We've played the top 2 teams in the league on the road + led Miss State...

[ishankem]

How can anyone be confident we make the ncaat? We are barely winning at home and are losing on the road. I am doubtful
We make it, but the best clue may come tonight cause this may be our best chance for a road win. If we lose this game, The
Dance may be just a dream

[Atlhogfan1]

Who the hell was he supposed to be recruiting at Mizzou for 2011-2012?  He left a full 9-man rotation that even Haithe could win 30 games with?  That Mizzou team had Phil Pressey, Marcus Denmon, and Mike Dixon returning at guard, Kim Dixon and Matt Pressey returning on the wing, and Ratliffe, Bowers, and Moore on the baseline. 

That initial class was highly touted, and there would have been a revolt in the state if he had "lost" any of it, even if it was his own idea.  Since early signing was in November before any of those players had even played a game, it wasn't going to be easy to convince anyone in the top 100 that a lot of playing time was available at Arkansas for the second class.

It doesn't really matter what the standards are at Auburn and MSU if you are willing to go the "extra mile" for recruits.  Howland and Pearl still couldn't win immediately.  Are you still going to hold on to the naivety that recruiting is all about going out there and outworking the competition?

I'm aware of who was on his Mizzou teams and the unbalanced scholarship situation he setup.

It was even harder considering how few relationships he and his staff built in that class.  Like they didn't plan ahead at all.  Missouri in-state class in '11 had Beal, BJ, Otto and McClemore(although he played high school out of state).  Yet Mike maybe was getting one to Mizzou because of the scholarship situation (and his recruiting ability).

I've never been a Pearl fan so you are directing that to the wrong person.  Not sure how you knew the opinion of Hogville on either since you weren't around. 

Sure Pearl and Howland couldn't win immediately at AU and MSU.  Big surprise there.  MA couldn't win here.  You are arguing different degrees of bad to mediocre. 

[niels_boar]

I'm aware of who was on his Mizzou teams and the unbalanced scholarship situation he setup.

It was even harder considering how few relationships he and his staff built in that class.  Like they didn't plan ahead at all.  Missouri in-state class in '11 had Beal, BJ, Otto and McClemore(although he played high school out of state).  Yet Mike maybe was getting one to Mizzou because of the scholarship situation (and his recruiting ability).

I've never been a Pearl fan so you are directing that to the wrong person.  Not sure how you knew the opinion of Hogville on either since you weren't around. 

Sure Pearl and Howland couldn't win immediately at AU and MSU.  Big surprise there.  MA couldn't win here.  You are arguing different degrees of bad to mediocre.

I wasn't around?  I've been reading the various boards since Booth and the Pigpen.  My posting is more sporadic.

What are reasonable expectations at Arkansas?  I desperately want a deep run and don't believe it is unreasonable to expect one every decade or so.  However, since 90'-95' those of my generation seem to set that period as an inflated bias on expectations, but that period has so far been a once in a lifetime occurrence.  If you take away Moncrief and Corliss, two generational players that the state rarely produces, Arkansas has only been to the SS or beyond 5 times in my lifetime, one of those was made possible by the US Reed miracle shot.  After Moncrief graduated, Sutton was basically a round-of-32 head coach.  Four different coaches have failed to make it to the SS since 1996.  What is more representative of Arkansas basketball?  Two awesome years of the Triplets and three years of Corliss or the other 46 campaigns of my lifetime?

Should fans be agitated until CMA makes a deep run? Sure.  However, anybody who believes that just getting to the round of 32 in two of the last three years is an insult to the history of Arkansas basketball has an inflated view of how good Arkansas basketball has been except for two short-lived periods which were anchored by the two best players in the history of the program and which two HOF-quality coaches could not sustain.

BTW between 1996 and Anderson's hiring Mississippi State went to the NCAAT as often as Arkansas, and that period begins well before any current recruits were born.  I guess we shouldn't hold a FF-coach like Howland to the same standard as the genius that is Rick Stansbury.  Just maybe building consistent NCAAT teams in the football-centric SEC isn't that easy.

[HogBreath]

He left a full 9-man rotation that even Haithe could win 30 games with?  .

How many games did CMA win with that awesome group?

[TheOtherColombia]

He had a scholarship for Porter, and would've had him if the Hogs never came calling. There was a lot of inner turmoil with that team that they got figured out for the next season.. which would have happened whether MA was there or not. Also not mentioned. Was a very talented team who MA knew he had a final four potential with. You should talk to him about it one day if given the opportunity.. he still lights up about that team.

Otto wasn't going to Missouri with MA there.  Was never gonna happen, book it.  His last team that quit on him had plenty to say about it after Mike was gone, they figured it out cause they got a fresh start with new coach.  Had Mike stayed, the same result wouldn't have happened. 

[HogMantheIntruder]

I stated facts. It is a FACT that Mike's last team at Missouri tanked on the road during conference play winning only 1 conference road game against what was then a horrible Iowa State team. They were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It seems like the year you keep referencing was the anomoly. Very few programs don't have down years, and we're talking about Missouri; it's gonna happen. Also, by your own logic, shouldn't the success the Tigers enjoyed after his departure be attributed to CMA? That first year, the only clean team Haith had at Missouri, was pretty much all Anderson guys.