I’m pressed for time this afternoon trying to get a story out on Arkansas’ senior class, which will play its final home game in Bud Walton Arena tomorrow. But I do want to run through a few highlights from Arkansas coach John Pelphrey’s press conference this afternoon.
Pelphrey was asked some usual stuff – What he thought of his seniors, how important Saturday’s game is, etc., etc.
But there were a few other interesting, big-picture things to share, too:
• Pelphrey was asked about his team’s identity during this up-and-down year. He reiterated once again that his goal is to field a deep roster that can press, trap and force turnovers without fatigue and foul trouble becoming problems. He said Arkansas has had to find ways to apply pressure this year because the program isn’t quite where he wants it, but believes it was effective at times. Especially applying pressure to opponents’ point guards after made baskets. To him, those are “glimpses” of what he sees for the future. But Pelphrey also made no illusion about the “40 Minutes of Hell” style of play made famous by former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.
“Nobody will ever be able to duplicate Coach Richardson’s style of play,” Pelphrey said. “There will be a bunch of imitators, but they’ll never get to the speed and the quickness. You can’t. That’s why he’s great. That’s why he is who he is. But certainly we aspire to be similar and to be even faster than we are now on offense and take care of it and don’t turn it over. And then defensively to be able to play and become even more reckless so to speak with our defense.”
No matter what, Pelphrey also said the goal of the program is to continue to “overachieve.”
“I think everybody knows exactly who I am and what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it,” Pelphrey said. “And I think this program over the years has overachieved. I don’t know exactly how many McDonald’s All-Americans have come to Arkansas, but Arkansas takes a backseat to nobody when it comes to winning and competing for championships in their league or nationally.”
• If that wasn’t enough, Pelphrey also was asked about his team’s progression this year. It’s a tricky thing. The Hogs are 14-16 after finishing 14-16 a year ago. But Arkansas went 2-14 in SEC play last year and are 7-8 now. Of course, a four-game skid late in the season has tainted some of the accomplishments Arkansas had achieved by opening conference play with a 6-3 record. Now, the Hogs are clinging to hopes of finishing second in the SEC East.
“I think up until a week ago we put ourselves in position to compete for the Western Division championship,” Pelphrey said. “That’s good. That’s positive. Obviously we haven’t played very well and certainly haven’t been able to win these last few games. We’ve got some opportunities here that still lie ahead of us. But the thing you want to do, you want to keep putting yourself in a situation to compete. That’s why some of these losses of late have been so hard on us.”
• Arkansas will honor seniors Michael Washington, Stefan Welsh and Stephen Cox before Saturday’s game. This group didn’t get a chance to accomplish a lot during their careers – especially with the frustrations of the past two years – but Pelphrey is appreciative of what they have contributed to the program. He was particularly complimentary of Washington, who has had a down year statistically.
“I thnk that we’ve all had our challenges this year and Mike has had his challenges with injuries or whatever the case may be,” Pelphrey said. “But he has been very good with a week to go. We were challenging for the West and that doesn’t happen without Mike and some of the games he’s had. You look back at him, he’s right in the middle of all the good things we’ve done. He’s put us in a situation to have success. We’re going to need it again tomorrow.”
• Finally, Pelphrey spent a few minutes talking about play-by-play man Mike Nail, who will be working his final regular season game of the year tomorrow. Nail has been Arkansas’ play-by-play guy for 29 years, but is retiring at the end of the season. Arkansas will honor Nail during tomorrow’s game and the first 3,500 fans in attendance will also receive a Mike Nail bobblehead doll.
“He’s a great example to a young coach in terms of how to come to work every day and being prepared,” Pelphrey said. “A lot of times it’s lonely at the top when you’re in a leadership position. Or it can be at times. But he has been nothing but an encouragement to me and certainly we’re all going to miss him in a big, big way.”
