Today, your scribe has made his first commercial flight since covid hit. Tournaments resumed last season but without fans or media members. It was such a stunning time, the Big East stopped play at the halftime of its final game. In the opening round, Arkansas beat Vanderbilt 86-73 and were set to play South Carolina the next day, but the next morning came the biggest upset in basketball history.Ĭovid-19 ended conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament.Īrkansas won the last game of that season. It was in Nashville and had nothing to do with music, food or even the games. In all the years of covering tournaments, there is one that stands out more than all others. Now the basketball team gets to enjoy the hospitality and have a chance to leave as the winner, too. Of course, the Razorbacks football team was here for the Jan. This is the second time it has been played in Tampa and it was not well supported the first time and may not be this week either.
It's a great city but if not for the tidal wave of Kentucky fans it would not be a great basketball environment. In the 30 years the Razorbacks have been in the SEC, there has been a major snow storm in Lexington that cancelled flights until two days after the tournament ended (Kentucky won at home) and too many trips to Nashville.
The Wildcats have dominated the SEC Tournament, winning it 31 times. The Razorbacks were upset 90-89 by Alabama who then got spanked by, you guessed it, Kentucky.
The Hogs walked in during an afternoon game and a rim ringing Hog call rang across Jefferson Memorial Coliseum, momentarily stunning Kentucky fans and serving notice the Hogs were for real, at least in basketball. There was a memorable moment during Arkansas's first SEC Tournament.īack then, hundreds of Razorback fans traveled to the conference tournament. To try and compete back then, Razorback fans started donating to other SEC schools so they could buy their tournament tickets. The Wildcat faithful show up by every mode of transportation and buy every ticket they can. They moved their show to Birmingham for a while, but there is a reason the SEC Tournament is called the Kentucky Invitational. Their area was taped off with yellow crime scene tape. The late great "Fast' Eddie Christian and his friends from Fort Smith would take over a huge section of the Hyatt Regency bar and hold court for days. Reed made his half-court shot at the buzzer to beat Louisville and the Hogs advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.īy the time the Razorbacks left the SWC, Arkansas and Texas playing in the Southwest Conference Tournament in Dallas was the highlight of a season. 6 seed Texas in its first game, but your trusty scribe had been introduced to one of life's great events. 2 seed Houston didn't play until the second round in San Antonio.Īrkansas, which was 24-8 and 13-3 in Southwest Conference play, was stunned by No. TAMPA, Fla - The first conference basketball tournament yours truly covered was in San Antonio in 1981.įirst-round games were played on campus, but No.
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