Man Vitale is killing Arkansas on Mike & Mike right now

[HoggieStyle]

I'll start listening to Vitale when he learns to use a cell phone.

[ThunderHog]

If you are going to trash Vitale, add Jimmy Dykes to the list because he said the same thing about Arkansas costing Drexel or Syracuse a spot.  SPOS

[RedSatinHog]

Trashes the West and our 7-9 record. Says we beat teams we should have beat to get to SECT finals, but we were mediocre all year long. Says Syracuse and Drexel belong in over us. Mentions us getting blown out by more than 20 by Mizzou and K-State beat them. We got blown out at home by Texas Tech & K-State blew them away. Says if committe had put anyone in but Arkansas they would have hit a homerun. He actually made some good points.

Go Hogs!!! :razorback:

The Texas Tech game was not a home game for starters.

K State played really no one outside of their conference when they easily could have dropped 1-2 cupcakes and made it happen.  As it stands, they are paying a steep price for not having played anyone outside their own conference.

Syracuse plays in a conference which is a whole lot weaker top to bottom than he wants to admit.  The Big East has what?  16 teams?

Drexel finished 4th in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Vitale has forever branded himself as a turd.

[Dugann]

4 different sports programs this morning talking about teams that are in and out and 4 different times we have gotten bashed hard.....I HOPE YOU ARE TAKING DOWN NAMES RAZORBACKS! I hope our players are listening to some of this and it just PISSES THEM OFF to no end... I want them to get mad, get aggressive and punch the national media in the mouth with a couple of wins over their darlings USC and Texas!

[jamie72921]

The truth hurts!

Everything Dickie V said is true.

But the truth that matters most is that the Hogs are in tournament and guys like Dickie V have only 2 choices now.

Like it or lump it.

[stormurr]

Take notes Razorback. Put these clowns in your little black book and make them eat crow!

[jry04]

Drexel lost to

Penn (by 19)
Rider
Hofstra
Old Dominion (twice)
Virginia Commonwealth (twice)
William & friggin Mary

It's not as though they had a spotless record and merely lost in their conference tournament.  They had three home losses in conference, to the three teams who finished ahead of them in the Colonial.  Weren't going to be any more than two Colonial teams make the NCAAT.  Hofstra had a better claim than Drexel did.

I believe one of their losses to ODU was by 28 or so. William and Mary beat them by double digits too.

[GO]

If you are going to trash Vitale, add Jimmy Dykes to the list because he said the same thing about Arkansas costing Drexel or Syracuse a spot.  SPOS

If he said we cost them a spot then he is right no big deal. What Vitale and others are saying is we do not belong in the tournament. There is a huge difference.

GO

[Hawgvillain]

Gotta take Dickie V for what he is...he's the Lee Corso of College Basketball.  He just likes to make crazy statements, flame teams, and be a homer because people talk about him.  If you listen to him every year - he'll have 15-20 players on his first team All-American list.  He'll have 10 different guys that are THE player of the year...and it will be the starting ten guys from Duke and UNC.  Just wait - when the Hogs make a bit of a run he'll be saying "I was wrong this Arkansas team is awesome baby...Michael Washington and Patrick Beverly are Diaper Dandies and that Sonny Weems is a high riser...it's woot sooieee time baby!!!! (no one from outside Arkansas can ever get the cheer right)"

[Ouachihog]

all they had to do was at least get to there conference final and they didn't hell Drexel finished 4th in their league hell put arkansas in the CAA and see what they do and K-State maybe they need to let Kansas stop slapping them around and play people on the road in the non-conference, people talk about how  we lost to Mizzou and TEXAS, hell at least we did go on the road to play them

Good point about us actually playing big 12 teams OOC.  He talks only about our losses to K State's foes, now we should compare how KSTATE did against SEC foes they played in their OOC.....oh wait, they didn't play any.

[Hogsmith]

Vitale is just a blathering idiot.  He needs to quit babbling and go make another DiGorno's pizza commercial.

[slopinhogs]

he's an east coast homner and is just jealous.

[HogNuttz]

After Vitale and Digger both got completely owned when they were bashing us in favor of KSU last night and their own employer threw up a graphic that had us dominating KSU, you think someone would look over our resume.

RPI and SOS dominated every other bubble team.

.500 winning percentage against RPI top 50 teams dominates most, if not all bubble teams

#2 conference by RPI

Played in two tourneys at neutral sites, at opposite ends of the season, won one, made finals of other beating 2 NCAAT and 3 NIT teams in the process.

Our 2-8(?) road record is heavily negated by our 7-2(?) neutral site record.

