshman and the struggles of fitting in with the returning players. Team chemistry is a colossal factor in winning and losing. Anderson will earn a nice chunk of his salary if he can pull that off in year one.
   
   Pelphrey and Heath both signed highly rated recruiting classes during their tenure and didn’t do a whole lot with them. The challenge for Anderson will be getting all the pieces of the puzzle to fit. Easier said than done but given his track record in previous gigs, hard not to feel pretty good about that happening.
2. When will the fans pack Bud Walton Arena?
   
   Northwest Arkansas is a different place than it was during the heyday of Razorback basketball. Due to Wal-Mart and other corporate influences, a sizeable portion of the population isn’t from Arkansas and was not raised Razorback fans. Sure they show up for events but will they go hog wild and create the atmosphere opposing teams dreaded?
   
   Another consideration is the central Arkansas fan base making trips to Fayetteville, especially on week night games. Regular gas prices in March 1993 were $1.01 compared to $3.51. Up and back car trip to Fayetteville on a Wednesday night may not be as appealing or affordable.
   
   My guess is put an exciting, winning product on the court and the fans will be there. I doubt every seat is filled for Troy State on a random Wednesday but have to feel pretty confident you won’t be able to find a ticket for a SEC game.
3. Should Razorback fans pre-order their 2012-2013 Final Four tickets?
   
   Okay, that is a little aggressive. The Kentucky Wildcats are the pride of the SEC in hoops and a true national power. The Wildcats roster is loaded with McDonald’s All Americans and NBA draft picks year after year. Last time they went to the Final Four prior to this year…1998. A thirteen-year absence for one of the highest profile programs in the country is a wakeup call to temper fan expectations. Should the Hogs be in the NCAA tournament every year? Yes. Making some periodic Sweet 16s and Elite 8s? Yes. But given the Razorback basketball program has a grand total of three NCAA tournament wins since 1995, the hoop Hogs have a ways to go.

The Hogs were one of college basketball’s elite programs in the late '80s and early '90s. So were Michigan, UNLV, UMASS, Cincinnati and Georgetown. Not a one of those have returned to their former glory and have cut through a series of coaches. Georgetown is probably the most similar to Arkansas as the other programs were all rocked by NCAA sanctions. In fact, there are some interesting parallels to the Hoya program when John Thompson left.

Georgetown’s iconic head coach left the program to his long time, number one assistant Craig Esherick. Esherick had no head coaching experience at Big East level, and he only lasted five seasons winning 58-percent of his games. The Hoyas then turned to a name their fan base recognized, John Thompson III, and had proven success over a long period of time. Thompson had outstanding success in 10 years at Princeton and has since won 70% of his games at Georgetown making the Hoyas relevant in college basketball again. Thompson had the Hoyas back in the Sweet 16 in year two and a Final Four trip in his third season.

Who knows if Mike Anderson and the Razorback program would be together if he was handed the job when Nolan left. Maybe he would have hit the ground running like Jamie Dixon at Pitt, who was an unproven Pitt assistant to Ben Howland who left for UCLA. Or would Anderson have been the next Craig Esherick and now in basketball anonymity?

Hard to tell, and you can second guess the hires and fires post-Richardson all day long. All the Razorback fan base knows now is a proven commodity who brings in a style of basketball Hog fans have been begging for since Coach Richardson was replaced by the beyond boring schemes of Heath and Pelphrey. It’s a shame anyone under 30 years old doesn’t really recall just how good Razorback basketball used to be. Good luck Coach Anderson getting the program back on top.

As you can probably tell, the Razorback fan base is ready.