OK - so maybe that headline is a tad misleading. Along with approximately 500 other people, I was fortunate enough to attend last Saturday's dinner honoring the 1994 national championship team. Here are some notes and observations from a very memorable evening, one that featured remarks from Pelphrey, Nolan and all of the attending '94 team members:

• Pelphrey began his remarks by saying, "It was my understanding that when Corliss and Scotty left, they still had one year of eligibility remaining. Guys, I only need you for three games." [At that point, the Hogs had three regular-season games left.]

• Nolan was in a great mood, laughing heartily throughout the evening. At one point during his talk, he offered support and encouragement for Pelphrey and the current team. He asked for fans to be patient. He looked directly at Pelphrey and said, "You've got some time. You've got some time." And then he quickly joked, "Now, you don't have a lot of time here."

In closing, he noted that many people had commented on his gray hair. "I'm just trying to look like the man who fired me," he quipped.

• One of the more moving moments came when Roger Crawford took the microphone. He directed his comments to his former teammates and lamented that so many of them had fallen out of touch with each other and told them they must be better about this in the future. "We're a family," he said. As his comments drew to a close, he appeared to be on the verge of tearing up.

Darnell Robinson also struck a reflective tone when he said, "I see everybody here with their kids, and I think, 'Wow, we are getting old, aren't we?'"

• Craig Tyson, a forward who never played in a regular-season game for the Hogs because of knee problems, had some poignant remarks as well. "My comments are going to be as brief as my career," he joked. But he then got serious and told Richardson that he'd never thanked him for the opportunities that Richardson had given him. "I'd like to now," Tyson said and then shook Nolan's hand. It was a very nice moment. A lady sitting next to me said, "Ahh. Bless his heart."

• Reggie Merritt is one entertaining dude. He had the crowd laughing for much of his time at the microphone.

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The former walk-on noted that his five years in Fayetteville covered three distinct periods of Arkansas basketball. His first year, during which he redshirted, was the last season of the Day-Miller-Mayberry era. The next three seasons were, of course, were the Corliss-Scotty era, and his final season was the beginning of the Kareem Reid-Pat Bradley-Derek Hood phase.

"I know Coach Richardson had to be thinking, 'Is this guy ever going to leave?'" Merritt said. (Later, in his remarks, Nolan joked, "Every time I looked up, there was Reggie. Everywhere I went, there was Reggie.")

Merritt also recounted that he crossed paths with many of his future teammates while they were all in high school. He recounted watching a Memphis AAU squad featuring Corey Beck, Dwight Stewart and Anfernee Hardaway crush another AAU squad led by Ken Biley in Little Rock Parkview's gym. "I saw Corey walking across the campus with his big jheri curls," Merritt said, drawing big laughs from the crowd.

He also talked about playing against Scotty Thurman in AAU ball. "Scotty was running his mouth even back then," Reggie said.

• Clint McDaniel said that people used to always ask how he became such a good defensive player. During his freshman year, he said, he was upset with his lack of playing time and went to Richardson's office. "I've got Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller," Richardson told him. "If you want to play, you've got to play some defense."

McDaniel, however, thought he'd simply bide his time until the following season, when surely there would be offensive opportunities heading his way. "But coach didn't tell me he had signed Corliss and Scotty," he laughed. Once again unhappy with his playing time in his sophomore season, McDaniel returned to Richardson's office and asked why he wasn't he wasn't on the court more. "I knew the answer as soon I asked the question," Clint said.

When Nolan spoke, he kidded McDaniel by saying, "When you got here, you couldn't guard nobody."

• Speaking of his game-winning basket against Duke, Scotty Thurman said, "For those of you who think that was a miracle shot, go back and look at some of my other shots."

He talked further about the basket, noting that Expat favorite Dwight Stewart was all set to take the shot before he famously fumbled the ball and passed to Thurman. "He was going to take the shot - and he was going to make it," Thurman said.

Scotty also pointed out that Corliss and Beck had their men boxed out. "They would have gotten the rebound if I had missed," he said.

