If you had told any fan of Arkansas basketball at the beginning of the year that the Hogs would be 18-10, 7-7 in SEC play with two regular season games left, they would have taken it to the bank.
And, surely enough, that's exactly where Arkansas sits going into tonight's match-up with the Mississippi State Bulldogs (15-13, 7-7) at Bud Walton Arena.
A win over Mississippi State almost ensures the Hogs of the No. 2 seed (and most importantly a bye) at the SEC Tournament in Atlanta March 10-13.
But considering all of the off-court turmoil, on-court inconsistency, John Pelphrey's job security, and a star player's refusal to support him, this would be enough to ease Hog fans' concerns over the program, right?
Wrong.
Let's just look at all four factors that were just spelled out.
1) Off-court turmoil. Fans still don't know if the players Pelphrey has brought to campus, save Rotnei Clarke and a few others, have the character and wisdom to not do stupid things like get on Twitter and bad-mouth the coaches and/or program, or go to fraternity parties and act unbecoming of a Arkansas student-athlete.
2. On-court inconsistency. For every Vanderbilt win, there are puzzling home losses to Georgia and Ole Miss. Then after the first win over Kentucky in a decade, Arkansas escapes by the skin of its teeth at the SEC's punching bag, Auburn. It still remains to be seen what Arkansas will do this week, but if things follow suit, it won't be 2-0.
3. John Pelphrey's job security. It's never easy coaching with uncertainty surrounding whether or not you'll be employed in the next few months. Pelphrey had come under fire this season for not displaying the intensity he had shown the first year and a half he coached the Hogs. As of late, though, he's been pretty passionate, and maybe it took fan unrest and pressure from boosters or the athletic director to get him going.
4. Marshawn Powell's 'no comment'. After a freshman campaign that saw him make the SEC All-Freshman team, Powell has had a sophomore slump. It certainly didn't help that he broke his foot in the off-season. What people didn't understand, however, was the one-game suspension back in December, or how he looked like a world-beater one night, and then disappeared the next game. Then when asked about his relationship with Pelphrey, instead of just saying 'Coach and I get along fine,' or 'We don't have the best relationship but he's my coach and I have to do what he says,' he refused to take a stand. Not a good idea for him to be doing when people already question Pelphrey and question the program.
Arkansas basketball has great potential. The 90's proved that. What remains to be seen is if John Pelphrey & Co., or this awesome incoming recruiting class, can achieve that potential.
Photo from arkansasexpats.com
2 comments:
Apparently Gottlieb said on his show yesterday that sources told him that Pelphrey was done for sure?
I would be interested to know what "sources" Gottlieb has here.
He backed up on Twitter, saying "Never said ARK was open, just speculation from coaches that say they know Pell has to dance. Stan kept his job an extra year aftr SEC run."
So it's another example, I think, of a talking head making a claim to bring in listeners, and then when people really grill them about it, they change their tune.
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