Half Full, Half Empty: How Should This Past Athletic Year Be Viewed By Hog Fans?

In a year filled with hope, optimism, view from outside will determine whether 2022-23 played out how Razorback fan base feels it happened

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jun 9, 2023 6:39 AM EDT

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With everything that has happened over the course of the past year, it's hard for Arkansas fans to not feel frustrated. After all, a lot of them came in with more hope than they have allowed themselves in a long time.

However, hope can be a fickle thing. Believing in something so strong only to be slapped in the face with definitive truth that it's not going to happen can lead to a massive crash. Unfortunately, for Razorback fans, this past calendar year has been one car crash after another.

Curses, as this Razorback fans chose to describe it, are perceived in a relative manner. The people of Georgia felt for so long that they were cursed with their string of double digit wins and SEC championship game appearances over the years that led to a long list of almosts in college football. Said curse culminated with freshman Tua Tagovailoa stepping in at halftime for a veteran Jalen Hurts in the national championship game a few years ago to lead a freakish Alabama comeback over Georgia. It was the period of decades of whining by Bulldogs' base that had Arkansas fans scoffing from afar about not knowing how to appreciate the good thing they actually had in Athens.

For Georgia, that was in a single sport. The Bulldogs aren't good at much else. Meanwhile, Arkansas is dominant in all the television sports except football. Even gymnastics is really strong. Men's basketball has stacked two Elite 8s and a Sweet 16. This time last year, the softball team was a win away from advancing to the College World Series in a Super Regional against the eventual national runner-ups. Then, softball had another strong season that led to hosting a Super regional.

Baseball was a win away from the College World Series championship game last year, and followed up by winning the SEC while earning the No. 3 national seed. Dave Van Horn was the Coach of the Year after finding a way to hold together a bag of loose parts to make that happen. Considering all the injuries, this should have been a losing season with that schedule, yet, Arkansas fans got to experience an SEC championship for no reason other than it's Razorback baseball. Despite this, fans are so woe is me right now that they can't appreciate the miracle that took place.

When looked at from the outside, it was a great year to be a Razorback. Even on the football side, that team lost Jalen Catalon for the entire season, saw Bumper Pool broken for pretty much the entire year, and lost KJ Jefferson for a big chunk of the season, and still managed to almost beat the SEC West champions and had Alabama on the ropes for much of the game while posting a winning record.

Now, that's a glass half full perspective. It's hard for the citizens of Arkansas to be half full people, especially when it comes to their sports teams, and it's disingenuous to not take into account everything that has happened. While the handful of fans who came into the season with expectations of a 10-win season in football were a bit unreasonable and lacking in an ability to be honest about the remaining roster and the schedule this team faced, those injuries and the turmoil the Razorbacks faced internally by the end of the season were a bit much.

Injuries stole a win over LSU and dysfunction took what should have been an easy win over Missouri. For those doing the math, that's a nine win season, which is where, on paper, this roster should have peaked.

The flip side to this is the legitimate positives that came with a full program meltdown in the final weeks of the regular season. The locker room and coaching staff was in need of a Noah's Ark level flood, and that's what happened. The first positives were shown in the bowl game when a team that had every reason to quit and barely had enough scholarship players to field a team displayed heart in scrapping out a win in one of the more dramatic games of the year in the Liberty Bowl against Kansas. Boy, how Jayhawk fans must hate seeing Razorback red after the first three months of 2023 considering the Hogs ended both their football and basketball seasons on a sour note in high drama games.

Now, with the exception of a few players, there's a whole new roster at Arkansas. There's also basically a whole new coaching staff. The football program has been stripped to the studs and Pittman has the chance to rebuild with a clean slate. Recruiting has improved by leaps and bounds, and the overall culture among the players has changed. From an on the field perspective, Arkansas is several steps closer to being able to make an SEC championship game than it was at the beginning of last season, even if the 2023 team fewer less games.

On the basketball front, the injury to Trevon Brazile automatically made it unlikely the team was going to win a national championship. Mix in the drama surrounding everything going on with Nick Smith and how it affected on-court chemistry, and there's plenty of reason for Arkansas fans to be frustrated. There was a lot of hard selling in the beginning, and had there been a rule against one-and-dones, the hope for last year could have been the reality of Year 2 for that group. The growth among the freshman would have made this team difficult to beat, but there was a need for a fresh start in basketball also.

As frustrating and disappointing as the final result of last season may have been, it allowed for growth within the program and the construction of a team that is better suited to head coach Eric Musselman. His gift is taking low key guys and making them stars. He gets the most out of players who come in with a chip on their shoulders and something to prove.

This roster is full of athletes ready to be molded. The players who are returning all have high production ceilings and great attitudes. They also each bring a leadership quality that will benefit those coming in. Most importantly, this is the first time it will truly be Davonte Davis' team to lead. There will be no looking up at an older guy or over his shoulder at a freshman who needs to prove something. He's the man in every sense of the word. The Kansas game cemented him if cementing was ever needed.

Musselman has a true floor general with highly skilled troops ready to follow. Last season had a lot of great parts, but they didn't quite fit together properly, especially without Brazile. This year's roster fits well. It will be a machine that is capable of moving forward as one in the most efficient way possible.

As for baseball and softball, it's easy to understand fans being frustrated. Some are going overboard, but people tend to say things in the heat of the moment they don't actually mean. While baseball running into a combination of too many injuries coupled by drawing a team that is perfectly built to be their foil can be rationalized, the meltdown in softball the last few games of the season at home is harder for those on the outside looking in to comprehend.

However, the good side to all of this is that two programs with such proud tradition and strong coaching staffs won't just fold up the tent and decide they're done. These are the kind of seasons that put a chip on their shoulders and lead to self-reflection. Seasons like this are needed every now and then to put a chip on a coach's shoulder and add a bit of fuel to the tank.

This is a temporary set-back that makes next season that much more likely to produce championships. Both Courtney Deifel and Dave Van Horn are way too competitive to allow either program to slide backward next year.

Plus, great things happen in the world of the Arkansas Razorbacks every 30 years. In 1964, the football team went undefeated. In 1994, men's basketball won the national title. What major sport has a huge year in 2024 remains to be seen. However, the good news for Arkansas fans is there's reason to believe it could be any of the big four. There's not another school in the country that can experience that level of hope.

So, no. There are no burial grounds or enchantments trying to keep the Razorbacks and their fans down. Other fan bases would love to have the year round optimism that is afforded the Arkansas fan base. It simply wasn't the Razorbacks' time over the past 12 months. But, the 2024 calendar year might be in all four sports.

It's hard to be this down when everything is pointed up. And across the board, a lot of teams are looking up at Arkansas athletics and will continue to do so.
Chin up friend. You're not cursed. You're fortunate. And that's a good thing to be.