• Corliss said he's frequently asked which championship is more meaningful to him - the NCAA title he won with the Hogs or the NBA title he won with the Detroit Pistons. The answer, he said, was easy: the NCAA championship.

Williamson also said last weekend marked the first time his five-year-old son had heard his college nickname. "Daddy, those people are saying you're nasty!" his puzzled son told him.

• Speaking of kids, Dwight asked his 10-year-old son to stand up so the crowd could see him and added that his son is a budding hoopster. He then added he'd love to see his son in a Razorback uniform. "Let's get him up here," he told the crowd. (Nothing would make us Expats happier.)

Scotty also broached the possibility of his son playing in Fayetteville, joking to Pelphrey that his son had met Mike Anderson (now the head coach at Missouri) and that the Hog coach has some catching up to do.

• Finally, I was struck by how moving the evening was. I was expecting it to be fun, but it turned out to be more than that.

As the evening unfolded and the players spoke of that season with obvious emotion, I found myself reflecting not only on that championship team, but on that period in my life. I was thinking of friends and family that I shared that season with. Many of those people, I don't see much any more. I thought of the two family dogs - both of whom have long since passed away - that were by my side when I watched the championship game. I'd be lying if I said I didn't grow misty-eyed at times.

The inimitable Brian Gunn, creator of Redbird Nation, an unfortunately now-defunct St. Louis Cardinals blog, once wrote of baseball: "It’s not that I don’t enjoy the games for what they are, but they’re more than just games. They’re portholes into my past, my memories, my shared experiences with loved ones."

And about the Cardinals clinching the 2006 World Series title in Game 5, Gunn wrote: "I’ll remember my own little brother racing over to my house—he had to work late—and making it just in time to catch the final out. It was a glorious moment, with a whole bunch of us in my living room, friends, family members, losing ourselves in a scrum of rapturous glee. I’m not sure the Cards will be back in the Series anytime soon, and I suspect the comedown from their victory might eventually result in some form of postpartum depression, but that instant in my living room will still be enough to keep me warm these next few months, if not for the rest of my life."

The 1994 Razorbacks created memories that I suspect you and I will always carry with us. To get the chance to relive them last Saturday in such up-close-and-personal fashion was more gratifying than I could have imagined.

As promised, here are some photos from my weekend trip to Fayetteville. The ones of me with various Hogs were taken at the Saturday night dinner in Springdale. The ones of the guys signing autographs were taken Sunday in the concourse of Bud Walton Arena. The lines for autographs were HUGE, and it was hard to move around. I'm just glad no one yelled, "fire!"

Thanks to my dad for taking many of these shots, and thanks to John for setting up the slideshow. Enjoy.

UPDATE #1: Internet Explorer and Camino users may encounter some problems with the slideshow. Our amphetamine-fueled tech staff is feverishly working to fix the problems. Thanks. (This also might be a good time for us to recommend that you download Firefox...it's free, and is the Expats' browser of choice.)

UPDATE #2: We think we've fixed the IE issue. If you have trouble viewing the slideshow, though, please let us know. (And we still recommend downloading Firefox.)

1994 National Championship Team in Attendance + Weekendlong Festivities + John Pelphrey's Boots + Nolan Speech at Halftime + Playing Worst Team in the SEC* = Blowout Razorback Win

Now, if we could just replicate that formula about 25 times a year we'd be in business. We know Nolan, Corliss, Scotty and the rest of the '94 crew are all busy men, but...maybe?

* We're #11! Suck it, Georgia!

Yes, there's been a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth lately about the state of the Razorback basketball program, and we'll be the first to say that it's far from unwarranted (and we've certainly contributed to that ourselves). But, something really awesome is happening this weekend and we should all take a moment to appreciate that.

For the first time in 15 years, the Greatest Razorback Team of All-Time is getting back together and will finally be publicly honored by the university. We've been advocating this for a long time, and just a few years ago it seemed like it might never come to pass, so the entire Razorback Expats, Inc staff is happy beyond words at this turn of events.

