FAYETTEVILLE — SEC Network has three nights of men’s basketball coverage and each night has some Razorback flavor.
Former Arkansas basketball players Jimmy Dykes (1981-85) and Pat Bradley (1995-99) are in the Charlotte, N.C., studio Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays to offer up analysis on that night’s games. Each also serves as a court-side game analyst once a week.
“I think it is pretty cool for Arkansas fans that the three nights that SEC Network has basketball on that you have Pat or I in the studio,” Dykes said. “We are a little different in our approach, but I think he is great at what he does and I have to believe Razorback fans enjoy having us in there.”
Dykes, 56, has long been a student of the game and been on seven different coaching staffs at six different schools. Bradley, 41, brings some fun and frivolity with his comments.
“It is a blast man, “ Bradley said. “Not really knowing how it all worked and then seeing just how many people it takes to produce that show, it is pretty impressive. It’s been pretty exciting to learn that side of the business.
“Fortunately for me, I asked, 'How am I doing,’ and they said, 'Just go out there and have fun.’ I said, ‘All right,' because if there is one thing I know how to do it’s have fun."
The two former Razorbacks have a mutual admiration.
“I think Pat is really witty,” Dykes said. “You have to think quick on your feet in this job, react to things quickly. I think Pat obviously knows the game. He stands out because of his accent and I think that is good in this business. You have to have something that separates you and can identify you right off the bat and his Northern accent certainly does that. “
Dykes was a walk-on for former Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton and was on his coaching staff in Sutton’s last year with the Razorbacks in 1984-85. He also coached with Sutton at Kentucky and Oklahoma State.
Bradley marvels at the pure basketball knowledge of Dykes, who was born in Tulsa and attended high school in Colorado before finishing up at Fayetteville High.
“I’ll say he is the most efficient because what he is able to explain on a level better and faster than anybody,” Bradley said. “He can take a bunch of information that he knows and does it in a way that people can process quickly. He’s just so concise.
“He’s coached and played, but that doesn’t always mean you can explain it and he is the best in the business at explaining it to any level of fan.
“He’s also got some of the best one-liners in the business. He has perfected his craft. That’s one thing that comes across to me when I watch him do games. Whether it is rim run or certain things that he has used over the years, he just is able to explain it very simply.
“He is efficient, he doesn’t miss anything. He is like one of those old coaches that is not looking straight at you, but can see everything you do. That’s how Jimmy is, man. He walks into a room and just takes everything in, which is just something he was born with. I think he is the best of the best.”
Dykes, who spent 2014-17 as head coach of Arkansas' women's program, is back on TV, where he spent 19 years as an ESPN analyst.
He is in the studio with former Kentucky star Antoine Walker and host Peter Burns on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and then serves as a game analyst on Saturdays. He is nearing his 1,000th career game on TV.
“I love being back doing what I am doing,” Dykes said. “When ESPN called me - and I think that was the day after I left the Arkansas job - I said I will do whatever you want me to do.
“Most of my games have been in the SEC, but I have done some ACC games and have more of those coming down the road. I see the game now a little more clearer than I did three years ago because as a head coach your eyes are open up to so many other things beside the Xs and Os of the game.”
His time as head coach at Arkansas gave him a better feel for what bosses of programs go through, he said.
“You get a feel what coaches are going through when they have lost a couple of games in a row,” Dykes said. “(Texas A&M head coach) Billy Kennedy is a good friend of mine and I now have a better feel now for what he is going through with the injuries and suspensions, and trying to get everybody on the same page. I just have a lot better feel for that.”
Dykes, who was 43-49 overall and 15-33 in SEC play as a head coach, was happy with his time coaching Arkansas as it allowed him to be closer to his wife, Tiffany, and his daughter, Kennedy.
“I am blessed to be doing what I am doing,” Dykes said. “The travel is is taxing on me because I am in the studio Tuesday and Wednesday nights and I am doing a game every Saturday, so I am gone about five out of every seven days of the week right now, but once basketball season is over, I will be back out to Springdale Country Club shooting a smooth 93 on 18 holes before you know it.”
Bradley played for head coach Nolan Richardson and left Arkansas as its fifth-leading scorer of all-time (1,765 points) with the school and SEC record for 3-pointers made (366).
Bradley, who committed to Arkansas four months after the Razorbacks won the 1994 national championship, started 108 of his 132 career games.
He's been a part of SEC Network for two years and is in the studio with former Auburn standout Daymeon Fishback and host Burns on Saturdays and does a game each Wednesday.
Perhaps his favorite part is when he, Fishback and Burns loosen their ties late Saturday to discuss the day's action on SEC Now.
“That is fun to do right there,” Bradley said. “Daymeon Fishback was the last hold out on that. He did not want to take off his tie. I like it, man. It is a different look, a fun show in general and I think they want that to come across to people.
“We give you highlights, but we can kind of chop it up and have fun and talk hoops and specific players. We still get up on the screen, but I am telling you that touchscreen still has my number. I have not mastered that game yet.”
After playing professional basketball in France and Denmark and later with the Arkansas Rimrockers, an NBA Development league team based in North Little Rock, Bradley settled down as the co-host of a radio show in Little Rock.
“It was one of those things that I look back on and you think you know how your life is going to go, but I had a hunch I would at least live here part of the time because Fayetteville had that same small town feel as Everett (Mass.) and because I didn’t want to lose the relationships I made,” Bradley said.