Basketball, or any sport, is supposed to be fun. These kids play their asses off, but they seem lately to have lost their joy. There is still plenty of season left to find it. Maybe Muss could take a page out of Dudley’s book, and show the team Hoosiers. I don’t know, but one thing I’ll always remember Coach Richardson saying is, “the only way to beat pressure is to love it.” Just my 2 cents. Go Hogs!
I think they would have been plenty joyful if that tip-in had bounced out yesterday. They’re in a tough stretch, fighting like crazy to get out of this slide, and fighting again yesterday to come back from 17 down. Win one and they’ll be fine. It’s doing that that is the problem, shorthanded as they are.
Swine is right. They need a win right now. They play as hard as any team I can remember but are missing Joe. I love this team they’re not happy cause they’re not winning right now.
None of us are happy they are not winning right now. My suggestion was to find the reason they love playing basketball in the first place. If they do that, and continue to play hard, the results will come. They are just pressing right now.
I’m pretty sure y’all are sick of hearing my Coach Richardson stories, but during the monotony and pressure of the 93-94 season, Coach decided to play McFadden and Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” on an endless loop during practice. The players just rolled their eyes then, but when we all got back together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our championship, all of us just smiled at the memory. Coach Richardson was crazy like a fox. He knew the team needed some levity, and he provided the soundtrack for it.
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You make good points Jeremy.
It does seem like the pressure is getting to the team and especially the coaching staff. They just seem tense and Muss looks the tensest. They need a win bad. And so do we.
Based on his record at a Nevada, Muss may not have faced such adversity there. I am sure he did not expect to set BWA losing streak records. But, I am sure the assistants Williams and Cruchfield have gone through such adversity before. So hopefully together they are coming up with Nolan type of ideas to inject some fun into basketball again.
Thank you Jeremy for the Nolan stories. He was a trailblazer in so many ways. And a brilliant coach. It was shameful the way some treated him when his precious daughter had cancer. But he rose above that and became an iconic coaching legend in Arkansas and around the nation. I had the pleasure of visiting him on the putting green at Paridise Valley golf coarse when he lived there. Nolan was very gracious to us that day.
The look he would give refs was a thing to behold. He was a tough guy with a heart of gold. Eddie put us on the map but Nolan closed the deal with our National Championship. He’s a treasure for our state.
Let’s face it. One of the main reasons we’re not winning is we’re one key player short. If Joe were healthy & playing, we’d have won probably 5 of those games we lost. We were short-handed before he got hurt. It’s much worse now. The only question I have is whether he can get healthy soon enough that we can scratch out enough wins to get back into the NCAA picture.
I think we have so little margin for error in conference play right now that doing a lot of things right has been just barely not good enough-and that is enormously frustrating for the team and the staff. Motivational and psych stuff can only do so much under the circumstances.
One key player short has been the motto for the last 5-6 years for different reasons. But this team has accomplished so much more with so much less this year.
Even next year we could be one key player short of being a really good/great team. I suspect we should be pretty dang good depending on who’s still here from this team. The good freshmen coming In next year will need time to adjust & hopefully by January the chemistry is there.
Good post, NE and good post buzz.
If Joe were never injured, we are probably in the big dance. This season has been so frustrating for everyone. The close losses and games have just not gone our way. This team was so lacking depth, only one key injury for a few weeks sealed our fate. It is a shame. This coach, the staff and the team have given such a great effort.
Maybe so, but unlike past years, we saw what we could do when we had that one player. We were 16-5 (and he was injured in a couple of those losses.) No one thinks with Joe back we’d be a final four team, but we’d be an NCAAT team. With Joe & and a good inside guy, we might very well be a final four team.
Agree on all points.
If Joe could have played Saturday I would imagine Jones would have had more room to get his shot off late and Harris wouldn’t have been doing a 360 and passing to Miss ST for a layup with a 3 point lead!
This season the hogs were playing teams with a full roster and had started with 7 or 8 that could play! When Joe went down the losses came in a flurry.
Play these next few weeks out and move on.
I’m excited for the future of Razorback
Basketball! Both Men and Women.
Agree, Army. Sometimes you just have to play the hand you are dealt. Nobody is gonna feel sorry for us, nor should they. These kids will show what they are made of the next few weeks. I believe the best is yet to come. Steel sharpens steel, but I just want these kids to remember that this is a game they love to play. There will be plenty of time to look back when they are old, like me, lol. They just need to keep playing their asses off, and enjoy the ride. Go Hogs!
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