So, let's all set aside the current worries and gripes and bask in the glow of these Razorback legends being reunited. There's plenty of great reading (and listening) out there if you want to really dive in. For example:

* an in-depth podcast over at Whole Hog Sports featuring some Arkansas media veterans recounting their memories and tales from that historic season. Very cool.

* the gang at ArkansasSports 360 is all over it with tons of great stuff. There are too many links for us to include here, but you might want to start with here and here...nice recounts of what's happening and how it all came to pass.

* actually one more from ArkansasSports 360: their take on the most memorable games of the Nolan era. If our slacker interns would ever pick up the pace, we might do our own version of this at some point.

* a multi-part series of championship memories over at the Hog Blog.

And, if you're a fan of the Razorback Expats' uniquely geeky take on Arkansas sports, I'm very excited to report that we've managed to infiltrate the proceedings ourselves and will be giving you a firsthand report next week. Stay tuned for that...in the meantime, kick back and think of long, championship-winning 3-pointers swishing through the net as the shot clock expires.

In honor of the presidential inauguration this week, I was inspired to dig up this old Sports Illustrated article of President Clinton from their March 21, 1994 issue...shortly before Hogs made their glorious run through the NCAA's. (Note to people who hate politics: this will likely be our last presidential reference for awhile, unless Barack Obama decides to try out as a walk-on for the Razorbacks...which might actually be a good thing for us.)

For you youngsters reading this, it's hard to explain how mind-blowing this article was at the time. First of all, the notion of Arkansas' own Bill Clinton being leader of the free world was still a fairly novel concept. But more importantly, it was the Razorbacks' first time on the cover of SI since that epically awesome picture of Sidney Moncrief in 1978. Back in the dark days before the Internet, being on the front of SI was pretty much the biggest thing going in sports, so this was a sign that Nolan, Corliss, Scotty and crew had finally arrived in the eyes of the national media (although we all know they still weren't getting any respect).

The article itself is full of great little anecdotes, but here are a few of the high points:

* The sight of Bill Clinton, who was never afraid to pander to his audience to win votes, being direct and putting it all on the line with his Arkansas fandom (which just shows you where his priorities were - in a good way).

* The most powerful man in the free world gushing over having met Al Dillard. Of course, Boris Yeltsin and Tony Blair never hit 12 three-pointers in a game, so it starts to make more sense when you think about it in that context.

* Clinton gives some major props to Dwight Stewart, proving that his bball insight is extremely keen.

* Interesting fact: he was the first sitting president to attend a basketball game. Crazy!

The spring of 1994 was a heady time to be an Arkansan...definitely check out this article if you're looking for a fun little trip down memory lane.

For at least a few hours, it felt like the disco era.

Granted, the Bud and I didn’t "exist" back then, but humor me.

With a weathered Eddie Sutton collecting cheers and a psychopath patrolling the sidelines in a blazer stolen from Frank Broyles’ drive-in closet, it didn’t matter that the screams from the sideline weren’t coming from underneath an Afro.

All that mattered was a delirious post-game crowd and a parade of burnt orange trudging into the tunnel with their eyes dipped down at the skinny boards that comprise what should be Nolan Richardson Court.

I could break down the game in too many words if I really wanted to. I could talk about downright Heathian scoring drought in the first half that could have been a death blow. I could talk about the lopsided rebounding numbers that I don’t think will be a habit or a problem come conference play.

I could stop being a pessimistic Pedro and talk about how impressed I am with Mr. Fortson and Mr. Washington for not being embarrassed by their first half performances and letting the rest of the team find a home in their knapsack for the game’s final few minutes.

But honestly, I don’t care. This is no time for X’s and O’s. I’d rather talk big picture.

After more than a decade of dormancy, the question racing through my head as I stepped back outside into a frigid Fayetteville night was simple: Have the Hogs finally arrived?

Not so much as a result of the past nine days. Two wins don’t make a program. (Apologies to the Mean Green.) Rather, as a whole.

Because this team reminds me of one that I was around to see.

They finished 22-9. They went 10-6 in conference play. Their core was made up of primarily freshmen.

And as sophomores, they won the national championship.

Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That’s not a prediction.

