Notes from the Field: CharlieHog Attends the Red-White Game

by Arkansas Expats on Oct 27, 2008 12:05 PM CDT in Arkansas Razorback Basketball

courtesy of Wesley Hitt/Arkansas

Being expats, we were unable to attend Friday night's Red-White basketball game. However, like last year, we were able to persuade CharlieHog, proprietor of the excellent HogNation site and the terrific new RazorbackNine baseball blog (and perhaps most importantly, our very first commenter), to file an eyewitness report. Many thanks, Charlie. The floor is now yours:

Here are my quick thoughts on the Red/White scrimmage. Obviously there isn't much to report from 20 minutes of play.

• The arena is weird, sort of jarringly different. Press row is behind the home basket, the student seating now consists of benches, and the new luxury seats are in. Of course the mid-court logo is now the "helmet" Hog. The ribbon boards have not been installed yet. The "bone/popcorn" Hog logo has been removed from the scoreboard. Only helmet Hogs to be seen everywhere.

• The band is under new direction. It's the guy that always led the band at women's events. Sorry I don't know his name. They sounded great, though.

• Courtney Fortson wasn't there. I don't know why.

• Rotnei Clarke can definitely shoot the three. He made 12 in the 3-point contest held between the women's and men's scrimmages and hit his first four three-pointers in the scrimmage itself.

• Stefan Welsh is noticeably bigger, and Michael Washington also looks to be in great shape.

• Physically, Brandon Moore looks exactly like Sonny Weems to me.

• Overall, the team seems to be very long and athletic, even if they do lack height.

• Michael Sanchez is very physical.

• Montrell McDonald played well and stood out.

Overall that's about it. The defense looked pretty tight. The guys played hard. I'm not sure how many games we'll win (since it's October I'll say all of them - ha) but the potential is there, and I believe in Coach Pelphrey's ability to get them playing as a team and improving over the course of the season.

Attendance was OK. I'd guess around 5,000 to 6,000.

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I was there too (I’m in the band- thanks for the compliment), and I’ll corroborate CharlieHog’s observations.

The Hogwild Band is now directed by Jeremy Pratchard, the assistant athletic band director. The band won’t typically be that large; he wanted everyone there that would be playing in the Hogwild band over the course of the season.

Courtney was suspended one game for reasons unknown. He probably skipped a class or was late to practice or something. My buddy who’s a manager said that it was just the one game and we should expect to see him at the next one.

by JTExperience on Oct 27, 2008 6:52 PM CDT reply actions

Sports talk radio shows were abuzz today (when you could get the callers off bashing Houston and the refs) about the possibility of Marcus Monk coming in at semester, taking some classes (he graduated in May) and joining the Basketball team. It’s being debated how much he would contribute ‘on court’, but it’s pretty much agreed that he has a great work ethic, and could be a much needed leader off court.
I am of the opinion that even if he only averaged 5 points a game, that’s about what we got last season by those left on the team. Plus, he’s got a great vertical jump.
Go hogs………….

by cousin lee on Oct 27, 2008 7:54 PM CDT reply actions

An aside.. although basketball related. A few weeks ago I was thrilled to see that Steven Hill had been picked up during the preseason by the Portland Trail Blazers (apparently they liked his defense, imagine that). The sad part is that just last week he was cut from the roster.

Just thought some of you would be interested

by CLO on Oct 29, 2008 9:50 AM CDT reply actions