FAYETTEVILLE -- Mike Anderson has no doubt he'll take Arkansas back to the top of the college basketball world.
"I'm going to win a national championship," Anderson said after North Carolina beat the Razorbacks 87-78 last Saturday night. "I don't know when it's going to take place, but the only way you've going to have a chance, you've got to be in the NCAA Tournament."
Anderson completed his fourth season as Arkansas' coach by taking the Razorbacks to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008.
The Razorbacks (27-9) opened West Region play with a 56-53 victory over Wofford in Jacksonville, Fla., then lost to the Tar Heels to fall short of reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996.
"I said I didn't want to just get to the dance, I wanted to dance," Anderson said. "We danced a little bit, we did the one-step. I promise you in the future we're going to do a lot more stepping, because the foundation has been laid.
"I'm disappointed now because we had a chance to advance to the Sweet 16, but for what our guys accomplished this year, I couldn't be any prouder of a group."
Anderson was an Arkansas assistant for Nolan Richardson when the Razorbacks won the 1994 national championships and finished second to UCLA in 1995. His track record as a head coach shows that when Anderson has rebuilt a program, success will be repeated.
Alabama-Birmingham went to the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons of Anderson's four-year stay. Missouri went to the NCAA Tournament his final three of five seasons. He took the Blazers to the Sweet 16 in 2004 and the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 2009.
"We had some ups and downs this season, but I feel like that made us more of a cohesive unit and made us stronger," Razorbacks sophomore forward Bobby Portis said. "We made it to the NCAA Tournament and we won a game. Hopefully, next season we can go even farther."
The Razorbacks' chances of making a deep NCAA Tournament run figure to be a lot better if Portis and junior guard Michael Qualls return rather than pursue professional careers.
Portis, the SEC's player of the year who averaged 17.5 points and 8.9 rebounds, said after the North Carolina game he's "leaning" toward returning to Arkansas for his junior year.
"If I come back, we could possibly be a top-10 team," Portis said. "That's something I want to do."
Qualls, who averaged 15.9 points and 5.3 rebounds, declined comment when asked if he plans to be back at Arkansas, but spoke optimistically about the Razorbacks' future.
"We can't let this loss to North Carolina keep us down," Qualls said. "We've got a lot to be proud of this year. We did a lot of big things.
"This year showed Coach Anderson has the program headed in the right direction. We couldn't ask for a better coach."
Qualls averaged 21.7 points in the last three games this season with 27 against North Carolina, 20 against Wofford and 18 against Kentucky.
"Mike was dialed in, and our guys fed off his energy," Anderson said. "He certainly is a tremendous athlete, but I think even more he's evolved into a pretty darn good player."
Portis smiled when asked if the Razorbacks will be able to compete with Kentucky for the SEC title next season if he returns to Arkansas.
"Kentucky's not going to be the Kentucky they've been this year," Portis said. "They won't have all those guys they have this year. Those guys are going to be in the NBA."
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams played and was an assistant for the Tar Heels under Dean Smith, so he has an appreciation of Anderson's history with Arkansas and Richardson.
"Mike Anderson has done a great job with that team," Williams said. "He went back to Nolan's days, and understanding all the time he's replacing Nolan, and that's not easy. I know a little bit about those kind of things myself."
Williams could be seen consoling Arkansas senior guard Ky Madden after the Tar Heels' victory.
"I hate it this time of year, because the kids just think about the outcome of today's game and don't feel as good about what they should feel good about, and that's what Arkansas has done all year," Williams said.
Madden said he was proud of being part of getting Arkansas back to the NCAA Tournament.
"It hurts to lose the game, especially playing for a championship," Madden said. "But from where we came from my freshman year, to be here now, it means a lot."
Madden and forward Alandise Harris are the Razorbacks' only seniors, but if Portis and Qualls leave, the lone returning starter will be freshman point guard Anton Beard. The leading returning scorer will be junior guard Anthlon Bell at 7.9 points per game.
With Beard slowed by ankle injuries against North Carolina and playing 13 minutes, junior guard Jabril Durham had 5 points and 3 assists in 16 minutes off the bench. Sophomore forward Moses Kingsley had 4 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes.
Bell, Durham, Kingsley, junior forward Jacorey Williams and sophomore guard Manny Watkins played in every game and averaged between 18 and 10 minutes. Anderson said he's expecting guard Nick Babb and forward Trey Thompson to be key contributors next season as sophomores.
"We think whatever team we have next year, we'll be right back in the NCAA Tournament and be even better," Watkins said. "We're going to work hard in the offseason to get better. We want to keep building this program up."
Jimmy Whitt, a 6-4 guard from Columbia (Mo.) Hickman High School who averaged 30.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.6 steals this season, signed with Arkansas in November. Ted Kapita, a 6-9 forward from Huntington Prep in West Virginia, has orally committed to sign with the Razorbacks this spring. He's rated as the nation's No. 44 recruit by Scout.com.
Junior guard Dusty Hannahs, a former Pulaski Academy star, will be eligible to play for the Razorbacks next season. He redshirted after transferring from Texas Tech, where he averaged 7.7 points as a sophomore and led the Red Raiders with 41 three-point baskets.
"We've got some tremendous players here who have got some great experience now, and we've got some really good guys coming in," Anderson said. "I'm excited about what's going to take place."
Sports on 03/26/2015