By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s hard to find a silver lining in a season that went terribly sour over the final few weeks, but Arkansas coach John Pelphrey managed to put his finger on something Thursday.
Minutes after the Razorbacks suffered a season-ending loss to Georgia in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, he pointed back to the first half of Arkansas’ SEC season. The Razorbacks were 6-3, leading the SEC West and making a serious push for their first title since 1995.
“I think we showed progress as a program,” Pelphrey said Thursday night. “We put ourselves in a position to have a chance to compete. Up until probably the last ten days, two weeks, we were in first or just barely out of it and had a chance.
“That’s what you want to do. You want to put yourself in a position where you’ve got a chance.”
The problem? Arkansas’ 2009-10 season will be remembered much more for its late-season collapse than mid-year success. The Razorbacks wrapped up their second consecutive sub-.500 season by closing the year with six straight losses, tumbling completely out of the postseason picture.
It was a skid that has left a bad taste in Arkansas’ mouth during what has been a year loaded with highs and lows. Consider this: The Razorbacks lost four-straight games, won five, lost four more, and then won five again during the season.
Then came the longest streak. The Hogs ended the year by going nearly a month without a win, getting its last victory against South Carolina on Feb. 17.
“That’s something we’re going to have to live with this summer,” Pelphrey said of the end. “Hopefully it will be our motivation because, you know, I know for our coaching staff and obviously it sounds like from our players that we recognize the opportunity.
“We know in sports we’re going to be disappointed, but it’s kind of how we respond to that.”
There will be plenty of questions to address as the Razorbacks move into the offseason. The biggest seems to have been answered by athletic director Jeff Long shortly after the loss Thursday night.
Long reaffirmed his support for Pelphrey despite the struggles the last two years. Long has been asked about Pelphrey’s job status several times this season and has continued to indicate the third-year coach remains the man for the job despite going 28-34 overall and 9-23 in the SEC the past two seasons.
“I said it,” Long said. “I said it back before we won five straight games. And I said it after we lost five straight games. It’s not where we want it to be. We’re working hard to get it to there. It’s going to take time to get it there and John and his staff are working hard to do that.”
There will be other storylines to examine, too.
The Razorbacks lose seniors Michael Washington, Stefan Welsh and Stephen Cox, but will that be all after the past two seasons were loaded with roster charges? Can Arkansas complete its signing class by grabbing big man Ricardo Ratliffe, the top-ranked junior college player in the nation? Will Pelphrey make any changes to his coaching staff, shaking up a group that has been intact for three seasons?
The contracts for all three assistants — Tom Ostrom, Rob Evans and Isaac Brown — expire at the end of the fiscal year. When asked if they would remain on Arkansas’ staff next year, Pelphrey said he is comfortable with all three coaches.
“Continuity helps you continue to grow and get better,” Pelphrey said. “I think we have that with our staff. Those guys obviously work very hard.”
No matter what happens in the offseason, the 2009-10 season will likely go down as one of the most tumultuous and chaotic in school history.
It began with only six scholarship players available for the opener because of suspensions and injuries. The Razorbacks then lost three straight home games to mid-major programs. Arkansas also suffered its most-lopsided moment in SEC history during a 31-point loss to Kentucky. And the six-game losing skid is the longest
Arkansas has ever endured to end a season in the program’s history.
But forward Marshawn Powell remembered something else when asked for his thoughts on the year.
“I just like the fact that we just kept working,” Powell said. “Even though we’ve been through all the things we’ve been through throughout the season, we just never gave up, never rolled over for anybody.”
Pelphrey believes that type of work ethic will be a building block for the future, even though the losses outnumbered Arkansas’ wins once again.
“There were challenges,” Pelphrey said. “Make no mistake about it. I hope we handled those with class and character and I do appreciate our guys’ effort and attitudes and hard work.
“If we don’t have those two things, we wouldn’t be talking about any level of success.”
But Pelphrey also acknowledged the amount of work that must be completed to end the losing.
He mentioned recruiting several times in the minutes after the Georgia loss and stressed the continued development of returning players like Powell, Rotnei Clarke and Delvon Johnson. He spoke about “the collective oneness” of his team and said his hope is that Arkansas will get “a little more chaotic” in its play with improved depth next year.
It’s impossible to ignore the disappointment in another losing season. But Pelphrey believes his program took a step in the right direction in 2010.
“I think that we’ve had a chance to get better in a lot of areas in terms of how hard we work, understanding of being a basketball team, work ethic,” Pelphrey said. “The understanding of what it’s about to be a student-athlete. Those challenges from some of the academic situations we’ve had to deal with. I think we have gotten better.
“We’re nowhere near where we’re going to be, make no mistake about that. It’s going to be special on the floor. It’s going to continue to grow and be special off the floor. That’s what’s exciting.”
