The greatest programs: No. 17, Arkansas
Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 6:06 PM
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Greatest hoops programs
Between “The Triplets” and “40 Minutes of Hell,” Arkansas was a no-brainer for the greatest college basketball programs of all time.
The Razorbacks, behind their six Final Four appearances, 1,473 wins, 26 regular-season conference titles, 29 NCAA tournament berths and a host of NBA players produced, ended up No. 17 on this list.
They don’t excel in any one area, but they don’t lag behind anyone either, which is the main reason the Hogs are in the top 20. If not for the dropoff in the last 10 years, they’d be higher.
Still, when it comes to college basketball, Arkansas has two things going for it that few other schools have:
The rest of the college basketball world should be so lucky.
Sure, the Razorbacks reached the Final Four twice before Eddie Sutton’s “Triplets” of Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph did in 1978, but those monster seasons of the late ’70s signaled Arkansas’ arrival to big-time basketball. (Oddly enough, the “Triplets” moniker wasn’t given out until Al McGuire coined the phrase in 1978. It applied for three games, but proved enduring.)
A 26-2 season the year before provided the motivation – because of an opening-round loss to Wake Forest in the NCAA tourney – as Arkansas rolled through the regular-season, reached No. 1 for the first time in school history and even gained a fan in then-gubernatorial candidate Bill Clinton (who would later enjoy the Hogs’ title run during his first term in the oval office.)
After dispatching Weber State, UCLA and Cal-State Fullerton, the Hogs ran into future SEC rival – and eventually national champ – Kentucky in the Final Four, where the magical run ended.
(Razorbackexpats.com did a marvelous three-part series on the 1977-78 season for interested parties. For a fabulous recap on the 1977-78 regular-season, click here. For the Final Four, here.)
The next season, Brewer and Delph headed to the NBA, Moncreif earned All-American honors and led Arkansas to a 25-5 record and narrowly missed out on another trip to the Final Four when Larry Bird’s Indiana State squad beat them in the Elite Eight.
Sutton’s teams were never quite as dominant, but still earned NCAA berths every season until he left for Kentucky in 1985. That would sink most programs, as Sutton is one of five coaches to take four different teams to the Big Dance.
But it simply opened the door for Nolan Richardson, who would led the Hogs to three Final Fours, a title and more wins than any other coach in the school’s history (and did it with his eye on more than just the wins and losses).
His Arkansas teams would be famed for their “40 Minutes of Hell,” a defensive style that forced teams into turnovers and helped the Hogs run up and the down the court. After a few years, Arkansas emerged as one of the nation’s scariest teams to play.
With Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller leading the way, Richardson’s squad stormed to the 1990 Final Four, reached the Elite Eight the next season and won back-to-back conference titles in the process of going 65-9.
Who could’ve guessed that a version two years later would be even scarier?
Behind Corliss Williamson, Corey Beck and Thurman Arkansas was 63-10 during the 1993-‘94 and ’94-’95 seasons, reached back-to-back title games, winning one NCAA tournament and an SEC crown.
Indeed, that title squad is usually on the short list as one of the era’s greatest teams, though because only Williamson went to a decent NBA career, it’s easy for people to forget just how deep and how good they were. Few teams could bring big men off the bench like Darnell Robinson, feature a defensive stopper like Clint McDaniel or a three-point specialist like Al Dillard.
And they could fill it up. Only one champion in the last 35 years (UNLV) averaged more points per game than the Hogs’ 93.4.
Yet it took Thurman’s rainbow to really give Arkansas the hoops respect it deserved (which Richardson always claimed the media didn’t dole out).
The end of the Richardson era – an acrimonious dispute between him and the athletic department resulted in the school buying out the last six years of his contract, him filing a lawsuit and having the suit later thrown out – didn’t help Arkansas’ hoops fortunes.
Today, things the relations between Richardson and the school have improved somewhat, with some wishing the two would just bury the hatchet.
Under new coach John Pelphrey, the Razorbacks had one of their best seasons in years, finishing 23-12 and 9-7 in the SEC. They also snagged their first NCAA tourney win since 1999. That’s a far cry from the “Triplets,” but it also gives some hope to one of the country’s proudest hoops programs.
Next Tuesday: No. 16 on the list of greatest programs.
No. 18: Ohio State.
No. 19: St. John's.
No. 20: UNLV.
No. 21: Texas.
No. 22: Notre Dame.
No. 23: Temple.
No. 24: Oklahoma.
No. 25: N.C. State.
