Opponents beware: Hogs are back on track

Sporting News, The, Dec 26, 1994 by Gene Wojciechowski

After an 11-day break, the Arkansas Razorbacks returned to the court this week a changed team. Scotty Thurman is back in the lineup. Corliss Williamson is back in form. Alex Dillard is back on the perimeter.

In short, our condolences to Florida A&M and Tulsa, which were to get the first looks at the new and improved Razorbacks. That's a scary thought: an improved version of the defending NCAA champions.

The tinkering began after Massachusetts embarrassed Arkansas in the season opener. In less than three hours, UMass had exposed the Razorbacks' most glaring weakness: too many self-inflicted back pats.

"By the time we had gotten to that game, the smoke had been blown up our -- so much that we didn't know what to do," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson says. "That game got our attention."

And if it didn't, Richardson was there to fill in the blanks. As usual, he was as subtle as those pig ties he wears.

The Richardson checklist:

Corliss Williamson

Last season's Final Four MVP spent almost 90 days this past summer with a cast on his injured shooting wrist. Told not to touch a basketball, Williamson started pumping iron as if it were Arkansas state law.

The 6-foot-7, 245-pound Williamson emerged with a Karl Malone starter-kit body, but it didn't do much for his game. Against UMass, he had 15 invisible points and seven mostly useless rebounds. He had 22 points and 16 rebounds against Georgetown, but then ...

Against Jackson State: 20 points, four rebounds. Against Missouri: nine points, nine rebounds. Against Centenary: nine points, five rebounds.

Richardson had seen enough. The only iron he wanted Williamson to lift was the one used for shirt wrinkles.

"I told him, 'I don't want you like Hercules. I want you to be strong, but I'd rather you be more flexible,'" Richardson says.

It worked. Richardson says he can see a "big difference" in Williamson's play. If you don't believe him, ask Southern Methodist or Murray State. In limited action, Williamson had 21 points and four rebounds against the Mustangs and 13 points and seven rebounds against the Racers.

Alex Dillard

One of the best long-range shooters in the country, Dillard returned to school this fall thinking he needed to score more off the dribble. Richardson says Dillard got the idea from NBA scouts and player agents.

So Dillard quit drilling farway jumpers and started forcing shots on the run. Richardson watched the nightmare unfold and then issued an ultimatum: Lose the dribble stuff or lose your job.

Dillard lost the dribble and returned to his rightful place on the perimeter.

Scotty Thurman

Thurman suffered a sprained ankle December 6 against Centenary and didn't play against SMU and Murray State -- the first games he has ever missed because of injury.

With the junior forward out, Richardson wasn't able to experiment with his bench. "And our bench was the reason we won the national championship," he says.

Now, Thurman is back. So is Richardson's full choice of substitute options.

Two-peat

"I'm a firm believer you play from two positions: a group of guys trying to get to the top, as opposed to being at the top and trying to keep it," Richardson says. "It's a lot easier trying to get to the top."

The Razorbacks started the season atop the polls but didn't stay there. Not that it matters in December. More important: Dillard and Williamson are coming out of their funks, Thurman is healed and guard Clint McDaniel has nearly doubled his scoring average -- 8.1 to 16.1 -- from last season.

Beard trimming

Want a reason coaches scoff at the annual recruiting rankings?

Joey Beard.

Beard arrived at Duke last season with a resume so bright you needed Ray-Bans to read it. The 6-9 forward was a McDonald's All-American, the player of the year in Virginia and the second player in South Lakes High School history to start as a freshman. The first? Grant Hill.

But Beard couldn't make the transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference and Duke's national schedule. He averaged 1.3 points and 4.0 minutes as a freshman, which should have been a warning. After all, Blue Devils Coach Mike Krzyzewski is not afraid to play freshmen.

Beard had a chance to make an impact this season, especially with Hill and Antonio Lang gone. Instead, he contracted mononucleosis, missed preseason workouts and never dressed for a game. There was talk of a redshirt season, but Beard decided on a change of scenery.

Barring last-minute changes, Beard will transfer to Boston University, where former Virginia assistant Dennis Wolff is coach. Wolff recruited Beard for the Cavaliers. Under NCAA rules, Beard will be eligible to play in the second semester of the 1995-96 season.

This is only the fourth time in Krzyzewski's 15 seasons at Duke that a player has transferred. In this case, it was the best move for everybody.

Lost opportunity

The latest in Indiana's strange and eventful season:

Freshman guard Michael Herman, who went AWOL shortly after a November 29 loss to Notre Dame, rejoined the team after one day but has played little since.

There was never an official explanation for Herman's absence, and don't expect one, either. As best as anyone can tell, Herman blamed himself for the Notre Dame defeat (he missed a potential game-winner in regulation). Or he thought he was blamed unfairly by Hoosiers coaches, a theory Indiana officials dismiss.