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Small lessons New Razorbacks inducted into up-tempo style
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 06:11 PM
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas basketball team will do some things by committee, but will be up-tempo all the way, coach Nolan Richardson said Tuesday. The Razorbacks have 11 scholarship players because the status of incoming freshmen Joe Johnson and Larry Satchell is still up in the air. "Our theme this year will be put it in fast forward," Richardson said. "I try to explain to our guys that there are teams that play up-tempo basketball and there are teams that think they play up-tempo basketball. "If you put the game in a recorder and put it on fast forward, that is the type of basketball that we want to play,' he said. "It's a quick tempo. There will be a lot of mistakes made." He said the Razorbacks won't be very big and remind him of small teams that he has had fun with in the past. "Some times the big players you have may not fit the little guys," he said. "I don't think about what we don't have. I see what we have right here and I've got to go to work with it. I'm excited about that. "The expectation I have is more important than the expectations of fans and media," he said. Richardson said he planned to play all of his players. "We are going to talk about it everyday," he said. "We are going to get conditioned. When you are at fast forward, you are going to make some mistakes. But I don't want to die with every pass, every turnover and every shot. "Last year, if Pat Bradley didn't get 18 or 20 points, we were in trouble and everybody knew that," he said. "If Derek Hood didn't get 10 boards, we were in serious trouble. Everybody knew that. If Kareem Reid didn't shut the guards down and have about 10 assists and 14 points, we were dead. Everybody knew that." That won't be the case with this group, he said. "We can do some things by committee," Richardson said. "We might not have one guy that averages over five rebounds, but if we have 11 guys that average five rebounds, we have a pretty good basketball team. "I'm excited about that, because last year at this time I told my coaches that we have to set up an offense where Pat can get 15 or 20 touches," he said. "I've never coached that way. You can only coach with what you have. "I'm back to the other way. I don't care who takes the shot, just make it. Or we will get somebody else in there to try and make it." He said the Razorbacks will probably practice about 15 minutes at Midnight Madness on Friday night. Asked about the status of Johnson and Satchell, Richardson said, "That is something that I can't touch with a 10-foot pole. These two guys are recruitable athletes. I can't make any statements about them. "The NCAA knows me very well. I know them very well. So I don't have time to deal with them and I hope they don't have time to deal with me. That is the only way I can answer that."
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