Chris Bahn: Winning Would Help Hasten Basketball Razorbacks' Recovery

From about mid-January on it seemed like the bad headlines far outweighed the good for Arkansas basketball. There were good things that happened, but any positive vibes were too often overshadowed.

Arkansas' basketball program was forced to deal with a declining Academic Progress Rate. Suspensions, transfers and dismissals became commonplace. A pair of players were charged with driving under the influence.

September brought a whole new kind of awful when it became public that players were linked to a sexual assault allegation. No charges were filed from the incident at a fraternity house, but there is never any good that can come from being linked to the words "sexual" and "assault" and "investigation."

It's a pretty lengthy list that was exacerbated by the fact Arkansas went 14-16 last year. As Michael Washington pointed out during a media session on Thursday the sub-.500 record included just 2 wins in 16 Southeastern Conference games.

We can all agree the Razorbacks aren't particularly proud of the last nine-plus months. It was obvious during Thursday's media gathering that the players on hand and Coach John Pelphrey would like to put the past behind them and keep it there.

Practice for 2009-10 begins Friday at 5 a.m. There are five returning starters and six newcomers and they all have an opportunity to bring some shine back to Arkansas basketball.

How do the Razorbacks - all of which have varying degrees of responsibility for the situation the team finds itself in - change people's ideas of them? What is the remedy to all this?

Guard Courtney Fortson, who is being disciplined for an insensitive tweet he sent during the time when teammates were involved in a sexual assault investigation, has a pretty good idea of how to make the bad news stop. Fortson summed up his cure for it all in three words:

"Win. That's it," Forston said.

Fortson, who hammered home the point as he paused for dramatic effect between "Win" and "That's it", is right to a degree. Winning is important. It has the power to mask when things aren't perfect.