John Pelphrey ain’t walkin through that tunnel, which is a shame, because he deserved at least one more year as the head coach at Arkansas. He got a raw deal imo, and as a result, I’m back to my anti-pig ways(unless I’m eating ribs, sausage, bacon, pork chops, etc). Big picture, Kentucky fans SHOULDN’T like the Razorbacks, so all is right with the world again I suppose, as long as Pel gets another gig soon(Western?).


Every story needs a villian, and in the early/mid-1990′s, Kentucky’s #1 enemy in the region was Nolan Richardson, Corliss Williamson & those dirty Razorbacks from Arkansas. When the SEC expanded to 12 teams twenty years ago, it was Pig-Soooooooey Nation that really made the most of their opportunity, using the new exposure to make that next step to “National Power” status. To be sure, the Hogs were a solid program before, going to Final 4′s in ’78 and ’90, but becoming a member of a power-conference at just the right time made for an intense rivalry with the Cats, to say the least.


Round here, we don’t take too kindly to football schools daring to knock Big Blue off their rightful place as basketball king of the Southeast(& universe). Rick Pitino’s UK program was rebuilding at a rapid pace from probation, just as Richardson’s team was making the leap from SWC to SEC. Two programs who pushed the pace on both sides of the ball, who exuded athleticism and swag back when swag was still called swagger. “40 Minutes of Hell,” as Richardson’s full-court pressure defense was known, was rivaled only by Pitino’s relentless trapping full-court press of his own. Richardson complained publicly that Pitino got credit for the D he had been using for years, claiming UK was percieved as “athletic,” while Arkansas was simply playing “street ball.’


The overall series record is 24-8 in favor of the Wildcats, but when the Razorbacks first joined the conference they started out 4-0 vs UK in regular season games. Can you imagine? Nothing will get BBN mad at cha quicker than beating their team on a regular basis. Now, the Cats did knock off Richardson’s squad in the ’93 and EPIC 1995 SEC Tournament match-ups, but Pig-Soooooooey won the national title in ’95 before Pitino was able to win a ring for Kentucky. As we all know, 1996 was a different story, but the fact that the new kid on the block could come into OUR conference and push US around was not appreciated, to say the least.


Perhaps it’s better that Pelphrey wasn’t the one who put them back on the map, it would be difficult to have one of our own running the show for an intense rival(see Pitino, Rick). Nolan Richardson Jr Mike Anderson will certainly have the Hogs back in the hunt for SEC titles and beyond, sooner than later. The image in BBN’s collective head of him leading UAB over the #1 seed Cats in the 2004 NCAA 2nd round, with old man Richardson barking instructions from the crowd, is enough to have us disliking him before the first meeting tomorrow night. The success he’s likely to have will only make it worse…or better, if ya like a good rivalry.


For now, a trip down memory lane, and one of the most intense SEC Tournament games of all-time. Cool-hand Anthony Epps gets it done from the stripe in OT, handing the ’95 National Champions their final L of the season:

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