Our 7-9 conference mark is somewhat negated by having 9 SEC teams in postseason play.

Beat NCAAT teams:
Vandy x 2 (@ Vandy & Neutral site)
SIU (Neutral)
ORU

Beat NIT Teams:
Alabama x 2 (one blowout and one near blowout IN THEIR HOUSE)
Ole Miss
Miss St.
W Va. (neutral)
Marist (neutral)




Please feel free to cut and paste elsewhere or email to the haters.

[HoopS]

It may have already been mentioned, but take a look at some of the teams Drexel lost to.   Then listen to Dick tout Vandy, who we just beat twice.  We're in, deal with it Dick.

[stan the man]

If we ever have a game at home worthy of Vitale I hope we tell the network that we don't ever want him in Fayetteville, Arkansas again.

SEC had to have 5 teams in and that is real reason we're in.

[HairyHog]

Who cares what a couple of  old washed up coaches think?  Not me, and that's whose opinion I support. We're in, and to hell with the talking heads. 

HOW DO I CONTACT ESPN PERSONALITIES?
ESPN's network personalities are not available to handle inquiries, comments or questions via email. However, you can write to them directly.

I wonder why!

[RedyorNot]

I'm sorry, but there is a reason they are called mid-majors. How in the world can Dick V or anyone else discount a five game winning streak at the end of the season with four of them being on a neutral "on the road" floor? Is the ability to go anywhere and play well not important? Sheesh!

As far as Kansas State goes, what are they smoking? RPI bad, SOS bad...their just about a mid-major!

[TushCrush]

All this rah rah "We're gonna show you" stuff doesn't win games. How about we develop an innovative offensive and defensive game plan, execute without excessive turnovers and freakin block out? Would that be too much to ask?

[razorback4ever]

Arkansas and Heath were damn lucky to get in, plain and simple, and at other teams expense to boot. I really hope we make a good showing in the tourney by beating USC and getting the chance to play texass in the second round. If not, everything Dicky Do is saying is right.

With our 5 game winning streak, I was hopefull that we could make it, but I still have doubts about our overall conference strength in general. The SEC West is perceived as weak, and it's conference record shows as much. How much of that is us eating each other up is open to debate, but the West putting 3 teams in the semifinals of the SECCT gives me hope that maybe we are better than our record shows. Somehow, despite the poor conference record of so many SEC teams, the SEC is still considered the second best conference this year, much to my suprise.
Let's hope that our league play this year has gotten us ready to at least get past USC. Without that victory, this year is a wash at best, with no real improvement over last year, and Stan just simply buying more time and putting off the inevitable.

[Winner]

The SEC West is not that bad. Miss St is a tough team that was playing well late. There's no superstars, but it's not like it's the CAA either.

[Hawgvillain]

Arkansas and Heath were damn lucky to get in, plain and simple, and at other teams expense to boot. I really hope we make a good showing in the tourney by beating USC and getting the chance to play texass in the second round. If not, everything Dicky Do is saying is right.

With our 5 game winning streak, I was hopefull that we could make it, but I still have doubts about our overall conference strength in general. The SEC West is perceived as weak, and it's conference record shows as much. How much of that is us eating each other up is open to debate, but the West putting 3 teams in the semifinals of the SECCT gives me hope that maybe we are better than our record shows. Somehow, despite the poor conference record of so many SEC teams, the SEC is still considered the second best conference this year, much to my suprise.
Let's hope that our league play this year has gotten us ready to at least get past USC. Without that victory, this year is a wash at best, with no real improvement over last year, and Stan just simply buying more time and putting off the inevitable.

As a conference, we played well OOC.  AR beat #4 seed SIU and almost beat #4 seed Texas.  Tennessee beat #4 seed Texas and #2 seed Memphis. and almost won at Ohio St.  Kentucky beat #7 Louisville and #6 Indiana and almost beat #2 UCLA.  Not to mention the bashing that Florida put on #1 Ohio St...I think the SEC will be just fine.  Heck even South Carolina beat #5 USC. 

[booogaga]

who cares. we are in and they are not. they can bitch all they want. we are still  in.

[HoopS]

The last time we made the sweet 16, many thought we lucked into the tourney.   We knocked off Marquette and Penn St before falling to UConn.   All we see today is that we were a Sweet 16 team.   Good thing certain talking heads were wrong then.   Let's let this thing play out.

