Starting Five: Razorback Basketball Questions Answered

Arkansas begins its 2009-10 basketball season Friday against Alcorn State and with so much offseason turmoil and five players suspended there seem to be plenty of questions. As we often do in an effort to break down what matters, ArkansasSports360.com has teamed with the ArkansasExpats for a Q&A.

Questions from the ArkansasExpats.com are in bold. My answers follow.

What can you expect for Razorbacks basketball? Who can you expect to play in the face of mass suspensions?

Read on for our Starting Five...

1. Obviously, coming off a losing season and with five players serving suspensions and a special prosecutor investigating the "frat house incident," this isn't the greatest of times for the Razorback basketball program. This may be a hard question to answer, but what is your sense of the mood of the players and the coaches? Do you get the sense that they are enthusiastic about the season?

There is no question John Pelphrey, his staff and the Razorbacks players are ready to get on with the season. Fighting through all the offseason drama has left them ready to play. Like point guard Courtney Fortson pointed out before he was suspended indefinitely, the Razorbacks have a foolproof solution for getting folks' focus off the drama: Win. That's all they have to do. And I think they are anxious to compete, even if there are only six scholarship guys available for the first few games. Fortunately Pelphrey has a golfer and quarterback on loan to fill out the roster. Wonder if there's a baseball player or track star willing to come help as well?

2. Which returning player do you expect to make the most improvement, and which non-Marshawn Powell newcomer do you expect to make the most impact?