The Eric Musselman Workout Plan
Arkansas Basketball coach's steps to win wars not battles
It’s Duke Day for the Razorbacks. Since June 28, 2023, when ESPN announced the ACC/SEC Challenge, fans have had Wednesday, November 29th, circled on their calendars. The Duke Blue Devils travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to face the Arkansas Razorbacks for only the 5th time in history, with the series tied 2-2.
I vividly remember watching the Hogs play Duke in 1994 at my grandmother’s house. She was the biggest Razorbacks fan of all time and had been to see the football and basketball teams play at every Southwestern Conference and Southeastern Conference opponents’ stadiums. If the Hogs were playing, she was there to support them.
In the 1994 National Championship game, Duke had taken an early lead in the game and my brother said, “The Hogs are going to lose.” My grandmother yelled at him “With an attitude like that you need to go watch the game by yourself in the kitchen.” And she kicked him out of the living room. He missed the Scotty Thurman 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining to give the Hogs the lead and the cutting down of the net after #2 Arkansas beat #6 Duke 76-72 to win the National Championship.
Duke and Arkansas Basketball have a short but important history.
The other matchups with the Blue Devils have been equally exciting clashes of highly skilled and highly ranked teams. In 1990, #7 Arkansas lost to #15 Duke 83-97 in the Final Four. Only eight months later, the teams squared off in the Preseason NIT, and #2 Arkansas defeated #6 Duke 98-88. Fast Forward 18 years from the 1994 game mentioned above, and #17 Arkansas lost to #9 Duke 69-78 in the Elite 8.
This year Duke was ranked #2 in the Preseason AP Poll, and the Razorbacks were ranked #14. Tickets for the game were selling for over $2500/ticket on the secondary market. Then Duke lost a close game to a ranked Arizona team, and Arkansas stumbled, losing 3 of their last 4 to UNC Greensboro, Memphis, and North Carolina. Some of the excitement surrounding this game has worn off, but there are still lots of reasons to watch. For me, it’s primarily to see the continued progress of the Eric Musselman workout plan.
Musselman has earned the trust of Arkansas basketball fans
While it would be cliche to make a “Muscle Man” joke, I do think Arkansas fans should have some perspective before judging the success of this year’s team. You see, this isn’t Coach Muss’s first rodeo. While endurance athlete Amelia Boone’s statement “I’m not the strongest. I’m not the fastest. But I’m really good at suffering,” may resonate with our fans. Muss is from more of the No Pain, No Gain camp.
Every season, Musselman almost completely overhauls his roster with new freshmen and transfer portal players. He spends the first half of the season tinkering with line-ups, positions, rotations, and playing time until he’s built a winner for the March NCAA tournament run. It’s not that he doesn’t care about the early games, he understands they are an opportunity to grow and be better prepared for the games that actually matter.
Let’s take a look at the past three seasons. In ‘20-21, the Hogs started 9-0 and then went 1-4 before making a run all the way to the Elite 8. In that season, he went from playing a nine to 10-man rotation with barely any player playing over 30 minutes to a seven to eight-man rotation with Justin Smith and Moses Moody playing almost 40 minutes every game.
In ‘21-22, the Hogs started 9-0 and then went 1-5 before making a run all the way to the Elite 8. In that season, he went from an 11 to 12-man rotation, with Conner Vanover leading the way to an eight-man rotation with Au’diese Toney and Jaylin Williams never leaving the court.
In ‘22-23, the Hogs started 11-1 and then went 1-5 before making a run all the way to the Sweet 16. In that season, he went from a 12 to 13-man rotation to about a seven-man rotation, with Ricky Council IV and Anthony Black becoming indispensable.
History says Arkansas fans should not lose faith in Musselman or this team
This season, the Hogs started 3-0 and then went 1-3. And we are averaging 11 different players per game seeing action. Will the Duke game be the first of many wins to come as the Hogs make another postseason run, or will this be another opportunity to learn and grow in a loss?
Either way, I trust in Muss and his commitment to skip short-term success in exchange for sustained program success in the NCAA Tournament. And if you disagree with me, you can go watch the game by yourself in the kitchen.