This team is not as talented as that team, has a vastly different identity, and the landscape of college basketball is nothing like it was 15 years ago. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned with these two monumental wins, it’s that this team can hang with anyone not wearing Carolina Blue, and has a good shot at beating anyone inside the confines of The Basketball Palace of Mid-America.

They've got more zeal and want-to than any team we've seen play in perhaps forever, and a coach that just might be able to get them back to where we all want them to be.

Next year, they’ll trade Marcus Monk for a more-developed frontcourt in Andre Clark, Brandon Moore, and Jason Henry.

The rest of the Baby ‘Backs speak for themselves.

So please, excuse my blasphemy, but Michael Sanchez, will you be the Lee Wilson / Darnell Robinson to our double-double machine Corliss?

I’m excited for this team.

If last night’s noise level serves as any indicator, so were the 19,011 other devotees in the building.

The Hogs haven’t arrived yet.

But the fans have.

And they’re waiting.

Well, we've come to the end of our Q&A with former Razorback forward Scotty Thurman, one of the heroes of the 1994 national championship squad. However, our celebration of the 15th anniversary of that championship is just starting and will be underway all winter and spring. So, check the site frequently.

In today's fifth and final installment — here's part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 — Scotty gives his take on Coach Pelphrey, talks some trash about Pat Bradley and gives props to former Hog sharpshooter Al Dillard. Many thanks to Scotty for his time. And many thanks to everyone who's taken the time to read the Q&A. Now, on with the show:

Do you follow the current team much?

I do from time to time. I went and watched a couple of games last year. I’ll probably go watch a couple this year. I like Pelphrey. I think he’s going to do a good job if he stays. I’m sure if he’s offered the job at Kentucky, he may head out. There’s always speculation on that job.

If we can keep him, and they can start to recruit the state of Arkansas — you take Kentucky: Kentucky gets the best of the best in Kentucky, and then they go other places and get other people.

Pelphrey and his staff have to figure out a way to get the best players in Arkansas so they don’t leave. And then you go somewhere else and get the rest.

I coached an eighth-grade team. They’re ninth-graders now. Just having seen a lot of basketball as of late, Arkansas is not spending enough time at the high-school, junior-high level, developing the talent that we have right here, so that when they grow up – we may not get every kid that we helped get better, but we’ll get some of 'em.

Look at Coach K – he doesn’t have to recruit North Carolina very hard. He gets who he wants (laughs). Anybody he wants, he can get. That’s the way it should be here. Anybody Pelphrey wants, he should be able to get. Until he gets that, and the kids get better here — you don’t have a pipeline. You’ve got to have kids in programs getting better. We don’t really have that here in Arkansas for the most part.

We did a Q&A with Pat Bradley last spring, and he said that he could beat you in a three-point shooting contest, so we wanted to give you the opportunity to agree or disagree with that statement.

(Laughs) I’ll put it like this: I think Pat was a decent shooter in his day. I’ve got to give him that. He shot the ball well. But, Pat could not out shoot me on his best day, and he definitely could not out shoot me now. So, it’s not even really possible. I can’t even imagine that, that he could beat me in a three-point shootout.

I like Pat. Pat’s a good guy. I give him a hard time all the time: It’s easy to make shots when they don’t really matter. When they don’t matter, anybody can throw one up, and it may bank off the glass.

But, when it matters, and you’ve got people looking at you, looking at you and staring at you, a lot of people – they didn’t play in front of a lot of people when he was there because they really didn’t win much.

When you play in front of a lot of people, it matters a little more.

Was there anybody on that championship team or during your time in Fayetteville that could have beaten you in a three-point contest?

Probably Alex Dillard. Alex Dillard was the best three-point shooter I’ve ever seen in my life. Ever. And that’s including guys in the N.B.A.

Believe it or not, I’d do a little bet right now, and I’m not a gambling man. But, I’d be willing to bet right now that Alex Dillard could beat anybody today. Because this guy lives in the gym. If he’s shooting regular three-pointers, then he’s definitely not going to miss many. Regular college three-pointers, those are like free throws to him.