The first week of the new year has gotten off to a fantastic start in the world of college basketball. Or, at least for me it has.

We are well on our way down the road to the final four. Conference season is beginning and there are still many great games coming in the next few months. But it’s largely been the end of the non-conference season that has produced some great stuff the past 10 days or so.

My love for Duke basketball and the ACC is well-documented. Generally, when I write about college basketball prior to March, Duke/ACC basketball is my primary topic. Yes, Duke won a big one last night over last year’s tournament Cinderella team, Davidson, and their star Stephen Curry, and clearly the best news in the ACC this week is that Carolina lost Sunday night to BC. A Carolina loss is always a time for celebration. But that’s not what I’m going to talk about here.

For once, I will write a college basketball post in January that is not dominated by Duke/ACC basketball.

Instead, I will offer a few thoughts on my other favorite team: the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The great week of college basketball started last Tuesday with the Arkansas-Oklahoma game. I admit I have become somewhat of a Sooner fan basketball fan of late. I generally have no love for OU sports teams (and would love to see Florida win big tonight), but their basketball team is coached by former Duke guard Jeff Capel and I hope to see him succeed wherever he is, even Oklahoma. Nevertheless, I was delighted to watch the young Hogs hammer then-#4 OU for most of the game last week and hold off a late Sooner rally to score the upset.

It was the first Arkansas game of the year that I had sat down and watched. I’d seen a little of Courtney Fortson in a couple of previous games that I tuned in for only briefly, and it was obvious he had some talent. That talent was on full display in the OU game, where he played a terrific game. Michael Washington is clearly the other player who will, along with Fortson, determine how far the Hogs go this season. I thought Michael Sanchez and Marcus Monk played particularly well in the OU game as well.

They followed that up with a win over the weekend and then another top 10 team came to town Tuesday night. I had my doubts that they could repeat their previous Tuesday’s performance when #7 Texas came calling, and late in the first half it appeared that my doubts were well-founded. Fortson played a horrible first half, and both he and Michael Washington got themselves into early foul trouble. It looked as if the magic may be gone. But the Hogs stormed back in the second half behind Washington and Stephan Welsh, and Fortson showed up in the final 10 minutes to make some outstanding plays on the way to yet another upset of a top 10 team. Texas tried their best to hold them off, but the Hogs, spurred on by another raucous Bud Walton Arena crowd, simply refused to lose. Washington’s dunk and 3-point play in the final minute, when Texas had trimmed the Hogs’ slim lead back down to one, was the play of the game.

From what I’ve witnessed so far, Fortson looks like he’s on the road to becoming a special player. His primary flaws are his decision making and being a bit out of control at times (often resulting in turnovers.) Both of those plagued him in the first half Tuesday, but I also believe that both will improve with experience and coaching, and when they do, I expect him to really shine on a national stage. He’s got the potential to be the kind of player to lead a team to the final four. I hope he’s able to develop into that player.

Granted, the OU game could have been a fluke. But the Texas game showed me that the Hogs just may be for real after all. Many around here are proclaiming that “the Hogs are back.” Certainly, that appears to be the case, but I’m reserving judgment until they play some SEC games. They go to Ole Miss and lose next week, or get embarrassed at Florida, and everyone will come back down to earth. A couple of strong road wins (at Florida next week, for example) would make the case for “being back” much stronger. One thing is true, though: if they play to their potential and don’t take any nights off, they should be set up to win the SEC West.

I said a few years ago, while he was at South Alabama, that John Pelphrey was going to be a very good coach and be at a power conference school soon. He now has that job, and, it would seem, is on his way to fulfilling the other part of my prediction as well. One of the biggest positives I’ve seen in this team over the past week is their toughness, and that is a reflection of their coach. It’s been missing for a while at Arkansas, but John Pelphrey has brought it back. People are saying again, “Now this is Arkansas basketball.” The Hogs are young – seven freshmen (counting red-shirt freshmen) – and despite their recent success, I think the best is yet to come from both Pelphrey and this team. I look forward to the rest of this season and seasons to come.

Go Hogs.

Go Duke!

GTHC!!