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Arkansas Razorbacks late night features unexpected World Series entertainment, Mississippi State woes considered

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (7) dunks the ball against the Memphis Tigers during the second half at FedEx Forum. / Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Chuck Barrett is well known as the voice of the Arkansas Razorbacks for football and basketball and also the former voice of the baseball team.

As part of his duties, he called the Hogs basketball game Friday night, the football game Saturday, did his radio show Monday morning as half of the "Chuck and Bo Show", then called another basketball game in Memphis that didn't get started until 8:25 p.m.

It was a lot of prep work and air time considering pregame and postgame duties as well. It was more than enough for Barrett to relate to how teams must have felt when faced with the relentless "40 Minutes of Hell" during the old Nolan Richardson days on the basketball court.

However, had he chosen to pursue a path of calling Major League Baseball games, as he found out in rather surprising fashion after John Calipari's Hogs came storming back from a double-digit deficit to blow out Memphis, 99-75, in a final tune-up for the regular season, his life could have led him to face over "400 Minutes of Hell."

Barrett was surprised to check the score of the World Series game between Los Angeles and Toronto after he wrapped his duties late Monday night only to see the two teams playing in the 10th inning. When the Razorbacks arrived at the airport, he was even more surprised to see the game still going on in the monitors throughout the facility.

While he was being graced a late start by being able to arrive at the studios for the "Chuck and Bo Show" an hour late at 7 a.m. to make sure he was present for an interview with Hogs football coach Bobby Petrino, there was still desperate need to get some sleep on the plane. The World Series result would just have to wait until he landed.

However, as Barrett climbed into his vehicle to drive home, hoping to be in bed shortly after 2 a.m., he turned on the radio only to find the game in the 18th inning, still tied. In what he described Tuesday morning as a surreal experience, he listened to the closing minutes of the game, a 6-5 Dodgers win which officially lasted 399 minutes, 10 times longer than the regulation of the basketball game Barrett had called several hours before.

Figure in the typical two hour pregame show plus the postgame duties to wrap things up and Barrett would have been on air for roughly 10 straight hours of air time, constantly talking outside of commercial breaks had he made his way up to that level over the past 11 years after stepping down as voice of Razorbacks baseball.

Lobster boil on display again

Arkansas got punched in the mouth early on as Memphis built a 15-point lead with 8:44 left in the first half. This was done largely because Penny Hardaway had his Tigers deploy a full-court, 1990s style defense that was relentless.

The Razorbacks, as many have suspected, had no idea how to respond to such pressure. However, Memphis, with a roster of 15 new players after losing everyone from a 29-win season, found itself the victim of the Hogs' own 1990s style approach.

Calipari is the first coach since Nolan Richardson to be able to reach deep into his bench and continuously run wave after wave of fresh legs onto the court ready to run the floor and play in your face defense from beginning to end of each half.

As a result, the Razorbacks' lobster boil offense where the points slowly pile up and leads quietly evaporate, turning into deficits without others realizing it took hold. Shortly before halftime, the large lead of Memphis was gone.

By the second half, Arkansas gained the lead early and a weary Memphis team watched helplessly as they were boiled alive in their own arena. Before long, the Hogs' lead was 20 and Hardaway's men were helpless, legs dead as they watched the Razorbacks zip passes around for easy baskets while Arkansas' energy made life impossible on the other end.

At the 19:22 point of the second half, Memphis used a quick start to get out to a nine-point lead. However, the Razorbacks then went on a 31-8 run to put things away over the next 10 minutes.

What's with the Mississippi State apathy?

The Bulldogs started the season 4-0 with a win over then No. 12 Arizona State under their belt prior to an overtime loss at home to ranked College Football Playoffs contender Tennessee. Sure, that triggered an 0-4 run heading into a showdown with SEC bottom dweller Arkansas in Fayetteville, but for some reason, Mississippi State fans are out on their football season.

They're almost as ready for basketball, a potentially promising season under fourth-year head coach Chris Jans, as Arkansas fans. The question is why?

Arkansas is a program that is dead in the water, so Mississippi State should, on paper, be back to its winning ways again Saturday. That means the Bulldogs need just one more win to make it to their first bowl of the Jeff Lebby era.

Despite the freakish overtime loss to Texas, Mississippi State still shows it can win. How were they to know Steve Sarkisian was be shaken free of Arch Manning at quarterback long enough to get the win.

It should be noted that no one is cheering a head injury to Manning. The unfortunate event just meant Texas had an unforeseen bump in odds at the last minute that was just a bad break for Mississippi State's hopes of holding on for the win.

Now, getting that sixth win is going to be difficult. As the SEC Shorts episode this week put it, Bulldogs fans seemingly prefer to be put out of their misery now so they don't have to suffer the final few weeks.

It's true that playing No. 5 Georgia, No. 19 Missouri on the road and No. 7 Ole Miss to close the season doesn't leave a lot of room for hope to get that sixth win. However, Mizzou is beatable even though playing in Columbia can be a pain.

Also, if the Rebels are out of contention for the College Football Playoffs by season's end, Lane Kiffin might already have a foot out the door to either join his daughter's sweetheart at LSU or headed back to sunny Florida, so an opportunity for a win could pop up in the Egg Bowl.

However, if they lose to the Razorbacks, they can at least take solace that it's unlikely anyone from Arkansas actually saw it happen. If it's not mentioned in a coaching search update, they won't even read about it happening.

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