Razorbacks Rare Fall Off Radar

After decades of being top of mind, Arkansas basketball all but forgotten

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Feb 9, 2024 2:54 PM EST
Original:
Feb 9, 2024

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Friday morning was a first.
Each day has a routine. Get up well before the sun, check to see what stories were done by the second shift guys the night before, then start figuring out what needs to be covered that particular day. So, with phone in hand, I began making the list.

1. Preview gymnastics vs. Florida
2. Day 2 of softball in Paradise Jam.
3. Baseball preview - Hitting coach perspective
4. Maybe something on extra money Hogs got from SEC
5. Look to see if there is any Razorback football recruiting news

Once the list was done, I started mentally organizing the order of priority as far as how early it needs to hit the home page so it’s up for readers at a relevant time. That’s when a nagging voice in the bag of my head started bothering me. Something was missing.

The feeling continued for several minutes, but I just couldn’t figure out why. Once I finally stopped thinking about it, it hit me out of nowhere. Is basketball season still going on?

Of course it is. It’s February. However, between the warm weather, all the focus on baseball, softball and football, plus there having been no mid-week game and literally no one talking about the team, mentally it was full spring mode.

The team briefly flicked onto the radar when it was casually floated out by Eric Musselman that Davonte Davis would return to the team, but that might as well have been an announcement that he’s coming back next season because without that Tuesday or Wednesday game, it felt like the season had already officially ended.

That’s never happened. My sports consciousness goes back to the days of hearing Razorback basketball games on the radio as the efforts of Joe Kleine were described through the open window of my dad’s pick-up truck while we unloaded the boat into a small lake to go catch another mess of crappie.

From that point on, not a single Razorback basketball game passed without me being keenly aware of it. That’s just life in Arkansas. So many of my best childhood memories are centered around it.

A young me trying to find that perfect spot near my grandparent’s propane heater where I could stay warm but not feel like the back of my shirt caught on fire while waiting on my grandfather to rotate the clicky dial on top of the TV that apparently turned the antenna outside to that perfect angle to catch another Jefferson Pilot broadcast of the Razorbacks.

Sitting in a parking lot in Pine Bluff refusing to go join my fourth grade class at the Shriner’s Circus because Arkansas and Baylor were coming down to the wire. Years later munching down on my grandmother’s lucky chicken in hopes of bringing Nolan Richardson an edge against Rick Pitnino and his villainous Kentucky Wildcats. Sitting on a bus before a high school baseball game against Crossett in Monticello with our coach not getting out to warm up because the Razorbacks were in danger of suffering a massive upset to 15 seed Texas Southern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The list goes on forever, but the one thing that’s never happened was forgetting the team was playing in the middle of the season. Some of it could be that Arkansas is playing Georgia, which has always been the least interesting game on the basketball schedule. The Bulldogs have just never moved the needle when it comes to hoops.

Some of it is the losing also. Even our intern doesn’t seem excited about the idea of covering Razorback basketball this season. For the first time ever, it kinda feels like work.

However, the biggest part of it calls back to something Craig O’Neill said the other day. When Arkansas hits the floor, people still have to keep a depth chart on hand to figure out who some of the players are.

Most know Tramon Mark at this point, but that’s about it for the long list of new guys. Fans seem to recognize names, at least most of them, but if handed a blank roster with just jersey numbers or a roster of players’ faces, few could get 90% of the corresponding names correct.

While sitting in the room with Razorbacks fans a couple of weeks ago, Denijay Harris came into the game. Immediately one asked “Who is Harris?” No one knew. I even had to look at the roster to remember he was a late transfer addition from Southern Miss.

At least a dozen players get rotated in and out throughout the course of each game as Musselman tries to figure out who he wants to see on the floor. He sends them to the scorer’s table, they hop in, and before anyone can realize they’re on the floor, that guy makes a mistake, is immediately yanked and the cycle starts over with the next Razorback up.

Even if someone gets hot and has a good game, lack of consistency or behind the scenes issues almost guarantee he will barely be on the court, if at all, for the Hogs the next couple of games. There’s no time to get to know anyone as players, much less as human beings.

Think back to last season. Arkansas fans routinely gathered around the proverbial water cooler and talked about specifics of each players’ game.

“If Anthony Black can develop a three-point shot, he’s going to be unstoppable.”
“Yeah, and if Jordan Walsh can clean up his defense so he doesn’t foul so much and be patient about growing his outside game, he’s got a real future.”
“Devo sure has become a floor general, and Ricky Council is starting to show a little leadership too. If either can help Nick Smith on his defense during practice and find a way to get him to fit with the team so it’s not so disruptive to the chemistry, this team’s got a chance to go far.”

Arkansas fans don’t know the games of the new additions to this team like they have in Musselman’s previous years. Say names like JD Notae, Stanley Umude and Au’Diese Toney and there are clear images of a specific set of strengths that come to mind. Outside of maybe Layden Blocker, and only because of his increase in consistent playing time lately, can anyone really process the game of a new player on this team beyond Mark.

That’s why, once the games ended for even a week, it was hard to remember there are still Razorbacks basketball games taking place. As rough as things have been both on and off the court, Musselman probably wishes he didn’t have to trudge though X more games, but they’re on the schedule.

Flying under the radar to end the season might even be a welcome relief by this group and its coaching staff. Baseball starting next weekend at home will provide even more cover.

It’s a day that didn’t seem possible over the past 40 years, but it’s been well earned. Arkansas Razorbacks basketball has officially become forgettable.