FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' basketball program seems to have been down so long that cynics insist on asking "What's up?"
Some grumbled "nothing's up" after the Razorbacks' 16-16 season.
That was just one season removed from when Mike Anderson's Razorbacks surged to 27-9, Arkansas' best record since Nolan Richardson's 1994-95 national runner-up Razorbacks went 32-7.
Arkansas fans' fond memories of 2014-2015 fled quickly. The season was barely over when SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis and high-flying Michael Qualls turned pro.
A nightmare summer followed. One key signee did not qualify academically. Worse, the first significant disciplinary problems since Anderson arrived involved three players. Jacorey Williams was dismissed. Starting point guard Anton Beard was suspended the entire first semester and didn't regain his form from the year before. Dustin Thomas was a transfer and redshirted.
It left a team that had to overachieve with career years from center Moses Kingsley, guard Dusty Hannahs -- a transfer via Texas Tech -- and now graduated guard Jabril Durham just to finish .500 overall and in the SEC (9-9).
Recruiting gurus say Anderson vastly improved the talent level by adding junior college transfers Jaylen Barford, Daryl Macon and Arlando Cook.
The mostly so-so seasons starting after Richardson's last Sweet Sixteen team in 1996-97 -- which encompass the Stan Heath and John Pelphrey eras and five years under Anderson -- have left some fans jaded.
Name some juco transfers who really affected the Razorbacks is a question asked often.
Well, junior college transfer point guard Durham's 204 assists vs. only 57 turnovers last season seems worthwhile.
Scanning the UA's Razorbacks Hall of Honor, four are of junior college origin: Almer Lee, Martin Terry, Ron Brewer and Darrell Walker.
But for a troubling personal life, Alvin Robertson would have joined them. He was a standout for Eddie Sutton and one of only five who posted a "quadruple double" in an NBA game, scoring 20 points with 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals for San Antonio against Phoenix in 1986.
There would have been no 1994 national championship and no '95 national runner-up without junior college transfers Corey Beck and Dwight Stewart and no 1990 Final Four without junior college transfer Lenzie Howell.
Nick Davis -- an SEC rebounds leader -- Darryl Saulsberry, Keith Wilson, Jannero Pargo, Butch Morris and Sonny Weems are among notable junior college transfers.
Arkansas also owes junior college for its greatest basketball coaches. Richardson and Sutton both got their starts coaching junior college teams.
It was while playing against Richardson's national junior college champion Western Texas team that Richardson spotted Mike Anderson and signed him to his first team at Tulsa.
The Razorbacks have a rich past with junior college transfers. Anderson will rely heavily on enriching the future in 2016-2017.
Sports on 07/02/2016