Each Wednesday, we take a look back at a memorable and/or important (to us, anyway) Razorback game. So, sit back, relax and let the memories (and, in some cases, the heartache and angst) flow.

Everyone remembers the Razorbacks' upset of No.1 North Carolina in February of 1984. But not as many fans recall that, exactly three weeks after that thrilling afternoon in Pine Bluff, the Hogs notched a win over the No. 2 team in the country, the Houston Cougars - a team that I think was even better than those vaunted Tar Heels.

When Hakeem Olajuwon and his Cougars walked into Barnhill Arena on Sunday, March 4, 1984, they came armed with some impressive stats. For starters, they were coming off two straight appearances in the Final Four. In 1983, they had advanced to the national championship game, which of course they lost in heartbreaking fashion; one month after their Barnhill battle against the Hogs, the Cougars advanced to the championship game for a second consecutive year before falling to Georgetown.

Furthermore, Houston had not lost a conference game in more than two years, steamrolling through the SWC with a 16-0 mark in '83 and bringing a 15-0 conference record to the regular-season finale in Fayetteville.

The Hogs of this era, ranked no. 12 when this game began, were no slouches themselves. Over the course of the 1982-83 and 83-84 seasons, Arkansas compiled an overall record of 51-11. In SWC regular-season play, the Razorbacks were 28-4; three of those losses were to the Cougars. But Arkansas, playing before a sold-out crowd that was rowdy even by Barnhill standards as well a national CBS television audience, finally got the best of Houston this afternoon.

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Fans who followed Razorback basketball during the early 1980s no doubt recall Ricky Norton's zone-busting jumper and ice-water veins at the free-throw line. Norton played for Eddie Sutton's Hogs from 1980 to 1984 and was a starter for most of his final two seasons. During his time in Fayetteville, Arkansas won two SWC regular-season championships and one SWC tournament championship. The Hogs also made it to the NCAA Tournament every year of Norton's career and advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Now living in his native Okalona, Norton is the transportation manager for Pharmacy Care of Arkansas.

In this fifth and final installment of our Q&A (here are parts 1, 2, 3 and 4), Ricky discusses the influence of U.S. Reed, listening to "The Mothership Connection" and staying in touch with old friends. Many, many thanks to Ricky for his time, good humor and great storytelling.

Expats: Of the four Arkansas teams that you played on, which one was the best and which season was the most satisfying for you personally?

Norton: I'm going to say my freshman year. U.S. Reed was a senior. Mike Young was a senior. [Scott] Hastings and [Tony] Brown and those guys, they were juniors. We had a great veteran ballclub.

Practices were great. Because of the leadership that you had, you couldn't take any time off. You couldn't go out there and relax.

It wasn't the most talented team that Arkansas has had, but I would say it was one of the closest. Guys hung out together off the court. Not to say that those other teams didn't but guys were always going bowling together or going to a movie together. It was always team, team, team.

U.S. Reed was my roommate my freshman year. I learned a lot from U.S. Not only just from a basketball standpoint but about growing up to be a young man. He taught me a lot.

Sometimes your freshman year can be a very difficult year, leaving home and being away from parents and family. U.S. helped me get through all of that. He was a great mentor to me my freshman year.

Expats: Was that season both the best team and the most enjoyable season for you personally?

Norton: Yes. We won the Southwest Conference championship. We made it to the Sweet 16.

Expats: When you look back at your time at Arkansas, is there any particular song or music that you associate with that time?

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Fans who followed Razorback basketball during the early 1980s no doubt recall Ricky Norton's zone-busting jumper and ice-water veins at the free-throw line. Norton played for Eddie Sutton's Hogs from 1980 to 1984 and was a starter for most of his final two seasons. During his time in Fayetteville, Arkansas won two SWC regular-season championships and one SWC tournament championship. The Hogs also made it to the NCAA Tournament every year of Norton's career and advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Now living in his native Okalona, Norton is the transportation manager for Pharmacy Care of Arkansas.

In the fourth installment of our Q&A (here are parts 1, 2, 3), Ricky answers two different questions: Who was the best player that he played with? And who was the most talented?

Expats: Who was the best player that you played with in Fayetteville?

Norton: Best player? Wow. Boy - y'all ask some tough questions (laughs). I wish you had asked me who was the most talented.

Expats: Well, we'll ask you that one as well.

Norton: I'm going to say probably the best player that I played with would have been Darrell Walker. Darrell wasn't the best shooter in the world, but Darrell was a scorer, and he was a great defender.

He had such a high intensity. He had a great IQ for the game as well. Darrell was an assassin. He had those long arms. He could defend you. He could take you down low. Darrell could take a 6'7", 6'8" guy and post him up. He had great moves around the basket. He could get in there and change motion in the air.