[hog_fan]

When you get down to the last few selections you are simply splitting hairs.  Stop acting like Arkansas DESERVED to be in so much more than Syracuse, Drexel, AF, and KSU.  Each of the five teams had a legitimate argument for inclusion, and many legitimate arguments for exclusion.  Arkansas simply was the lucky team chosen.  If we had been left out, the board would be in meltdown because "we got robbed" (see yesterday pre-selection show).  Dickie V. uses a different set of criteria than Digger Phelps who uses a different set than Jay Bilas....Doug Gottlieb...Andy Katz...etc, etc.  We got in.  Shut up and enjoy it.  We have no room to gloat.  We didn't deserve the invite any more than several other teams.

Who the hell are you to tell anyone to shutup?  I don't get this post.  What are you angry about?  Because we are defending the Hogs? 

He is probably sick and tired of all the bitching. Who the hell cares what all these experts think? People wanna bitch about other teams crying when  hog fans would be doing the same thing expect they likely be worst.

[SexyBeast77]

John Callapari cracked back on Vitale and Digger on Cold Pizza.

"Vitale and Phelps picked the Germans to win World War II!"

Classic. Open up the checkbook and get this guy!

[Bomis Hawg]

The last time we made the sweet 16, many thought we lucked into the tourney.   We knocked off Marquette and Penn St before falling to UConn.   All we see today is that we were a Sweet 16 team.   Good thing certain talking heads were wrong then.   Let's let this thing play out.

Arkansas lost to UMass and Marcus Camby in the Sweet 16.

[Bomis Hawg]

John Callapari cracked back on Vitale and Digger on Cold Pizza.

"Vitale and Phelps picked the Germans to win World War II!"

Classic. Open up the checkbook and get this guy!

I'd almost take Dickey Nutt or Bob Huggins over Calipari.

[SexyBeast77]

John Callapari cracked back on Vitale and Digger on Cold Pizza.

"Vitale and Phelps picked the Germans to win World War II!"

Classic. Open up the checkbook and get this guy!

I'd almost take Dickey Nutt or Bob Huggins over Calipari.

Ok can I ask why the hate for Calipari?

[dotnet]

The other crazy thing, is who did Drexel beat?  They beat 'Nova and Creighton.  They lost to everyone else.  If you count who almost made the tournament, then they beat Syracuse.  If you add in people on the bubble as far as Arkansas, the number goes to 10-12. (Alabama, MSU, WVU, etc.)

This argument is ridiculous and no one is being objective and calling him out on it.

[inhognation]

The problem I have is not with them saying that a Syracuse, KState or Drexel should be in as much as dumping on us.  For every team that is on the bubble, there are flaws.  That is why there is a bubble.  They pick who they want to be in and then only talk about the numbers that support their arguement.  The truth is in any given year, you could probably make an arguement for 70 - 80 teams.

It is true that we had a 7-9 record against a mediocre division.  But look at the talent level of a LSU,Alabama, or Arkansas and put them in a mid major conference and see how they do, or put Drexel in the SEC, Big East, or PAC 10 and see how they do.  Although our conference record is suspect, we have a better RPI, record against TOP 50 RPI, and SOS than all three of those schools, that Vitale is upset about.  He does not mention any of those stats when talking about this.  He only mentions the games that we played poorly in and score comparisons between KState, Texas Tech, and Missouri.

Dickie V. makes no apoligies for wanting more of the little guys in like Drexel, because he coached at the University of Detroit.

Jim Boeheim has been on ESPN radio at least three times today.  Says that the tournament needs to be expanded up to about 80 teams.  Calipari said if you go to 80 teams, then 90% of the extra 15 bids should go to the non-power conference schools. 

[Bomis Hawg]

Ok can I ask why the hate for Calipari?

I can't deny Calipari's success.  He's a heck of a coach.
I don't think he has the integrity that Arkansas needs now. 
He slammed Arkansas when he didn't want to renew the series.
Remember when the assistant coach pushed JJ Sullinger when he dove into the bench for a loose ball?
Calipari basically took up for him and didn't do anything to him, which C-USA officials asked him to do, I believe.

Just don't think he is what Arkansas needs.  Solid coach, though.

[HoopS]

Thanks Bomis.  Got in a hurry to make a point.

[Patch]

MY EMAIL TO DICK VITALE
______________________________________


Dick,

Since the only statistic you seem to bring up in your argument for excluding Arkansas from the Tournament is conference record, I thought I'd share a couple more with you.

Ark. RPI - 35  SOS - 10 vs.Top 50: 5-5
Syr. RPI - 50  SOS - 46 vs.Top 50: 3-6
K St. RPI - 56 SOS - 88 vs.Top 50: 2-5
Drex. RPI - 43 SOS - 103 vs Top 50: 3-4

You also seem very hung up on the fact that Arkansas played in a "very mediocre SEC West". However, the SEC was ranked 2nd in the Power Conference Rankings, and Arkansas played two of the three best teams from the east twice, winning half of those games.

