Yeah, You can Say They Smoke More than Cigarettes on Tobacco Road

Source from:  helena-arkansas.com March 24, 2008 03/26/2008

They smoke pork, too. Just ask the Razorbacks, seared 108-77 by the North Carolina Tar Heels in Sunday's second round of the NCAA East Regional at the RBC Center in Raleigh just 30 miles from UNC's Chapel Hill campus. Last call ended badly for Arkansas in the Big Dance. But let's remember it eventually ends badly for all but one of the starting field of 65. If you are going to get beat, might as well get by the best. Coach Roy Williams' Tar Heels rank No. 1. They are the No. 1 seed not only of the East Regional but the entire tournament. And if you can somehow rank above No. 1, the Tar Heels did in Raleigh routing Mount St. Mary's 113-74 and Arkansas, 108-77 from starts to finishes. Carolina takes a 34-2 record into Thursday's East Regional game in nearby Charlotte against Washington State. The Tar Heels certainly earned the respect of the last team they trounced whether they are the six departing Razorback seniors or an impressionable freshman like Forrest City's Marcus Britt scoring five points taking up the slack for injured reserve guard Stefan Welsh. "They are No. 1," Britt said. "What more can you say? They are as good as advertised." Arkansas' six seniors were as impressed as the rookie. Of the teams they've seen, only Florida's national championship teams of 2006 and 2007 compare with Carolina, Razorback senior center Steven Hill and senior guard Gary Ervin said. Arkansas coach John Pelphrey paid Carolina respects both with praise and humor. "Basketball is a game of runs," Pelphrey said. "We're still waiting for ours." A reporter mistakenly asked Pelphrey about 'losing three or four seniors." "Six," Pelphrey corrected. "Not six out of the starting lineup. Probably could have started six today - but I don't know if that would have helped or not." Good lines. But what Pelphrey feels about these Hogs and what they feel about their first-year coach is no joke. This 23-12 team won 23 for Arkansas for the first time since Nolan Richardson's 1999 Razorbacks. Not so coincidentally, they became the first Arkansas team since 1999 to win a NCAA Tournament game, triumphing as the ninth-seed, 86-72 last Friday night here over eight-seeded Indiana. Breaking the NCAA Tournament ice was huge for a Razorback program accustomed to Final Fours, Elite Eights and Sweet Sixteens. The Hogs had all that under Richardson, the UA's lone national champion winning basketball coach. But Richardson's fiery forced exit and surrounding collateral damage created a losing scorched earth situation inherited by coach Stan Heath in 2002. Credit Heath as the initial architect to this Razorback rebuilding. Other than Britt, playing Sunday just more than a bit, Heath recruited every Razorback logging significant time this season. Heath secured the talent, but Pelphrey is the wizard who found them a heart. Despite trials and tribulations and even disciplinary suspensions, he made them one though puts the credit back on them. "They are a resilient bunch," Pelphrey said after they beat Indiana following epic SEC Tournament victories over 17th-ranked Vanderbilt and fourth-ranked SEC regular-season champion Tennessee then a disappointing SEC Tournament championship game loss to Georgia. "They have been given up for dead two or three times." Even Sunday in Raleigh, down 51-26 at half, these Hogs fought back with 51 second-half points against a Carolina team not letting up. "You are not going to score that many points," Pelphrey said, 'unless you keep playing." Sonny Weems, the West Memphis All-SEC senior scoring 19 Sunday after a career high 31 against Indiana, senior center Darian Townes, just missing a Sunday double-double with 15 points an 9 boards after 17/12 vs. Indiana, and sophomore guard Patrick Beverley, 6 of 8 from the field, and crew weren't going to quit even with the Tar Heels beating the tar out of Arkansas. "From last year," Weems said, "we came together as a team. I think the guys on this team really found a coach they can put their trust in and listen to. He will never steer you wrong." North Carolina blew out their tires in their last game. Yet these Arkansas seniors seem convinced they exit a vehicle headed in the right direction. Enditem