Here we are in season five under Stan Heath, and we are a pitiful 5-30 on the road in the SEC. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for a record like that. The once proud Arkansas basketball program, after a loss like the one last night, seems light-years away from college basketball’s elite programs. I honestly was beginning to believe that Stan and this team were turning the corner and getting Razorback basketball back on the map where it belonged.Â
But losing to Ole Miss and giving South Carolina their only win in SEC play tells me all I need to know about the direction we are heading…another rollercoaster ride for weary Hog fans. The season is not over, and the Hogs still have time to turn things around, but it’s going to take a near perfect finish for the Hogs to get solidly into the NCAA Tournament.Â
Ten games remaining and half of those on the road. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that hitting 20 wins this year is going to be a stretch. And I think that’s the magic number for this team to make the tourney.
Forgive me for lacking confidence, but I just think if you look a the road history of teams under Stan Heath, you can bet we’ll be lucky to win two games on the road. The Hogs now stand at 13-7 and have a very tough game at Alabama on Saturday. You remember, the same Tide team these guys routed by 27 earlier in the year? I think the ‘Bama players will come ready to play this time out. I’m going to go ahead and mark that one as a loss, if that’s okay with you.
I’m more disappointed in this loss than the Ole Miss game, mainly because I thought we had learned our lesson that you don’t get wins in the SEC (even over bad teams) just by showing up. Until this team learns to play hard every minute of every game, they are going to lose more than they win…and be sitting on the bubble come Selection Sunday.
The road stat is telling. Does anyone have stats on games decided by 5 pt. or less? Its got to be in the same neighborhood. Its the inability to win the close games that concerns me as much as the road woes. Stan Heath must think he's died and gone to hog heaven when the football team get attacked for winning the hardest division in football and he continues to fly under the radar.
I am so sick of the moaning about Houston and Frank it's hard to get interested in the mess that is Razorback basketball. Road wins are about focus and intensity. Stan is a wonderfully likeable guy. He was so well received after the trainwreck that was Nolan. But, one thing was for certain with a Nolan team; they would play with intensity or they would sit. Of course Nolan always had a deep bench that he had developed to play if needed. Stan's bench is mostly role players developed to play only a few minutes a half.
Houston was also well recieved when he first arrived. And you can make the case that Frank was just a pretty face and that Wilson Mathews was the actual coach that brought success to the Razorbacks. Frank makes a big deal of his running through assistants like toilet paper but he can't seem to find (or keep) a coach to win for Houston and Stan.
Very disappointing. I think a tournament worthy team would have won last night knowing they must travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday. I gave Stan a pass for the first three years, given what a mess Nolan left him with. By year’s 4 and 5 you should be at minimum winning your division but the talent is just not there.
It now appears that if you can’t win the West this year, you never will….Bama gets blown out by 20+ every time they go on the road; LSU loses at home to Vandy; Lebo’s runts are leading the pack. And where are we? Battling Ole Miss and MSU to stay out of the cellar.
Serenity Now.
The road woes are not a new trend under Stan. Nolan teams toward the end starting in 1997 had trouble on the road. These "road" losses are games away from Bud but look at this.
1997 – 14 losses – 11 away from Bud
1998 – 9 losses – 9 away from Bud
1999 – 11 losses – 9 away from Bud
2000 – 15 losses – 10 away from Bud
2001 – 11 losses – 9 away from Bud
2002 – 15 losses – 10 away from Bud
And the tradition continues under Stan
2003 – 19 losses – 11 away from Bud
2004 – 16 losses -10 away from Bud
2005 – 12 losses – 9 away from Bud
2006 – 10 losses – 9 away from Bud
I'm sure you could take away some of the "away losses" for each year such as 06 where 2 losses came in a preseason tournament. Still, speaking of mediocrity, think we could wallow in this slop some more.
Could it be that this team gets the big head after a big win or playing a team close and they just don't show up because they think there superstars? I am just searching here for the reasons as to how we can play so good with big competition and so poorly with bad. I hate to start blameing Stan but at some point someone has to raise there hand and say its me.
Wish as we may, wish as we might, things are not going to change. We will continue to lose games on the road by just a few points here and there… just enough to keep some thinking we are getting ready to turn the corner. I don't see it happening. I think Stan and his teams expect to lose and guess what… that's exactly what happens. Stan is apparently a nice guy and a good man, but I don't see any progress being made, and I think we should be seeing it by now. This team should not be losing games on the road to OM & SC. Are the assistant coaches making any difference at all?
Unfortunately I witnessed that sad excuse for a basketball game last night in Columbia. The coaches can say all they want about how tough it is to win road games in the SEC, but it's a total fabrication in this case. There were, at most 5,000 in attendance last night. Of that group 75% were at least +65 years old. At first I thought I was at Ruby's Cafeteria. At one point I could hear the old man two rows behind me snooring. I'm not kidding. With 5 mins to play the old man a few seats over (there were plenty to stretch out in) leans in & says, "We (USC) are awful, but you guys (Ark) play to the level of the competition." Well said Gramps
The first thing I would do if I became Head Coach of this mess is tell Sonny Weems to SHOOT MORE. I'd be posting his butt down low and running clear outs for him and make him my scorer. The man simply does not look for his shot enough and neither do the rest of them apparently.
Did I hear it wrong… But didn't Stan "The Man" Heath say that the Razorback B-Ball Team was not going to be weak anymore and that The B-Ball Team was RE-LOADING with talent every year…. I guess he was talking about his other team… The BB Gun Team…. LOL Now thats Funny…. Greetings from Georgia….. GO Hogs Love Ya'll Bunches
This question is….if we don't make the NCAA tournament will Heath be fired? I'm with everyone….I love the guy and wish he would have more success. Maybe he is too nice. His teams seem to be a reflection of that. They win the games they should lose and lose the games they should win. On any given day…who knows which team is going to show up. With ten games left they would have to go 7-3 and win a couple of road games to make the tournament. That sounds like a monumental task for this bunch. Looks like NIT this year.
I stopped watching the Razorback basketball games shortly after Stan Heath arrived. I couldn't stay awake. He shows about as much enthusiasm as someone just waking from a coma. He teams tend to loose focus and this year it appears that he has several players who spell team with a capial I AM THE in front of the work team. I enjoyed watching the Nolan coached teams but couldn't stand all of his racist diatribes and his constant whining about how rough he had it as a child and how mistreated he had it. For God's sake, he was making a million and more a year. Let it go. He was more racist and bigoted that anybody in the state. He wasn't mistreated. He was handled with kid gloves because if he didn't get treated with kid gloves he'd play the race card. At any rate, Stan needs to stop being so nice, quit being the players friend and throw a fit every once and a while so people will know he's alive. Heck even when he does get upset it's hard to tell. Stop coddling these guys and put their butts on the bench if they start hogging (no pun intended) the ball or not staying focused on the game. They are getting a free ride in exchange for playing ball. He and the players both need to step up and 'man up' to the level of the other programs. The only reason we're 13-7 now is because of the cupcake schedule we play on the front end of the season. As soon as we start conference play we get our heads handed to us on a platter.