Power of Caring
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INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Hog Wild

by Kelli Anderson

Posted: Wed February 11, 1998

The Arkansas team that beat Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in Fayetteville last week to improve its national ranking to 12 is basically the same club of average shooters that went 18-14 last season. But unlike the 1996-97 Razorbacks, these Hogs are winning close games, winning on the road and winning with a zeal that tempts Richardson to call it the best defensive team he's ever coached. Certainly, he says, "it's one of the most unusual teams I've coached."

Personifying Arkansas's unconventionality is 6'9", 201-pound senior center Nick Davis, a born-again Christian with the rebounding instincts of Dennis Rodman and the ferocity of a school crossing guard. "Nicky is the nicest guy I've ever met who is a good rebounder," says Richardson. A junior college transfer who averaged only 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds during his first two years in Fayetteville, Davis delivered his soul to God and his body to the weight room last summer. The resulting confidence and extra 16 pounds of muscle have helped him elevate his game: Through Sunday he was second in the nation in rebounding with an 11.9 average, and his 2.3 blocks a game placed him third in the conference. Though his jump shot is unsightly--it has been compared to someone loading and firing a musket--it serves him well. He has had 12 double doubles this season (he had one in his first two years), and his 12.4 points a game was second among the Hogs. "Nicky still looks like a rag doll out there," says Richardson, "but he has made our team much better."

So has junior guard Pat Bradley, a Bostonian who was most likely headed to St. Bonaventure or Boston University before Richardson spotted him at the national 17-and-under AAU tournament 3 1/2 years ago and fell in love with his feel for the game and his three-point shooting. Bradley, the Hogs' leading scorer (14.3 points) and thief (43 steals), has in turn fallen in love with Arkansas—"even the constant smell of manure from the fahms," he says.

Who knows how far the Razorbacks can go in the NCAA tournament, but anyone who saw them dismantle Mississippi 100-87 last week for their 12th win in 13 games couldn't help but think about the Arkansas national-title team of four seasons ago.

Issue date: February 16, 1998