Mike Miller of MSNBC.com's Beyond the Arc college basketball blog is counting down the all-time great programs, and he's placed the Razorbacks at No. 17 on the list.
A couple of things please us about this list. First off, after they've filled much of the past decade with mediocre-to-crappy seasons, the fact that the Hogs are even on the list at all is nice; secondly, Miller has given us some bragging rights over Texas.
Here's part of what he had to say about Razorback hoops:
"They don’t excel in any one area, but they don’t lag behind anyone either, which is the main reason the Hogs are in the top 20. If not for the dropoff in the last 10 years, they’d be higher.
Still, when it comes to college basketball, Arkansas has two things going for it that few other schools have:
* A true shining moment from the Big Dance in Scotty Thurman's rainbow 3-pointer over Duke's Tony Lang that sealed the school’s lone NCAA title.
* A jaw-dropping Sports Illustrated cover of a ready-to-throw-down-a-rim-rattling-dunk Sidney Moncreif [sic] that helped introduce Arkansas hoops to the rest of the world.
The rest of the college basketball world should be so lucky."
At first, we were choked with outrage that Miller misspelled Sir Sid's last name. But later we saw that he had the abundant good sense to link to and compliment Whit E. Knight's magnum opus - the three-parter on the 1978 Final Four team that ran on this site earlier this spring - and we had to sheepishly tell the angry, pitchfork-wielding mob that we had gathered to go home.
Anyhoo, check out the list when you get a chance; No. 16 is slated to be revealed tomorrow.