March madness (basketball) comments

[oblioman]

Originally Posted by unotis

Wow, Florida beat UCLA and it was less close then I would have ever thought it would have been.

Maybe they do deserve to repeat as National Champions!

Me thoughts exactly! UCLA was playing strong ball but the dynamics of Florida are what one would call a "team". Me thinks OSU will get slightly blistered in tonights game. Oden needs to develop the intensity that Noah brings to the game if they want to be champions. Tonight will be a classic. Almost forgot - this be from a Vol fan - Go Lady Vols!!!!!!!

[SLedford]

The news will be official at 5:00 PM CST, but the Razorbacks hired Data Altman from Creighton to be the basketball coach. Not sure what I think about this - the message boards are quite mixed in their opinions, except for those who have seen him in action - they are very positive about the hiring. Certainly not the big name hiring we were promised, but Eddie Sutton & Nolan Richardson were not big names when they came to Fayetteville.

Florida has all the tools to win, and possibly win big tonight. If you double on the inside, they kill you from the outside and vice versa. Very impressed with their intensity and defense. Ohio State has also looked impressive at times, but they have been flat in the tournament as well. Better not be flat tonight, at least not for long.

Can't wait for the game! So sad that there will nothing of interest after this (baseball is booring on television), but with the weather really nice right now, it is probably just as well that there is nothing on television to keep me indoors.

[oblioman]

Originally Posted by SLedford

The news will be official at 5:00 PM CST, but the Razorbacks hired Data Altman from Creighton to be the basketball coach. Not sure what I think about this - the message boards are quite mixed in their opinions, except for those who have seen him in action - they are very positive about the hiring. Certainly not the big name hiring we were promised, but Eddie Sutton & Nolan Richardson were not big names when they came to Fayetteville.

Florida has all the tools to win, and possibly win big tonight. If you double on the inside, they kill you from the outside and vice versa. Very impressed with their intensity and defense. Ohio State has also looked impressive at times, but they have been flat in the tournament as well. Better not be flat tonight, at least not for long.

Can't wait for the game! So sad that there will nothing of interest after this (baseball is booring on television), but with the weather really nice right now, it is probably just as well that there is nothing on television to keep me indoors.

You can look forward to me Viking's this fall

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally Posted by SLedford

The news will be official at 5:00 PM CST, but the Razorbacks hired Data Altman from Creighton to be the basketball coach. Not sure what I think about this - the message boards are quite mixed in their opinions, except for those who have seen him in action - they are very positive about the hiring. Certainly not the big name hiring we were promised, but Eddie Sutton & Nolan Richardson were not big names when they came to Fayetteville.

Florida has all the tools to win, and possibly win big tonight. If you double on the inside, they kill you from the outside and vice versa. Very impressed with their intensity and defense. Ohio State has also looked impressive at times, but they have been flat in the tournament as well. Better not be flat tonight, at least not for long.

Can't wait for the game! So sad that there will nothing of interest after this (baseball is booring on television), but with the weather really nice right now, it is probably just as well that there is nothing on television to keep me indoors.

Nolan Richardson was a big name with me before he came to Arkansas. I was in west Texas when he coached junior college there and I am a big fan of two schools he coached against when he was at Tulsa. I don't know the full story behind his departure from Arkansas, I just basically ignored it all because I respect the guy so much.

I know nothing about the new Arkansas coach.

Chris

[SLedford]

Chris,

Nolan was basketball coach at Arkansas for a long time (17 years, I think). Towards the end he admitted losing the "fire in his belly" (his quote) and it showed up in recruiting. Nolan's "40 minutes of hell" pressing style required a special type athlete who could run all day, which eliminated most big men. So when we ran up against a team with a player like Oden at Ohio State, we suffered in the paint. His teams were fun to watch, however.

Nolan would recruit a lot of top notch players who would never make it to the team (go straight to some level of pros), only stay a year before going pro or couldn't hack it academically. His record would have been even more remarkable if they had stayed and played. His take on this was logical, in a matter of speaking. If some 19 year old goes to the pros for $1 million salary, he will make in one year what 90% of Arkansans will make over their lifetime. So hang the college degree.

That attitude and his general outspokeness got him into trouble with some of the higher ups, including the AD, Frank Broyles. Nolan still lives on a farm just outside Fayetteville and is still popular with the basketball fans. He has been consulting some with the minor league pro team in Little Rock, the Rim Rockers. Is grey haired and looks very old.

Had things turned out a little differently, he could very well have been the AD at the end of this year when Frank Broyles retires.

I liked Stan Heath and was sorry to see him go. A class individual all the way around, and I wish him well wherever he goes in his career.

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally Posted by SLedford

Chris,

Nolan was basketball coach at Arkansas for a long time (17 years, I think). Towards the end he admitted losing the "fire in his belly" (his quote) and it showed up in recruiting. Nolan's "40 minutes of hell" pressing style required a special type athlete who could run all day, which eliminated most big men. So when we ran up against a team with a player like Oden at Ohio State, we suffered in the paint. His teams were fun to watch, however..

Thanks for analysis, I am living in Little Rock now and he seems to get mixed reviews here. I just kind of stay out of it since I didn't pay attention to the reasons he left. It sounds like you agree and think he was a master coach given the right ingredients. He was also a great recruiter early in his career and he related so well to his youthful players. I was pulling for Duke in the national championship back in 94 when Arkansas won it, but couldn't be critical of the job Nolan did or point to luck, he held is own with the best at the highest level. Obviously the game could have gone either way and his plan was very effective.

One thing I seemed to notice late in his career, he wasn't a very good interview. Early during his success, he answered questions and showed knowlege that was impressive to me.

Chris

[SLedford]

Chris,

Welcome to Little Rock. I have lived many different places and like this the best, but am from here, so my opinion is not completely unbiased. Have also lived in Florida, Tennessee & Texas in the USA and Costa Rica and Peru overseas.

I am one of the people with mixed feelings about Nolan Richardson. He did a lot of good stuff, but I was ready for him to go when the time came. Sometimes you can be at a place too long, and that may be what happened here.