It didn't take long for Arkansas fans to call for Stan Heath's ouster. Fourteen games into the season and the Razorbacks basketball coach is already being excoriated for his perceived failures. Tempers flared after the Hogs lost their conference opener Saturday to Mississippi State, a team that many thought would be a pushover this season after several players graduated and its point guard, Gary Ervin, transferred to Arkansas during a tumultuous offseason.

  Three's Company

For a team that started the season with a promising 11-2 nonconference record, the 69-67 loss to the Bulldogs is still cause for worry. We have seen here before, after all. Last year, Arkansas jumped out of the gates with a 12-1 record, before going 6-10 in conference play and declining an invitation to the N.I.T. because the players were "tired." Fans were angry, and many said that Heath would be fired after this season if he didn't steer the Razorbacks to March's NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

But there is reason to believe that won't happen. And that has a lot to do with two people: Heath's predecessor Nolan Richardson and Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt. Richardson, of course, was fired in 2002 and claimed that the university racially discriminated against him and infringed on his free-speech rights during the dismissal process.

He then brought his case to federal court in a lawsuit that was dismissed in July 2004 by U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. He has since appealed the decision and asked his arguments be reinstated by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis and those presiding over the case have yet to uphold or overturn the ruling. So what does this have to do with Nutt or Heath?

Among the claims Richardson made was that Nutt was treated better than him when both were coaching at Arkansas. If you compared just the individual accomplishments of both men, it's hard to argue with Richardson, who won a national championship and took his teams to three Final Fours. He was given a seven-year, $7.21 million contract. Nutt, meanwhile, has never won ten games in a season or come close to leading Arkansas to a BCS Bowl berth. But after his flirtations with Nebraska in 2003 he was able to leverage a $1.05-million contract with incentives. To his credit, Nutt does graduate players and has never publicly asked the university to buy him out (Richardson didn't do the former, but did the latter).

Apparently, that means a lot to the athletic director Frank Broyles, who has tolerated Nutt's back-to-back losing seasons in 2004 and 2005. Broyles didn't even ask Nutt to provide a written evaluation of the program after the football team went 4-7 this season. Of course, Heath was subjected to this embarrassing exercise after his team compiled a winning record last season.

In fact, Heath's teams have improved each year, whereas it can be argued that Nutt's best season was his first in 1998. That year, Arkansas went 9-3 and reached the Citrus Bowl. The Razorbacks have shown flashes of brilliance since, but have given fans little to cheer about the last two years.

As a result, even if Heath somehow botched this season and could only qualify his team for the NIT, the university would have a hard time getting rid of him. How can Broyles fire one coach who has produced better results each of the last three seasons when he didn't remove the other coach who has seen his program deteriorate during the same period of time?

He can't, not unless he wants to give Richardson's claims more legitimacy. Broyles has been backed into a corner and he only has himself to blame, while Richardson has inadvertently helped his replacement and at the same time stuck it to his former boss. The result? Heath can now sit back and relax -- no matter how bad things get.

There have been some interesting storylines that emerged during college basketball's nonconference season. But one isn't getting any attention. While Gonzaga's Adam Morrison has been stealing the limelight and Memphis' resurgence has been grabbing the headlines, Illinois has quietly gone 15-0 and has silenced the critics who said the Fighting Illini would be hard-pressed to do what they did last season when they advanced to the national championship game and lost to North Carolina.

 Champaign Supernova

Courtesy USA Today

Starting Jan. 31, 2004, Illinois has gone 65-4 and compiled a 53-1 record in regular season games. That is pretty remarkable. Using the foundation established by Bill Self, who left the program in 2003 to take the Kansas job vacated by Roy Williams, Illinois coach Bruce Weber has built the Fighting Illini into a national power while quickly becoming recognized as one of the best in his profession. Starting in the 2001-2002 season, when he was still at Southern Illinois, Weber has won 130 games. Not even Mark Few or Mike Krzyzewski have compiled that many victories in that span of time.

When Deron Williams, Roger Powell and Luther Head left after last season, not many thought Weber would be able to repeat the success his 2004-2005 team had when it went 37-2 and lost to the Tar Heels in the title game. The Illini had little experience and the nucleus of the team was gone. But this season Weber has been getting production out of nine players averaging more than 10 minutes per game. Led by guard Dee Brown and forward James Augustine, Illinois has defeated Michigan State in its Big 10 opener, blown out Missouri 82-50 in a rivalry game and knocked off North Carolina 68-64 to get some revenge.

