I Can See (the Suspensions) Clearly Now

by Stephen Expat on Nov 10, 2009 6:16 PM CST in Arkansas Razorback Basketball

In fact, we all can, thanks to Coach Pelphrey, who today outlined exactly which Razorback basketball player will be suspended for how long. Well, sort of.

Both Courtney Fortson and Stefan Welsh have been suspended indefinitely. Welsh we knew about, but the news on Fortson is at least somewhat surprising. It was known that he would face some type of suspension after his infamous tweet, but Pelphrey's comments make it sound like additional factors are at work as well.

"[Fortson] has to come to me," Pelphrey said today, according to Robbie Neiswanger. "He has a couple of personal issues he wants to try to handle, and we're going to try to do that with him ... [It] says 'indefinite suspension.' This is not something we're going to resolve over a weekend or whatever."

Hmm ... I don't know what to make of Fortson. He started out last season very strongly, but I grew less impressed with him as the year wore on, not only because he's a bit of a ball hog (pun somewhat intended), but also because of the near-constant tongue lashings he gave his teammates. It's one thing to be a jerk to your teammates when you're Michael Jordan, it's another when you're an often out-of-control point guard with no jump shot.

The Hogs missed Fortson's offensive firepower when he was suspended last year against Kentucky, but I actually thought the team moved the ball much more effectively without him. That gives me some hope that the team can minimize the impact of his absence.

As for the rest of the suspensions, freshman forward Glenn Bryant will be out for two games, Marcus Britt for 6 games, and ~~former Pink Floyd drummer~~ walk-on guard Nick Mason for the rest of the semester. All three were named in the police report on what's become known as the "frat house incident." Britt also was arrested on DUI charges over the summer.

All suspensions begin with Friday's season-opener against Alcorn State. Toss in the fact that forward Michael Sanchez is probably out for a good while with plantar fasciitis, and the Hogs will open the regular season seriously depleted.

Call me crazy, but, despite all of this, I think the Hogs will be noticeably improved this year. Now, by "noticeably improved," I mean something like a 6-10 or 7-9 conference record and hopefully an NIT bid. Not exactly the stuff of ticker-tape parades, but progress.

What do you think?

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I can see clearly now, the rain is gone

I’m glad the details have been provided and we know what’s going on. I hope the guys who have been doing the right things step up and we don’t even miss those suspended, including Fortson. I agree that we should still be better this year. Go Hogs, Go Pel!

by omahahog on Nov 10, 2009 11:08 PM CST reply actions

Has anyone got a link to the actual allegations?

I read the police report snippet that began with “… fraternity member opened the door [insert porn movie scene]”

While that particular item is very distasteful, and I’d think very much against campus behavior policy, It didn’t read like anything illegal – unless the alleged victim was a minor.

Being way out of the loop, I just became aware of the reason for the suspensions with the read of this post. I heard Pelphrey mention them on the post game the other night, but (of course) he didn’t mention why.

Baseball Fever.... Catch it!

by skcabrozar on Nov 10, 2009 11:53 PM CST reply actions

Saw it on the crawl

I saw this last night on ESPN’s bottom of the screen crawl, and for a moment I thought of the football team, but then let out a sigh or relief that it was only the basketball team. Suspensions and so forth, there I expect just about as regularly as I expect the sun to rise in the east and set in the west. And how about the football team? I know I risk jinxing them, but not an arrest all season as far I know.

by KevinHog on Nov 11, 2009 8:53 AM CST reply actions

I was thinking the same thing.

As far as the football team. It seems like there was a report of a DWI, probation violation, shoplifting, ect., almost every week when Houston Dale was here. True, there were a few last season, but BP seems to have nipped it in the bud.
Discipline was never Nutt’s forte. I’m trying to bash him less, but I think the following is a prime example of his lack of commitment to discipline. It seems that a few linemen at Ole Miss got in trouble last spring for skipping class. Instead of suspending said players for the opener against Memphis, Nutt instead suspended them for the game against FCS Southeastern Louisiana. I guess he was worried about the Memphis game, or something. When the football team came down with swine flu, Nutt had to (understandably) rescind the suspensions so that they could actually field some depth. There’s nothing wrong with that; those are extenuating circumstances. What’s funny is that Nutt decided to wait all the way until November 7 to re-enforce the suspensions, against FCS Northern Arizona.

by dxf04 on Nov 11, 2009 10:15 AM CST up reply actions