Arkansas Fans Don’t Realize They’re Watching a Repeat Season of the Razorbacks
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As the basketball season began, Arkansas fans thought they were going to see something unprecedented.
It turns out that if you aren’t in middle school, you’ve already been on this particular roller coaster.
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson landed a recruiting coup in the spring of 2013 by dropping 5-star Bobby Portis, a 6-10 forward from Little Rock Hall, and 4-star 6-9 center Moses Kingsley, a Mississippi native via Huntington Prep, who was the No. 43 recruit in the nation, pulled ashore.
They joined a team that included Junior Rashad “Ky” Madden, an Arkansas native who was as close to a 5-star as a 36th-ranked player in his recruiting class can get. These three Recruitment All-Stars joined a brave, hard-working Michael Qualls who could be a nightmare on the court while also becoming a favorite of the Arkansas fan base.
Is any of this ringing yet?
The team started 13-2 against a softer schedule to give Portis and Kingsley a chance to adapt to college play, but picked up an easy early challenge in the Maui Classic.
Of the three games in Hawaii, two were difficult games with high emotions. The Hogs defeated an overwhelmed Minnesota team, lost to a feisty California team in a game that went to the end, and dropped a game against 11th-ranked Gonzaga in another game that was close to the last minute.
Anderson’s team defeated Clemson in his only power five game in December, overrunning UTSA 104-71 in the last vote before the SEC game.
For those who still don’t get it, trade Minnesota for Louisville, California and Gonzaga for Creighton and San Diego State, Clemson for Oklahoma and change that narrow loss to Gonzaga into a narrow win over the Aztecs and you see one mirror of that season. Also, change a 33-point win over UTSA to a 34-point win over UNC-Ashville going into the conference list and these teams could be considered twins.
But here the seasons become eerily similar.
The Razorbacks struggled to adjust to SEC play and found themselves in hard-fought games, including a pair in overtime. Two of the losses that staggered Arkansas to a 2-6 conference start were at LSU and to Missouri.
For those keeping track, the Razorbacks started this season 2-5 in conference play with a loss at LSU and a loss to Missouri.
If you’ve got the odd feeling that you remember something about the start of this season and can’t pull it out of your brain, here’s the help you need. One of those two victories was an overtime win over Kentucky when Qualls hit what is perhaps the second most famous shot in Arkansas history.
Since the season is such a perfect mirror of its current counterpart, it would be rude not to reveal what happened.
Possibly the most talented team of the Anderson era won eight of the next nine games, highlighted by another win in overtime against No. 17 Kentucky and capped by a 110-80 drubbing by Ole Miss.
That put Arkansas in prime position for an NCAA tournament bid, 21-9 overall and 10-7 in SEC play en route to March.
But this is where Razorback fans might want to look the other way. The Hogs dropped an away game to Alabama to finish the season, losing to South Carolina, 71-69, in their only game in the SEC tournament.
With that, Arkansas fell to 21-11 with a 10-8 conference record. They were a bubble team whose only wins over ranked opponents were a few wins over Kentucky.
The committee didn’t think highly of the schedule Anderson put together and miserably underestimated the SEC.
The Kentucky team, which twice defeated Arkansas, received a No. 8 seed but went to the national championship game.
Florida worked overtime to knock out Arkansas 84-82. The Gators earned a #1 finish and tied with the Wildcats for half of this year’s Final Four.
The Tennessee team, against which the Hogs lost in a close game on the road, was forced into a play-in game of the NCAA tournament, which the Volunteers won en route to the Sweet 16.
In the end, the selection committee sent a heartbroken team from Arkansas to the NIT.
The Hogs defeated an overwhelmed Indiana St. team 91-71 in the opening round and set up a rematch with Cal of the Maui Classic.
The Golden Bears came from their own disappointment. They, too, were in a great position to break into the NCAA tournament but went 2-5 to finish the season 21-14, 10-8.
As the host of Arkansas at Berkley, Cal sent the Razorbacks home with another tournament loss, 75-64.
Qualls, Portis, Kingsley and Madden all returned the following year, the most successful of the Mike Anderson era. Arkansas went 27-9 and, finishing No. 5, lost to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Portis was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft.
Should the seasons continue to replicate, Arkansas has a shot at making the NCAA tournament.
An 8-1 after a difficult start on the SEC list would put Arkansas up 21-7 while Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky would end the season.
The Razorbacks would likely need two wins from those last three games or the SEC tournament to avoid being shipped to NIT purgatory like the 2013-14 team.
Of course, this all requires a win over Texas A&M in Bud Walton, and depending on when you’re reading this, it’s either a legitimate way to go on that big run, or it’s already been nullified.
If so, there’s a very nice series of baseball games under one roof at the Texas Rangers’ home in Arlington vs. Texas, TCU and the state of Oklahoma in just over a week’s time that might deserve your attention.
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