Undefeated: That’s what the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team is when wearing pink.
Head coach Eric Musselman ordered the pink uniforms the Hogs wore Tuesday night as part of the school’s Coaches vs. Cancer program.
At halftime, his wife Danyelle Musselman was honored by the American Cancer Society for her work as a volunteer.
For almost 30 years, the National Association of Basketball Coaches has picked a week for cancer awareness, and usually the coaches wear athletic shoes.
Several years ago, Arkansas was playing at LSU during Coaches vs. Cancer week, and then-Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey, currently the head coach at Tennessee Tech, wore tennis shoes but then-LSU head coach John Brady was in dress shoes.
Just behind press row, a LSU student yelled at Pelphrey to look how sharp Brady was dressed and maybe he could get a few lessons on game attire from the LSU coach.
About 10 seconds later, after someone explained the occasion, the student yelled, “Sorry, Coach Pelphrey. Hey Brady, why are you not wearing sneakers?”
After the game, Brady said he had been so engrossed in planning for the game that he forgot and wore loafers.
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When LSU first-year head coach Matt McMahon arrived from Murray State, he had the sum total of one scholarship player.
The biggest question that came out of Arkansas’ 60-40 win was why McMahon opened in a man defense?
When the Tigers beat the Razorbacks in December they played a zone, which they switched to in the second half Tuesday night.
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Arkansas won’t be thinking pink this Saturday when the Razorbacks travel to Waco, Texas, to battle the surging Baylor Bears in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
The Bears are trending right now with the longest winning streak in the Big 12 with five consecutive victories.
Baylor opened conference play with three consecutive losses which was a bit surprising as the Bears knocked off UCLA and Gonzaga in nonconference play, although two of the Big 12 losses were by two points or less.
The Bears’ winning streak has been over West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas.
They are currently tied for fourth in the Big 12.
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With 11 games left, the Razorbacks have a chance to make a major move in the NCAA NET rankings starting with No. 14 Baylor.
They also have road games against No. 2 Tennessee and No. 3 Alabama.
Currently No. 24, the Razorbacks have games remaining with No. 33 Kentucky and No. 44 Florida who could work their way into Quad 1 games.
Quad 1 is comprised of teams ranked in the NET top 30.
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Incidentally, John Pelphrey and Tennessee Tech (9-12 overall, 5-3 Ohio Valley Conference) will host Darrell Walker and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday for a 3 p.m. conference game.
Just a sidebar for those attending future UALR games, the Stephens Center has not sold beer the past two games, supposedly because of an insurance issue.
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An online out-of-state betting site has posted the odds on which college will win the College World Series and Arkansas was fifth at 12-1.
The most interesting thing was seven of the top eight were schools from the SEC including favorite LSU, followed by Tennessee, Stanford, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Florida and Texas A&M.
The Tigers were 11/2 and the Vols were 13/2.
With Georgia already having won the football national championship, wonder what the odds are a SEC team wins the NCAA basketball tournament and the College World Series?
The way Alabama is playing right now, most experts have the Crimson Tide as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.