Mike Anderson getting it done at Bud Walton!

[Atlhogfan1]

Better coach.  And this was something discussed before and after he was hired.  The style of play is home friendly which is great.  I don't think many doubted Mike's teams' ability to win at home.  And his teams have done it.  Job well done.


I'll look at all 3 coaches.  As far as Heath and looking at who his teams played in BWA:

1st season:  8-8 record, played 5 ranked teams in BWA, won 2 vs ranked teams
2nd: 10-6, 3, won 2
3rd: 13-3, 2, 0 top 25 wins
4th: 15-1, 1, 1 top 25 win
5th: 13-3, 2, 2 top 25 wins

Top 25 teams played in BWA:  13 
Record vs Top 25: 7-6

Just looking on the surface, his worst team played perhaps the toughest home schedule.  As his teams got better, his teams had more success.  Makes sense. 

Pelphrey:

1st season:  15-3, played 2 ranked teams in BWA and won 2
2nd: 12-6, 3, won 2
3rd: 12-8, 3, won 0
4th: 15-3, 1, won 1

Top 25 teams played in BWA:  9
Record vs Top 25: 5-4

Heath's last group of players went unbeaten against top 25 teams at home over his last 2 seasons and Pel's first.

Both Heath and Pel went winless against top 25 teams at home in their 3rd seasons (0-5).

Coach A:

First season: 17-3, 4 top 25 opponents, 3 wins vs top 25
2nd:  17-1, 2, 1 win
3rd:  17-2, 2, 1
4th:  16-2, 0

Top 25 opponents in BWA: 8
Record vs Top 25: 5-3

[Atlhogfan1]

Home Records vs non-Top 25 opponents:

Heath 52-15 (67 non top 25 BWA opponents in 5 seasons)
Pel 49-14 (63 in 4 seasons)
Coach A 62-5  (67 in 4 seasons)

Avg number of non top 25 BWA opponents per season:
Heath 13.4
Pel 15.75
Coach A 16.75

Obviously this is where the difference is in home records.  Coach A's teams take care of business at home against the non-top 25 opponents much more consistently.  If someone wants to dive deeper, I guess you could look at number of eventual NCAAT teams played at home or their may be a database that shows home SOS by season.  This does not factor in NLR games. 

By season:
Heath
6   5
8   5
13   1
14   1
11   3

Pel
13   1
10   5
12   5
14   3

Coach A
14   2
16   0
16   1
16   2

[HognitiveDissonance]

That is good research.

Regardless of the coach, I believe in the power of Bud Walton and the passionate Razorback fans. I believe home court will always be protected pretty well, and I think it has.

The truth will always be told on the road. This year was the first in a long time where significant road wins were there and through no coincidence it was the first NCAA berth and good seeding in a while.

Even in this upcoming year when most expect a downturn I still wouldn't be surprised to see a 6-3 SEC home record. I think that's possible. Road? I'm not sure what to think yet.

[Atlhogfan1]

Thought I would see how Nolan did.

The SWC era offered almost no top 20 home opponents for Nolan.  From what I saw, 0 top 20 SWC opponents in Barnhill for Nolan.  A Texas or TCU managed to be ranked for a game at their place.  We played a ranked opponent in PB and Barton Coliseum.  The 4 top 20/25 Barnhill games for Nolan during the SWC era: KU win in season 2, Mizzou loss in 90, OU win in 91 and the UNLV loss in 91. 


Found some other interesting things about those early teams' schedules:
I think Nolan's first NCAAT team managed play an entire season without facing a top 20 opponent anywhere. 

His first F4 team played 3 ranked opponents: lost to Mizzou, lost at UNLV and to Duke in the F4.

Nolan's 3 F4 teams played a total of 3 ranked opponents in Fay:  2-1

Scheduling of course got better after the F4 season.  In addition to the Mizzou series and return game from UNLV, we played in marquee, nationally relevant neutral court matchups and the home and home with Az.  Then the move to the SEC helped. 

Also note the number of top 25 BWA opponents in the early 2000's in Nolan's last seasons and Heath's first. 


Nolan's home record in Fay from I what I saw:

202-37
Record vs ranked opponents in Fay: 23-10
Record vs ranked opponents in Fay in SWC era: 2-2 (0 games vs ranked SWC opponents)
Record vs ranked opponents in Fay in SEC era: 21-8

Avg Fay record per season:  11.9 wins 2.2 losses
Avg per season vs ranked opponents: 1.35 W .58 L
Avg per season vs ranked opp in SWC era:  .33 W .33 L
Avg per season vs ranked opp in SEC era: 1.91 W .73 L

By season record vs ranked teams in Fay for Nolan:
0   0
1   0
0   0
0   0
0   1  F4 team
1   1  UNLV game
3   0  SEC era
2   0 
1   0  NC
1   0  R-up
2   2
0   2
2   0
2   0
2   3
3   1
3   0


Rankings don't indicate the strength of opponents.  We know some ended up worthy of being ranked like the 93-94 Mizzou team as well as some of Sweet Tom's teams.  And again, Nolan's teams faced some high level opponents away from Fay especially after the program became nationally relevant again. 

[Atlhogfan1]

A last comparison of the 4 coaches:

Fay records:

Nolan 202-37
win% 84.5%
% of games vs ranked opp 13.8%
Record vs ranked opp 23-10
69.7% win% in Fay vs ranked
% of games vs unranked 86.2%
Record vs unranked 179-27
87.9% vs unranked

Coach A 67-8
89.3% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 10.7%
5-3
62.5%
% of games vs unranked 89.3%
62-5
92.5%

Heath 59-21
73.8% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 16.25%
7-6
53.8%
% of games vs unranked 83.75%
52-15
77.6%

Pel 54-18
75% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 12.5%
5-4
55.6%
% of games vs unranked 87.5%
49-14
77.8%

Win %: Coach A, Nolan, Pel, Heath

Win % vs ranked:  Nolan, Coach A, Pel, Heath

Win % vs unranked:  Coach A, Nolan, Pel, Heath

Highest % of games vs ranked:  Heath, Nolan, Pel, Coach A

[TheRazorbackGuy]

A last comparison of the 4 coaches:

Fay records:

Nolan 202-37
win% 84.5%
% of games vs ranked opp 13.8%
Record vs ranked opp 23-10
69.7% win% in Fay vs ranked
% of games vs unranked 86.2%
Record vs unranked 179-27
87.9% vs unranked

Coach A 67-8
89.3% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 10.7%
5-3
62.5%
% of games vs unranked 89.3%
62-5
92.5%

Heath 59-21
73.8% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 16.25%
7-6
53.8%
% of games vs unranked 83.75%
52-15
77.6%

Pel 54-18
75% win% in Fay
% of games vs ranked 12.5%
5-4
55.6%
% of games vs unranked 87.5%
49-14
77.8%

Win %: Coach A, Nolan, Pel, Heath

Win % vs ranked:  Nolan, Coach A, Pel, Heath

Win % vs unranked:  Coach A, Nolan, Pel, Heath

Highest % of games vs ranked:  Heath, Nolan, Pel, Coach A

Great Analysis as Anderson has a slight advantage but other areas by other coaches are also shown such as strength of schedule and other ranked teams faced etc