Heath making his case with Hogs' unlikely SEC run

	Stan Heath has the Razorbacks sitting at 21-12 heading into a date with Florida for the SEC championship. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
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ATLANTA -- Stan Heath was enjoying the spoils that come with being a winning coach at the SEC tournament. The Arkansas coach completed a quick television interview on the stage at one end of the court, then made his way back down the sideline and on toward the Arkansas locker room. His Razorbacks had just won for the third time in three days and he gave enthusiastic waves to the Arkansas sections on his way off the court.

No, Heath did not look like a man on the verge of losing his job. He looked like a man coaching a hot team in March, something every basketball coach at the college level craves.

"You know, one thing that I knew about this team was we would be better as time went along," Heath said. "To be able to hold things together and now play at a high level like we're playing right now is definitely what's allowed us to turn the corner."

Arkansas's 81-72 victory over Mississippi State was the Razorbacks' fifth straight win and gets them back into the NCAA bubble discussion. Heath believes it is "a no-brainer" that the Hogs will get a bid at this point, with Arkansas sitting at 21-12, 10-9 in the SEC (including the tournament) and non-conference wins over Southern Illinois and West Virginia. With some at-large berths disappearing on Friday night, however, a win on Sunday will be the only way the Razorback Nation will feel as confident as its coach.

And if that bid does not come, Razorback Nation may soon have a new coach.

There has been plenty of speculation that Heath will be bought out of his contract should Arkansas not make the NCAA tournament. These three wins at the SEC tournament may change that thinking, but Heath knows you are never in the clear in the coaching profession.

"Believe it or not, I really and genuinely am happy for my players and probably my wife and my kids," Heath said when asked if this late run has provided him some redemption after the midseason rumblings. "It really probably bothers them more than it bothers me. As a coach, you get into this field, and you know you are a target. You know that people are going to like you and people are going to not like you. You get to the point where you say it really doesn't matter."

Multiple Arkansas players said Heath has kept all exterior pressure outside the locker room, and the team has responded with its best basketball of the season. Arkansas beat Mississippi State and Vanderbilt (on the road) to close out the season, then opened the SEC tournament with a 30-point win over South Carolina. Arkansas held on to beat Vanderbilt again in the quarterfinals, then handled Mississippi State with a strong defensive effort to reach the final.

"I'm a freshman, so it doesn't really matter what I think," said SEC Freshman of the Year Patrick Beverley, who is averaging 12 points a game in the tournament. "But the things going on with the program, I'm speechless. I don't really know what to say at this point. [Heath] has been doing a great job. All the negatives that are out there, with him leaving and everything, we just have to continue to stay focused and continue to win basketball games."

Arkansas was able to win against Mississippi State because it was able to slow down the dangerous tandem of Jamont Gordon and Charles Rhodes, who finished a combined 3-for-18 from the floor for 19 total points. When Arkansas broke open a 42-42 game early in the second half, Mississippi State had no answer.