Coach Sutton used to just have fits when Darrell would get inside and throw up some of those shots but they'd go in. I told Darrell, "Man, you're probably keeping keeping Maalox in business" (laughs).

You go back - you had Scott Hastings, Tony Brown, Alvin Robertson, Joe Kleine, all those guys. They were all great. It's kind of like saying, "Who was the best of all The Triplets?" You can scratch your head, and you'll keep scratching until you scratch a sore on your head. I would have to give Darrell Walker a little, little edge.

He was one of those guys that if I took the ball inside and a fight broke out, I knew Darrell would have my back. Not to say that other guys wouldn't, but Darrell would probably be the one to start the fight (laughs). He was an exceptional athlete.

Expats: What about the most talented player?

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Fans who followed Razorback basketball during the early 1980s no doubt recall Ricky Norton's zone-busting jumper and ice-water veins at the free-throw line. Norton played for Eddie Sutton's Hogs from 1980 to 1984 and was a starter for most of his final two seasons. During his time in Fayetteville, Arkansas won two SWC regular-season championships and one SWC tournament championship. The Hogs also made it to the NCAA Tournament every year of Norton's career and advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Now living in his native Okalona, Norton is the transportation manager for Pharmacy Care of Arkansas.

In the third installment of our Q&A (here are parts 1 and 2), Ricky discusses the challenge of fitting into Eddie Sutton's offensive system, the joys of beating No. 1 North Carolina in 1984 and the heartbreak of losing to Virginia in the NCAA Tournament a few weeks later.

Expats: Your speciality was outside shooting, and Coach Sutton was more known for a style of offense that was focused on throwing it inside to the big guy for a high-percentage shot. Was playing in that style frustrating at all?

Norton: Coach - I love him to death. He's always been a father-figure kind of a guy. I still stay in touch with him. Not long ago, they honored him and [assistant coaches Pat] Foster and [Gene] Keady.

When we saw each other, he looked at me and said, "Man, when you were in college you played around 180 pounds. Now, you're looking like a power forward!" I said, "Ah, Coach, you got jokes now, huh?" I said, "I thought if I looked like a power forward, I'd get the basketball!" So we kind of laughed.

The first couple of years, the adjustment was kind of difficult. But I understood that, hey, if I'm going to be a part of this basketball team and this program, then I'm going to have to do it Coach Sutton's way, not Ricky's way. There were times that I wanted to challenge Coach and say, "Look, man. I'm a shooter."

We would always have a scrimmage there in Barnhill on Homecoming morning, and several thousand people would show up. I remember playing in that scrimmage my freshman year. I came down, and after the first pass, I shoot about a 28-footer. I started backpedaling back down the court, and it hit nothing but net.

A whistle blows - (impersonates sound of whistle) - and it's Coach Sutton. "What the hell are you doing? We don't need that shot on the first pass. We can get that shot anytime we want! You may have shot that at Okalona but you're sure as hell not going to shoot that up here! I've only had one guy that can hit that shot 50 percent of the time, and that was Marvin Delph. Get him out of the game!"

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Fans who followed Razorback basketball during the early 1980s no doubt recall Ricky Norton's zone-busting jumper and ice-water veins at the free-throw line. Norton played for Eddie Sutton's Hogs from 1980 to 1984 and was a starter for most of his final two seasons. During his time in Fayetteville, Arkansas won two SWC regular-season championships and one SWC tournament championship. The Hogs also made it to the NCAA Tournament every year of Norton's career and advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Now living in his native Okalona, Norton is the transportation manager for Pharmacy Care of Arkansas.

In the second installment of our Q&A (here's Part 1), Ricky discusses his late-game heroics against Wake Forest in 1983 and which Triplet was on his mind when he hit a last-second shot to defeat Texas A&M in the '84 SWC Tournament.  

Expats: One of our most vivid memories of your playing days was the 1983 Wake Forest game on national TV when you hit five of six free throws at the end to seal that win. We were hoping that you could just tell us a little bit about that game - what you were feeling when you were stepping up to the line in those final minutes? Were you nervous? Walk us through the end to that game.

Norton: It was kind of crazy, ‘cause flying to Greensboro - I was on the plane that the hydraulic system went out on. We lost oxygen. The pilot had to nose-dive the plane about 10,000 feet all at once. A couple of us got sick at our stomachs there. It was a kind of a bumpy trip.

I was rooming with Darrell Walker, a good friend of mine. We were laying in our hotel beds, and we had a couple of hours before we were going to the arena. Darrell kept asking me, "Are you ready? Are you ready to play?"

I said, "Sure, I'm ready. I'm ready, Skywalker." We called him "Skywalker."

I've always had confidence in myself. I wasn't the best defensive player in the world, but whether it was shooting a 25-foot jump shot or a free throw, I always knew that I could shoot the basketball.