I know I don't need to go on, but it only gets better. I'm not sure if you remember which audience you were pandering to last week, but on a local Arkansas news station, and you went on record as saying that if Arkansas could win 3 games in the SEC tournament, they should make the NCAA tournament. Hmmmm, I believe that's exactly what we did, and once we were selected, who is the first person I see on national television having a fit about the selection. That's right Dick, it was you.

I'll be anxiously awaiting your response to these facts.

[Pork Twain]

Hey Vitale: Texas Tech didn't beat Arkansas at home.  It was neutral.  Nice homework, Dookie.

Is WMS considered a home game for us in football?

[hawgfandude]

Who cares what that ACC homer has to say

[madjudge]

I'll start listening to Vitale when he learns to use a cell phone.

I will never listen to Vitale always turn down the sound if he is doing com. he just gets under my skin.

[HUNGRYHAWG]

MY EMAIL TO DICK VITALE
______________________________________


Dick,


Since the only statistic you seem to bring up in your argument for excluding Arkansas from the Tournament is conference record, I thought I'd share a couple more with you.

Ark. RPI - 35  SOS - 10 vs.Top 50: 5-5
Syr. RPI - 50  SOS - 46 vs.Top 50: 3-6
K St. RPI - 56 SOS - 88 vs.Top 50: 2-5
Drex. RPI - 43 SOS - 103 vs Top 50: 3-4

You also seem very hung up on the fact that Arkansas played in a "very mediocre SEC West". However, the SEC was ranked 2nd in the Power Conference Rankings, and Arkansas played two of the three best teams from the east twice, winning half of those games.

I know I don't need to go on, but it only gets better. I'm not sure if you remember which audience you were pandering to last week, but on a local Arkansas news station, and you went on record as saying that if Arkansas could win 3 games in the SEC tournament, they should make the NCAA tournament. Hmmmm, I believe that's exactly what we did, and once we were selected, who is the first person I see on national television having a fit about the selection. That's right Dick, it was you.

I'll be anxiously awaiting your response to these facts.

I wrote the same message to dick V!  Except mine would have got me kicked off a sailor ship.  I challenge him to a bet!  That USC BB will not score more than there FB team did. 

[ndhog]

When Vitale's beloved Dukies get bounced in the first round against VCU, that smell you recognize will be Vitale crapping in his Depends because then he will be truly full of it. 
All of the "experts" are whining about Arkansas.  What about Duke, Stanford, Indiana, or Illinois?  They did not look like very strong selections either.  And the seeding?  Duke a 6 seed, I don't think they should have made it period?  Texas a 4 seed? They should be higher. 
Syracuse got robbed but it's not AR's fault.  The fact is, if you win, you leave no doubt, and that's what our guys did.  They won and lost to the regular season, SECT, and eventual overall number 1 seed.  Two weeks ago, I could not have dreamed us making the big dance.  But Stan's earned another year and I give him credit.  I don't think we will beat USC, but the program may reach a turning point.  Maybe they'll surprise me and be SC. 

[LZH]

If we'd have beaten either T Tech or Texas and not lost to Auburn and S. Carolina, then we'd be worthy.  Neither we or Stanford belong in this tourney ahead of Syracuse and probably three or four others...no way (IMO of course).

But, being hated on for being perceived as given preferential treatment kinda gives me a Duke-like arrogance.  Piss on 'em.  Go Hogs.

[Kinghog1]

Vitale is a freaking joke and always has been.  He is just a loudmouth idiot who has a man crush on Coach K.

Vitale is a FREAKING JOKE.............How did he get the job he has anyway??......I bet he couldn't shoot a basketball if his life depended on it. Crap as far as that goes he wasn't a good coach either

[trufanofhogs]

Vitale is a freaking joke and always has been.  He is just a loudmouth idiot who has a man crush on Coach K.

How true. I have often wondered if he is not the payroll at Duke.

[Zeno]

vitale is a bald-headed buffoon.

[trufanofhogs]

All of this "lack of respect" from the "eastern biased" basketball media should come as no surprise to anyone. What else is new? I have observed this since the 80's when we saw the beginning of 24 hour cable sports broadcasting.

[redblooded hogfan]

If vitale or packer or phelps are so f****ing great why are'nt schools beating down their doors to hire them?

[camden5r]

Vitale has always made me want to  . This ACC homer can talk all he wants.

[AllenK]

Is that Dick still around?

[holtzhog]

Vitale is washed up

[bphi11ips]

Dckie V is stuck in the '80's baby.