ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas coach John Pelphrey motions for a 10-second call in the first half of the Hogs' exhibition win over Campbellsville University Nov. 3, 2008, in Bud Walton Arena.

The two Arkansas Razorbacks basketball teams John Pelphrey has coached this year could not have been more different.

One featured six seniors recruited by another coach, while the other is populated mostly by freshman, who are less than a year away from their high school graduation.

But whether it was with the veteran team of 2007-08 or the inexperienced and youthful 2008-2009 bunch, Pelphrey, 40, has brought the passion back to Razorbacks basketball that had slowly eroded since the hey day of Hogs hoops in the mid 1990s.

For that accomplishment, Pelphrey is the Northwest Arkansas Times' Men's Collegiate Coach of Year.

In his first season, Pelphrey and his staff guided a talented yet incomplete squad to a 23-12 record. That is the most wins by a first-year Arkansas basketball coach in history.

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Those Hogs also became the first Razorbacks team to win a game in the NCAA Tournament since 1999, when they defeated Indiana, 86-72, in the first round at Raleigh, N.C.

Despite their youth, inexperience and lack of depth, the Razorbacks have had a fantastic start to the '08-09 season.

Going into a pivotal game with No. 8 Texas on Tuesday before an ESPN2 audience and just days before opening Southeastern Conference play on Saturday at Walton Arena against Mississippi State, Arkansas is 11-1 on the season and riding an ninegame winning streak.

The Razorbacks have played a schedule befitting a youthful team, but the Razorbacks are 1-1 in road trips with an early victory at South Alabama, and last Tuesday the unranked Hogs pulled off the upset of the week by upending No. 4 and previously undefeated Oklahoma 96-88.

At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, Pelphrey said he felt he owed it to the six seniors on that squad - Darian Townes, Vincent Hunter, Sonny Weems, Gary Ervin, Charles Thomas and Steven Hill - to get them to the NCAA Tournament.

Late in the season, it appeared that goal would go unfulfilled when the Hogs lost five of their final eight games.

But, the Hogs came to play at the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament in Atlanta and fortunately got the perfect draw to help punch their NCAA Tournament ticket.

The Hogs posted a 77-64 victory over Auburn to warm up in the first round before upsetting wellrespected and 18th-ranked Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals, 81-75.

Sophomore Patrick Beverley led the way with 27 against the Tigers, but it was strong 18-point showings by Townes and Ervin to push the Hogs past No. 18 Vandy, 81-75.

A tornado hit downtown Atlanta and drove the tournament from the Georgia Dome to Georgia Tech.

There the Razorbacks met the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers for the right to play for the SEC Championship.

The Hogs played the Volunteers off their feet, but the victory came down to an improbable basket by lowscoring Hill, the least likely Razorback to take a shot for a 92-91 victory.

Arkansas lost to Georgia in the SEC title game, but defeating the Nos. 18 and 4 teams in the nation locked up an NCAA bid for the Hogs.

Fueled by a 31-point performance by Sonny Weems, the Razorbacks rolled past Indiana, 86-72, right into an unfortunate matchup with top-seeded North Carolina.

The Tar Heels did not give the Razorbacks a chance to catch their breath in a tip-off to buzzer 108-77 blowout.

Coming into the 2008-09 season, expectations were low for the Razorbacks because of a such a youthful team. At SEC Media Days, the Hogs were pegged to finish dead last in the SEC West.

Pelphrey ignored the predictions, proclaiming that the expectations for Arkansas' program would not change based on youth and inexperience.

"If we aren't up to those expectations," Pelphrey said, "we will have to work harder."

His Hogs aren't just a hard working group. They have proven to be quite precocious, too.

Junior center Michael Washington has developed from a sparsely used backup as a sophomore to a doubledouble averaging go-to guy.

Freshman point guard Courtney Fortson plays with a hard-nosed passion that complements his skillful passing and fleet-footed penetration skills.

Every other Hog from hotshooting junior Stefan Welsh to the late addition, Marcus Monk, knows and plays their role in Pelphrey's scheme.

Though the games still must be played, with the Hogs standing 11-1 at this juncture, few still believe they will finish last in the SEC West.

That's a tribute to the player's hard work and the coach who is motivating them.