HawgBeat - National media high on Hoop Hogs to ‘make a push for a Final Four’
HawgBeat spoke with national analysts Jeff Goodman, Gary Parrish and Kevin Sweeney about Eric Musselman and Arkansas.
arkansas.rivals.com
The Arkansas basketball brand is as strong as it's been in the 21st century, and the team for this season is viewed as one of head coach Eric Musselman's best.
Arkansas has talent, experience, and coaching as advantages in a healthy majority of matchups for the 2023-24 season, and that likely will be the case as long as Musselman is the head coach.
To get a national perspective, HawgBeat talked to multiple respected national basketball reporters and analysts for their takes on the Arkansas program and roster, and each of them were high on the Hogs.
HawgBeat spoke with Jeff Goodman, Gary Parrish (CBS), and Kevin Sweeney (Sports Illustrated) and asked them each the same questions. These are their responses:
1. Eric Musselman has taken Arkansas to two Elite Eights and a Sweet Sixteen. How impressive is that stretch not only just for restoring Arkansas, but just in general the consistency in the postseason?
Jeff Goodman, The Messenger
“I mean, it’s ridiculous, because again, it’s the hardest thing to do. You know obviously you look at (Musselman’s) success and how he’s been able to build it. One of the things I always say about Muss and why he’s so successful is because he’s dealt with this — whether he was in the NBA and then even when he was at Nevada - with changing rosters with all the transfers. This isn’t new to him.
"So many coaches are having to deal with this and fighting it and not knowing how to manage these rosters that flip over, Muss is used to it. And again, I think that’s a testament to him.
"Listen, he’s an elite coach. He’s an elite coach in college basketball, he’s a relentless worker, terrific X’s and O’s guy, and he’s done it with different rosters and I think that’ll be the impressive part again this year. A completely revamped roster again but everybody — it’s like ‘in Muss I trust’ — you just got to believe he’s going to find a way to get it done. They may start slow — they probably will — but he’ll usually get them peaking at the right time, which is February, March.”
Gary Parrish, CBS Sports
“Very impressive. I’ll keep it simple: I think he’s one of the best coaches in college basketball and I think what he’s been able to do, first at Nevada and then at Arkansas, there’s a lot of evidence to support that claim.
"Arkansas was one of the biggest brands in the sport under Nolan Richardson. I mean, this was a program that went to multiple Final Fours and won a national championship. Then, did not go to the Sweet Sixteen since the mid-90s until Muss took them there a couple of years ago. Of course, he’s now been in three straight Sweet Sixteens and two of the past three Elite Eights.
"I always believed that somebody would be able to bring Arkansas back operating at this level consistently. I didn’t know who it would be, but when Eric got the job, I assumed it would be him. He’s really knocked it out of the park.
"In this ever-changing era of college athletics, where you have to adapt to NIL, you have to adapt to the one-time transfer waiver, he has got a unique ability to build a brand new basketball team basically every year. He did it at Nevada, he’s now doing it at Arkansas, and I don’t have any doubt that he’s going to be in the NCAA Tournament again this year. In fact, I’ve got Arkansas projected to win the SEC. I’ve got a real high opinion of Muss. I think he’s terrific.”
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