Mediocrity is such a mean word. That’s the word that CBSSports.com writer Gary Parrish used last week to describe the Arkansas Razorback basketball program. I hate it that he used that word.
This is Mike Anderson’s third year with the Hogs. It was in year three that his Missouri team made the really big improvement. Year three was supposed to be the year at Arkansas.
At this point, we know that year three is not the year. I’m not seeing it coming in year four or year five, unless things change greatly.
The post I wrote on this site shortly before the hiring of Coach Anderson is, unfortunately, turning out to be extremely prophetic. The days of playing a hectic style using undersized players never really ever existed as we think we remember it and certainly doesn’t exist today.
Without three very strong players to lead the way, no basketball team will be of championship-caliber. Think Magic, Kareem and Worthy. Think Bird, Dennis Johnson and McHale. Think Day, Mayberry and Miller. Think Corliss, Beck and Thurman. Post man, shooting guard / small forward and point guard. And without those two seven foot freshmen, the ’94 team would have never made it to the Final Four.
As UNLV’s Larry Johnson once famously told Nolan, “Coach, you got to get you some men.”
I’m not ready to give up on Coach Anderson, but he needs to make some adjustments in his style and type of players if he is going to move the program forward and compete in the SEC.