Hog Calls

Basketball doesn't belong in November

Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford dribbles the basketball during a game against Southern Illinois on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- An announced crowd of 4,270 Monday night at Walton Arena exemplified why college basketball basically should be a spring semester sport.

The sparse crowd, in an arena with a listed capacity of 19,368, was watching Arkansas rout Southern Illinois University 90-65.

Now SIU is no Kentucky of the hardwood, but the Salukis are a respected mid-major out of the basketball-respected Missouri Valley Conference.

An Arkansas vs. SIU matchup, especially with the potential displayed by Mike Anderson's Razorbacks in Monday's 56-25 first half, warrants more attendance.

The attendance likely would have been better if played on basketball time rather than in November.

When Arkansas had it going with Eddie Sutton and accelerated by Nolan Richardson, it didn't matter when the game was played or if there was a football game as well.

Those constantly full house days are long gone as are Richardson successors Stan Heath and John Pelphrey.

Anderson, Richardson's Arkansas assistant all 17 seasons and a head coach at Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri, strives to reignite Arkansas basketball fever. He was on his way with a 27-9 team two seasons ago but got derailed to 16-16 last season when two stars turned pro and the roster was depleted by the only major disciplinary incident in Anderson's five years.

Anderson has remedied all that with SEC Preseason Player of the Year center Moses Kingsley and three-point shooting star guard Dusty Hannahs returning, along with blue-collar assistance augmented by newcomers including two of the most coveted junior college guards in the country.

The Hogs are well worth watching, Barry Hinson, the SIU coach who brought ORU and Missouri State teams to Walton Arena, told Arkansas fans via his postgame press conference.

"That is not the Arkansas crowd that I know," Hinson said. "You have to get your butts back in this gym. That team deserves it. This university deserves it. Buy your tickets and get your butts in here!"

If Arkansas keeps winning, the fans will be back. But progress, indeed college basketball's progress, would be enhanced by starting the season no earlier than Dec. 1 like college basketball did decades ago.

ESPN and other sports networks require something for November air time that they can't entirely fill with football.

So college basketball, while more than ever geared to March madness, starts ever earlier.

The SEC does it, too. On Dec. 29, with students away and many local fans gone and the Razorbacks football team in a bowl game, Anderson's Razorbacks open their SEC season at Walton Arena against Florida.

A potentially classic Arkansas vs. Florida SEC opener might draw no better than Monday night's game.

That's second-class treatment of a first-class sport.

Sports on 11/16/2016