n the initial practices after Nolan Richardson took over the coaching job at the University of Arkansas in 1986, his new up-tempo style of play confused his players. They were used to the slow style adopted by previous coach Eddie Sutton.

Walk-on Scott Rose was the first to strike up the courage to ask Richardson about the tough new drills being forced upon the team.

“Coach, is this what we do prior to practice?” Rose cautiously asked.

“Yep, 40 minutes of it,” Richardson authoritatively responded.

Rose then looked up at him and said, “Coach, that’s 40 minutes of hell.”

The term has stuck ever since.

What started out as a way to describe the beginning of Richardson’s practices evolved into a game term dealing with the intense defense displayed by the Razorbacks throughout the ’90s.

“The first 40 minutes is actually hell because that’s how many minutes we play,” Richardson said. “I took over a team that walked the ball up the floor and did the things Eddie Sutton coached. It was a shock when I brought my system in.”

The first 40 minutes of a Razorbacks practice consist of drills that simulate game speed in the span of 94 feet and are not for the faint of heart.

“You do everything,” Richardson said. “We do figure eights with the medicine ball, figure eights with the water ball, jump rope, run five laps around the gym, then turn around and run five in the opposite direction, then do windsprints. I determine how many I want to give you.”

Wednesday night, Richardson will lead his Razorbacks into Stegeman Coliseum to face the Georgia Bulldogs in an SEC showdown.

But this year, the Razorbacks don’t have much in common with the Arkansas teams of the early 1990s.

The 1994 team won the school’s first national title in men’s hoops. The following year, Richardson again led his team to the title game. But the Razorbacks walked away with a loss to current Georgia coach Jim Harrick, whose UCLA team downed Arkansas 89-78.

Wednesday’s game will be the first matchup between the two coaches since that Seattle meeting.

“I don’t have motivations about coaches,” Richardson replied when asked if the ’95 title game would affect his preparations for the rematch with Harrick. “I’m into trying to get my team better each ball game.”

However, the game against the Bulldogs will be big for both teams as each desperately needs SEC victories. Arkansas downed Ole Miss in their SEC opener, but suffered a disappointing loss to South Carolina on Saturday.

Georgia is sitting at 0-2 in the conference after losses to Mississippi State and Auburn.

Since the Hogs’ 1994 championship win over Duke, the program has slipped a bit.

Gone are superstars like Todd Day, Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman. In their place are 11 freshmen and sophomores trying to take Arkansas back to the top of college basketball, despite being one of the younger teams in the SEC, much less the nation.

Arkansas’ current difficulties stem from a run-in with the NCAA. Following back-to-back trips to the national championship game in ’94 and ’95, the NCAA began an investigation into the Razorback program. Although they did not receive any penalties, the 16-month investigation severely hampered Richardson’s recruiting efforts.

“The NCAA came in and destroyed (the great recruiting),” he said. “I had no recruiting classes. Then I finally got a few kids and they transferred.”

Sunday Adebayo, a post player, was an example of a prize recruit who bolted during the turmoil, leaving Fayetteville for the University of Memphis.

The 1999-2000 team has started slower than most in Arkansas would like. A 9-6 overall record (1-1 in SEC) has forced Richardson to ease off a little on his “hellish” practice techniques.

“We do, I’d say, about 25 minutes of that hard, intense work. Today’s youngsters are totally different from the ones I had in the past,” Richardson said.

“They’re here today, gone tomorrow. All of them are here looking for an NBA contract.”

The new troops have created a change in their coach. Richardson, a man used to the Monday lights of a national championship game, now finds himself in the middle of the SEC pack for the first time in a while. A very young team has caused the coach to become more of an educator and less of a “hell” provider.

“This is the first year in all my career I will actually say I have to rebuild,” he said. “I think for the first time in my career I’m enjoying coaching because I’m teaching again. It is back to the basic fundamentals, from how to get dressed to how we are getting you to play.”

Rest assured, Richardson shows no signs of slowing down. His program is beginning to make the climb back up the ladder to the top of college basketball, and no one expects to see the Hogs lose for long.

One of Richardson’s favorite quotes comes from Vince Lombardi — “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” It’s a line that can also be applied to Richardson’s work ethic. He is clearly not fatigued with coaching.

ARKANSAS

Overall: 9-6, 1-1 SEC

Coach: Nolan

Richardson (UTEP ’63)

Top Players: G- Chris Walker (13.1 points pg) G- T.J. Cleveland (3.2 assists pg)

Key Victories: Ole Miss

Painful Defeats: Wake Forest, Iowa State, South Carolina, Oklahoma,

Summary: Arkansas is talented, but very young. This is without question a rebuilding year for the Hogs, but they are still Arkansas, which makes them dangerous.

– Gentry Estes