Arkansas Has Made This Kind of Run Before
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Razorbacks have been here before.
Well known coach whose brand is regularly taking Arkansas to national success. An irregular season where 15 wins heading into the SEC Tournament is not only the expected max, it's going to require an upset. The only perceived path to the NCAA Tournament requiring an SEC Tournament championship.
That's exactly where the Hogs were in 2000 under Nolan Richardson. Heading into the final four games of the season, Arkansas was 13-12 with four ranked teams left on the schedule.
This is pretty much where Eric Musselman finds himself with the current group of Razorbacks. The Hogs are 14-14 with three games left, including trips to No. 14 Alabama and No. 16 Kentucky. Plus, the only path to the NCAA Tournament is a run through several tough teams to an SEC Tournament championship win.
Back in 2000, Arkansas got things started with a 15-point win over No. 24 Vanderbilt. The Hogs then played No. 18 Kentucky close in Rupp, No. 11 Tennessee close in Bud Walton and knocked off No. 19 Auburn, 64-55, in Fayetteville to scratch out 15 wins.
If the Hogs were to get to the NCAA Tournament, that streak would have to extend out to five consecutive wins. Arkansas hadn't won more than two in a row at any point the entire season.
"I tell you we were a team that you had to respect," Richardson said of that team on Drive Time Sports Wednesday. We just didn't have the size, but as far as playing, that team was a lot better than we ever gave them credit because of their record. Sometimes your record doesn't speak to how good you could have been or could be. That team went into that tournament thinking they could win. And I made the comment 'I'm taking four suits because that's how many games we gonna play.'"
The Razorbacks started with a win over a Georgia team they had beaten by 20 on the road early in conference play. They then blew out Kentucky, 86-72, to notch their second win over the No. 16 Wildcats in two weeks.
That set up a semifinal showdown against No. 10 LSU that appeared on its face to be too much of a hill for Arkansas to climb. The Tigers featured SEC Player of the Year Stromile Swift, a 6-foot-10, 220 pound athletic big man with guard skills.
Swift could shoot from deep, take guys off the dribble, or back people down inside and play through them physically or use his elite footwork to spin right past them. Arkansas had no one who could match up with him defensively.
The Tigers beat the Hogs in Baton Rouge by 21 and then came to Fayetteville and won by 11. Conventional wisdom said LSU would easily coast into the championship game with Auburn by roughly 15.
Early on, the game was an offensive showdown between Swift and Arkansas freshman Joe Johnson. Eventually, Johnson slowed a little, but Swift didn't as the Tigers took a game that had gone back and forth between LSU up by two and Arkansas tying it to an 8-point lead early in the second half following a powerful dunk by Swift.
That's when the defense heated up, as did guards Teddy Gipson and Brandon Dean. The Hogs went on a 17-0 run and at one point led by as many as 12. It was clear this was an Arkansas team that wasn't going to allow itself to be sent home.
LSU slapped on a full court press that gave the Razorbacks fits to tie things up 65-65 late, but TJ Cleveland, as he did multiple times in the game, came away with a key steal as Arkansas went up 68-65 to cement what would finish as a 69-67 win for the Hogs.
With the Tigers eliminated, the Auburn game to earn an automatic NCAA Tournament berth was academic. Arkansas took out the second set of Tigers in as many days and the mission was complete.
That season was very familiar to the one the Razorbacks are currently wrapping up. They would win a game, then get blown out, play the next team tough and then eventually give everyone hope with another win.
The big key is that team found true chemistry late. They figured out how to get the most out of Johnson, Dean and Gipson in the same game instead of individually. They maximized Cleveland, especially with his energy on the defensive end. Once all that came together, putting together five games in a row with several big wins became possible.
Now look at Musseman's Razorbacks. They've already shown they can beat Purdue and Duke and have hinted at being able to take down Kentucky. Tramon Mark, Makhi Mitchell and Khalif Battle have shown they can take over a game.
Now picture Musselman finally pushing the right buttons to get all three going at the same time. That's a dangerous team.
Mix in finding a way to capture Layden Blocker's energy and enthusiasm in a bottle and pouring it out on the defensive end and the ingredients are there to repeat the end of the 2000 season.
Those are big "ifs" on their face, but this team has already proven it can beat two favorites going into the NCAA Tournament and that individually, key players can make life miserable for opposing teams. Plus, Richardson's Razorbacks showed exactly what needs to be done can be done and offered this perspective help make it happen.
"It's another season coming up," Richardson said. "In other words, I would always say we've played preseason, postseason. And now we're going to play a conference tournament season. You got seasons coming up. So, you didn't do well in your conference season. That doesn't mean you're not going to do well in your tournament season. You got to remember one game and go home. Sayonara, I guess."
It's a strong possibility Arkansas fans aren't willing to buy into the hope. But they're not the ones Mussleman has to convince, so what they think doesn't matter a whole lot.
He only has to convince his players and the dig out that desire to do something great. That's a much easier task to accomplish than convincing a fan base that quit on this team long ago.
HOGS FEED:
• ESPN's Chris Low goes no holds barred on college athletics on Arkansas radio
• Razorbacks' Deke Adams accepting, changing to fit changing world of college football
• Where Razorbacks go for rest of disappointing basketball season could be interesting
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