You Bet We’re Excited
The Hog Blogger asks us if we’re excited. Well, um, yeah. Like we haven’t been since wa-a-a-a-y back, before Stan. Before the bad Latter-Day Years of Nolan. Say, 1995.
And why should we be excited?
* National Recognition. Seems like there’s a few folks out there taking notice. Dan Shanoff, writing on the Sporting News Blog, had this to say: “If you had to pick an early-season Coach of the Year, why not John Pelphrey? He lost his top five scorers from a year ago, and his team is even better — no team in college hoops this season has notched a more impressive pair of wins.”
And Andy Katz, over at ESPN, who normally doesn’t much care for things Hoggish, had this to say: “No team in the Big 12 this season may do what Arkansas just did: beat Oklahoma and Texas.”
Gary Parrish, at CBS, says the Hogs are the biggest surprise of the season and has us solidly in the field for the NCAA Tournament: “The Razorbacks are starting a freshman backcourt (Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke), getting major minutes from a former football player (Marcus Monk) and riding a big man who averaged just 4.3 points per game last season (Michael Washington). And it’s working.”
* Whoa. We’re Dancing Already? Okay, I am usually the voice of caution and pessimism or even downright nasty gloom. But let’s do a little projecting here. The Hogs stand 12-1. Even before these two victories, I had seen enough to think the Hogs could go 6-10. For the sake of argument, let’s assume they do no better. That’s still 18-11 and solidly on the bubble.
After we beat Oklahoma (but before we beat Texas), I think a prediction of 8-8 in SEC play would have been warranted. That’s 20-9, and almost surely in. And really, after these two games, allowing yourself to think the Hogs can hold serve at home and sneak a couple on the road is not totally out of line. Say 10-6. That probably wins the SEC West or is no worse than second, and works out to a stunning 22-7. That’s working for seeding, there.