I always felt that I could make any free throw in any situation, even if there were no seconds on the clock and you had 20,000 to 30,000 people screaming at you. Just block everything out. Just pretend that it's just you in the gym, and you're working out. That was my approach through my career.

Expats: Do you still shoot a lot of free throws?

Norton: (Laughs) If I went to the free throw line right now, my first shot would probably be an air ball. That tells you how much I pick up a basketball.

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Fans who followed Razorback basketball during the early 1980s no doubt recall Ricky Norton's zone-busting jumper and ice-water veins at the free-throw line. Norton played for Eddie Sutton's Hogs from 1980 to 1984 and was a starter for most of his final two seasons. During his time in Fayetteville, Arkansas won two SWC regular-season championships and one SWC tournament championship. The Hogs also made it to the NCAA Tournament every year of Norton's career and advanced to the Sweet 16 in both 1981 and 1983. Now living in his native Okalona, Norton is the transportation manager for Pharmacy Care of Arkansas.

In today's installment of our Q&A, Ricky discusses how he decided to sign with Arkansas. It's a story filled with several twists and turns (can you imagine an Arkansas State team featuring Norton, Michael Cage and Keith Lee?) but in the end, it's one that proves mother knows best.

Expats: You were a McDonald's All-American and a much sought-after recruit. We were curious what other schools you seriously considered before signing with Arkansas and what was it that ultimately made you sign with the Hogs?

Norton: A lot of people didn't know this story. Henderson State University - about 20 miles from where I live - Henderson was coached by Bobby Reese. Coach Reece was a great man, and he and I had a great relationship. He was recruiting me, and his assistant coach was Jimmy Allen.

Coach Allen won numerous state championships down in McNeil, Arkansas, which back then was a Class B school, the same classification that I played under at Okalona, and we were big rivals in high school.

Coach Allen cost me a bunch of state championships because McNeil would always knock us out!  I had two great relationships with those guys.

That particular year, Coach Reese came by to see me. He was on his way to Hutchinson, Kansas, to a national junior college tournament. He just jokingly said, "Come on out to Hutchinson with me. I'm going to a tournament."

I said, "Well, OK. Yeah, I'll go with you." He said, "Oh no, I'm just kidding! Man, the NCAA would bury me so quick. But I just wanted to tell you that I was going up there, and I'll visit with you when I get back."

That Sunday morning, I got a phone call from a cousin of mine. She said, "Ricky, turn the radio on KBRC" - which is a radio station in Arkadelphia. "Coach Bobby Reese was killed in a car accident last night."

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This is the initial installment of a new weekly feature here at Arkansas Expats. Each Wednesday, we'll take a look back at a memorable and/or important (to us, anyway) Razorback game. So, sit back, relax and let the memories (or, in some cases, the heartache and angst) flow. 

At the end of this post is a great YouTube find: footage from the 1979 NCAA Midwest Regional Final between Sidney Moncrief's Razorbacks and Larry Bird's Indiana State Sycamores. The action itself is not terribly memorable - it's of the first few minutes of the game, but it's still pretty amazing to see a clip from this historic - and heartbreaking - contest.

To set the stage: Indiana State was undefeated and ranked number one in the country heading into the game. The Hogs, of course, had been to the Final Four the year before but considering the losses of Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph and Jimmy Counce - two-thirds of the 1978 team's starting lineup - expectations for the 1979 team weren't very high. In fact, Arkansas entered the season unranked.

However, the pundits overlooked one very important factor: Sidney Moncrief was a total bad-ass.

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Keenan DeBose didn't have much of an on-court impact during his two seasons as a member of Eddie Sutton's Razorbacks. But the effect that his hair had on the state of Arkansas was unmistakable.

During a time when we Arkansans were wrestling with Cold War fears, fighting our way through a recession and mourning the end of "M*A*S*H," Keenan's jheri curl helped to brighten our troubled days. It gave us comfort and inspiration in a world seemingly gone mad.

It also taught us that such a 'do needn't be the exclusive domain of pop stars like Rick James, Michael Jackson and El DeBarge. Keenan bravely showed us that jocks too could pull off the look.

Yes, Mr. DeBose's curly, greasy locks were truly a bright spot of the early and mid-1980s. Of that we all surely agree. But what Arkansans and hair historians worldwide have never been able to agree on is the answer to the following question: Did Keenan's jheri curl look better during his freshman or sophomore year? (Note: DeBose transferred to North Texas State after his second season in Fayetteville.)

So we now pose the question to you. Before you vote, you should know that the picture on the left above is from DeBose's freshman season. The one on the right is from his sophomore year.

For additional context, we've posted two more photos after the jump; the top one is from Keenan's first season, the bottom from his second. Be sure to view these pics before casting your vote.

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