Good Night, Game Over, Drive Home Safely
by Stephen Expat on Mar 2, 2010 6:15 PM CST
in Arkansas Razorback Basketball
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PrintThat's the phrase that came to mind when reading this excellent Slophouse post, in which Dem.-Gaz. online editor Brandon Marcello shows what an uphill climb Arkansas faces just to snag a measly 'ole NIT bid. I think many Hog fans, myself included, have long felt that an overall .500 record would be enough to receive an invite to the junior varsity version of March Madness. Considering the schedule ahead, though, the Razorbacks are going to be extremely hard-pressed to do that.
And if they were to defy the odds and finish right at .500, that's probably not going to be enough to persuade the folks who run the NIT, Marcello notes. For one thing, all of last year's NIT teams had records over .500. For another, Arkansas' robust RPI ranking of 143 doesn't compare favorably - not at all - with those of the final teams selected for last year's tournament.
Way back when, when the Hogs were sitting alone atop the SEC West with a very surprising 7-4 conference record and had games against Auburn and LSU on the horizon, I believed an NIT bid was virtually in the bag. Not the most exciting thing in the world, perhaps, but I was fairly jazzed about it. I thought an appearance in the tournament would have represented signifcant progress from last year's 2-14 conference debacle. And given the way the Hogs were playing at that time, I thought Arkansas had a chance to do some damage in the NIT and generate some positive momentum for next year.
Oh well. There's always the prestigious CBI and CollegeInsider.com tournaments. Who's up for hosting the watching party if the Hogs appear in one of those? I'll bring the guacamole dip.
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I will
I’m watching no matter what tier tourney, if they can get to one. I’ve never deliberately not watched or listened to a game I had access to, and I’m not about to start now. Oh, and I’ll root hog and yell like any other game.
Guac dip?
I’ll bring a case of beer to reminisce the glory days. Heck, I’d even host said event minus the hogs b-ball game. Has Spring practice started yet?
Baseball?
I have a feeling we are going to have some good things to cheer about around the old Hog diamond this year. Not saying we’ll necessarily go back to Omaha. But they are going to be a better team than what the basketball team has been.
The baseball team was more interesting last year
than the basketball team. Baseball made it to a final four. Basketball? Not even close. But, yeah, fire up spring practice.
I'd like to see some more baseball love around here.
SEC baseball is for real, and frankly, a good time. If you’re so inclined, you can bring beer into the Hog Pen (or, at least you could… hopefully they haven’t changed that). Nobody gets rowdy or out of control, it’s just a different atmosphere.
re: baseball
The fact of the matter is that neither Stephen nor I really follow college baseball. Obviously, it’s great when the Hogs win but it doesn’t really inspire us to fire up the computer and write about it.
Having said that, if anyone (dxf04, I’m looking at you) wants to write about baseball, you’re strongly encouraged to write fan posts…we’ll promote them to the front page from time to time, too.
The power is in your hands!
Sounds good to me.
Hopefully, I won’t suck at it.
As an aside, John, the Hogs are playing at UC-Berkeley this weekend. You should check them out, if you’re so inclined.
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