A senior moment
They’ve talked a good game, but Arkansas’ seniors have yet to follow up with their words to find consistency on the road in the Southeastern Conference.
Today’s 63-58 loss to Kentucky, after being up by as many as 7 points in the second half, and ahead with just over 2 minutes remaining, was more of the same from the Hogs (18-8, 7-5).
We spoke here earlier about how Arkansas needed to win the remainder of its home games and at least one on the road to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Hogs now have two road games remaining (at Alabama and Ole Miss) and have lost three of their last four.
In other words, the Hogs must win three of their remaining four games in the regular season to secure a spot in the Big Dance. It’ll be tough, especially with the next game Wednesday at Alabama. You may remember the Crimson Tide forcing overtime in the SEC opener in January before the Hogs pulled away for a win.
Then it’s at home for Vanderbilt and a trip to Ole Miss before wrapping the season at home against Auburn.
Here are some interesting notes to ponder as Arkansas flies home from another road loss:
- Arkansas’ six seniors (except for transfer Sonny Weems) hold an 8-22 record on the road in SEC games. They have also lost all four of their games against the Wildcats.
- Arkansas’ RPI remains pretty steady at No. 40 after the loss today. The NCAA Selection Committee looks heavily at the ratings index when selecting teams, as well as road records and a team’s record in its last 10 games.
- Alabama has an RPI ranking of 125 as of 4:30 p.m. today. A loss to the Tide on Wednesday would prove to be a major hit to the Hogs’ NCAA Tournament resume.
Heart. Since their first weekend on campus, this particular group of seniors have lacked heart. They have everything else they need to be Champions.
Heart is what carries you through the adversity of playing @ KY, MSU, or whereever.
It is what it is and after four years (two years with Gary E), the proof is in the road record.
Heart - can’t be taught, must be learned and this senior class just never found theirs.
It’s a shame.. because, as a collective group, they had so much potential. Here’s hoping each of them have their education to fall back on. After all, they were in college… right?
Distant Hog
Maybe it is really bad taste to bag on the coach that isn’t here anymore, but this team still reminds me of Stan Heath. They are good guys and I enjoy them for the most part, but they don’t seem to have a killer instinct — they don’t seem to be intense enough. Stan Heath went out and got the players he wanted — and most likely the players that were a lot like him — and we are still seeing the fruit of that now.
How comforting it is to know that, this year, John Pelphrey went out and got the players that HE wants. Hopefully those players/teams will be as tough as he is.
Go Hogs.
Those guys played well yesterday, but it is kind of hard when you are playing 8 on 5. I don’t typically point to officiating as the source of a loss, but yesterday was ridiculous, even for an SEC crew.
I am much more disturbed at Stan Heath than the players, who had an incredible amount of promise when they were recruited. Instead of developing into one of the best teams in the country, under Heath, they remained the same.
PEL is one HELL of a coach and I think he will be in Fayetteville for a long time.
Winning on the road is much more mental than physical and this group of seniors has always had a very fragile mindset. I remember when May/Day decided they could win anywhere and Nolan saying that he could see it in their eyes during a timeout. PEL knows the look and these guys evidently will never find it.
Regardless, once he gets his own guys playing for a while next year or thereafter, the look [and swagger] will return. The “talented” senior group, however, is quickly running out of time.
The front line did NOTHING for the whole game. Those boys are soft, I hate to say.
But, the officials were definitely a sixth man. Something like 24 - 10 on the fouls. And a few were just ridiculous. 11 of KU’s final 15 points were from the line and the Hogs weren’t fouling to stop the clock until very, very late. Beverly was almost spun around as a defender hedged on a screen and no call but the Hogs even look cross-eyed at a guy and it’s a two shot foul.
I hate that the league protects the big name teams at home. They want Kentucky in the tournament so bad, and the game in Tennessee was the same way. Got to do all they can to get Tennessee a number one seed. The almighty dollar runs the show and KU at the dance makes money. Tennessee a number one seed makes money.
[...] mentioned in a couple of posts already that the Hogs needed to win at least one road game and all of their home games in [...]