• Last Saturday, while watching the Hogs' stunningly lopsided home loss to Auburn, this thought occurred to me for the first time this season: I wish Patrick Beverley were on this team.
First off, with all of the injuries and suspensions and eligibility investigations, we need the warm body. But Beverley, as we all know, was much more than a warm body. Yes, he had a bit of a sophomore slump and, yes, there appeared to be some issues between him and Coach Pel. But we could really use his 13 or so points per game right about now, not to mention the toughness that enabled him to grab 13 rebounds against Alabama last year while playing most of the game with a broken jaw.
• As the minutes go by, I'm more and more amazed that we beat Oklahoma. In case you haven't noticed, the Sooners, after last night's win over Oklahoma State, are 20-1(!) and are the only team in country to have won that many games. In the victory over the Cowboys, Blake Griffin had 26 points and 19 rebounds. Seriously, how did he not have about 50 points and 50 rebounds against us? Just goes to show that on any given evening ...
• I suppose you have seen that Mark Gottfried won't be accompanying the Alabama Crimson Tide to Fayetteville for their Thursday night game against the Hogs. This actually makes me less optimistic about this game. Perhaps the statistics would say this doesn't really happen that much, but it seems like when a coach gets canned during the season, the players often rally around the replacement and play very well for at least a game or two (think about when the football Hogs clobbered South Carolina in Joe Kines' first game as Jack Crowe's replacement).
• Just a while ago, I decided to be brave and peer into the RPI rankings to see where the Razorbacks currently sit. The answer? No. 87. Alabama is ranked No. 135, 21 spots behind ... the UALR Trojans.
• Speaking of upcoming opponents, the Hogs' five games after Thursday are at LSU, Tennessee at home, at Mississippi State, at Auburn and Kentucky at home. Wow. I'm as capable of wearing rose-colored glasses as any Hog fan, but it's tough to see things getting much better in the foreseeable future.
But, as I said just three bullet points ago, on any given evening ...