Bring on the Madness.
If you want to start a healthy and heated debate, just ask or offer up what constitutes a successful 2017-2018 season for the Arkansas basketball program.
Some will argue that anything less than the Razorbacks' first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1996 would be a disappointment while others are hoping for a win Friday against Butler and then taking their chance with likely foe and No. 2 seed Purdue (28-6) on Sunday.
There are no right answers to the question, just a lot of opinions, and in the end it's really just a subjective thing. Fans will simply decide for themselves to be happy or not.
In my opinion, getting at least to the Sweet 16 would constitute progress and make it a great season, while winning the opener for the third time in as many NCAA trips would add up to a good season.
But getting bounced out on Friday would leave players, coaches and fans disappointed despite what turned into an exciting -- if somewhat inconsistent -- regular season.
The fact that Arkansas has had two straight top-20 recruiting class seems to bode well for the future, but everybody will be fully in the present on Friday.
As the world's best sporting event -- the NCAA Tournament, a.k.a. the Big Dance -- gets fully revved up today, seventh-seeded Arkansas (23-11) must wait one more day for its opening matchup with 10th-seeded Butler (20-14).
There seems very little doubt that television network truTV (what's up with the little t?) will get its biggest audience ever in Arkansas when the seventh-seeded Razorbacks meet the Bulldogs at approximately 2:10 p.m. Friday in Detroit.
The two high-scoring teams have met just once, 87 years ago when Butler downed Arkansas 37-21. That is more likely to be the halftime score on Friday than the final.
They took different paths to the tournament this season with Arkansas rebounding from a mid-season lull to win eight of its last 11 games while Butler won just four its last 10 games, but still opened as a one-point favorite in Las Vegas.
While the Razorbacks are one of the nation's best 3-point shooting teams -- 12th nationally at 40.1 percent -- the Bulldogs are not that good at defending it as evidenced by their 296th ranking at 37.1 percent
Arkansas is 17-1 when scoring 80 or more points and just 6-10 when it doesn't, so that would seem like something to literally shoot for on Friday.
The Razorbacks are 8-8 against the NCAA Tournament field while the Bulldogs are 5-10.
This is Arkansas' third trip to the NCAA Tournament in four years under head coach Mike Anderson after previously getting there only three times in the previous 13 seasons.
But some long for glory days of Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson -- who combined to go to the Big Dance in 22 of their 28 seasons -- and point out that just getting to the tournament should be a given and is not that big of an accomplishment.
This is, after all, a program that won the national championship under Richardson in 1994, went back to the title game the following season, has been to the Final Four six times, to the Elite Eight 10 times, the Sweet 16 on 11 occasions and is making its 32nd NCAA Tournament appearance.
Many argue that making the Big Dance should be the norm -- Sutton made it 9 of his 11 of his seasons and Richardson in 13 of his 17 -- not just the expectation. A program which has won a game in each in its last two NCAA Tournaments should now be ready to take the next step.
When you have two guards such as seniors Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford and a promising freshman center such as Daniel Gafford, I think it is normal to expect more excitement in the postseason.
Only problem is the NCAA Tournament can be a one-and-done deal if you don't bring your best effort on Thursday or Friday, which will put a downer on the season.
Sports on 03/15/2018