Yet Illinois has flown under the radar, which is surprising for a team that has won more games than every other school but Duke in the last five-and-a-half seasons. Perhaps the lack of attention has to do with an absence of superstars. Brown, after all, is averaging only 15.5 points per game, which pales in comparison to Morrison's 27.8 points per game that leads the nation. However, the 6-0, 180-pound guard plays as important a role for the Illini that Morrison does for the Bulldogs. Brown, who was initially reluctant to accept Weber and his motion offense, has bought into the system and embraced the same coach he spoke out against after Weber publicly said Brown would be wise not to enter the NBA Draft after last season.

Now, Brown is the point man for a team that runs an efficient half-court offense while placing an emphasis on rebounding and strong defense when it has to retreat to the other end. The style of play isn't sexy. But it works, and Brown couldn't be happier after dropping in 34 against Michigan State Thursday.

Neither can Weber, who has acknowledged that he didn't think Illinois would be able to recapture the magic of last season. The pollsters were of the same opinion, and they were as wrong as Weber. Now the team that has lost only one of its last 54 regular season games seems to be gearing up for another run in the NCAA Tournament. It's too bad nobody appears to have noticed.

At the same time a movie about Texas Western's trailblazing path to the 1966 championship is about to appear in theaters nationwide, it was shocking to see an Italian soccer player made a fascist salute to fans last week at a Serie A league match. Progress can be seen by looking at the past, and in the United States a lot of change has taken place since Don Haskins crossed multiple barriers by starting five black players in the NCAA title game against all-white Kentucky.

Up until 1970, teams comprised solely of white players took the fields at college football stadiums around the South. Texas was one of them, as Terry Frei pointed out eloquently in his book, "Horns, Hogs & Nixon Coming." Now, the Longhorns are led by a black quarterback and feature a roster that is loaded with African Americans. These athletes are no longer ridiculed or the targets of jeers from bigoted crowds. They are celebrated and cheered.

 A thing of the past?

Courtesy Der Spiegel

But in Europe that is a different story. In soccer stadiums around the continent, black players are subjected to taunts. From the Bernabeu in Madrid to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, they are hissed and booed because of their color. Others have had bananas thrown at them. Meanwhile, a subculture of racism, anti-Semitism and hatred that exists in Europe is bubbling to the surface at league and international matches, where extremist groups pack the stands and espouse their propaganda. Paolo Di Canio, the player who made the fascist salute, plays for Lazio, a team that has an army of fans who sympathize with far-right ideologies. In 2004, the club, which is based out of cosmopolitan Rome, was fined because of the racist actions of their supporters during a match.

But Italy is not the only country where overt racism is found in sports. Similar incidents have been seen Spain, England and France. It is a reflection of the growing discomfort in societies that are changing. A wave of immigration has transformed the populations in Europe, and they are no longer homogenous. As a result, there has been a backlash and people are voicing their bigoted and xenophobic views in stadia across the continent. Black players have been the targets of their anger and hostility. Even Thierry Henry, one of the best strikers in the world, was singled out in a racist remark by Spanish national team coach Luis Aragones.

In the United States, such overt racism would not be tolerated. Just look at Al Campanis, the former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost his job because of misguided comments he made on ABC's Nightline in 1987. That was 21 years after Haskins revolutionized college basketball and advanced the cause of African-American athletes.

A lot had changed since then, and in a matter of two decades the country became sensitive to minorities, so much so that political correctness is now criticized by even mainstream commentators. But sixty years after the ####s were defeated in World War II, fascist propaganda is still seen in the most public of forums. That is troubling. Europe needs change, but it appears that it is regressing. At at this point, there is to be no happy ending to this story in sight.

A victory over an unranked nonconference opponent may not seem like much. But for the Arkansas Razorbacks last Wednesday's 78-65 win over Texas Tech could be a turning point for a basketball program that had lost its elite status years ago. It also could signal the restoration of bipolarity in the Southeastern Conference that existed in the 1990s when Arkansas and Kentucky were the dominant powers in the league.

It wasn't so much that Arkansas pummeled the Red Raiders. The Razorbacks didn't. Instead, what stood out during the 40 minutes of play was how the Razorbacks worked to get the win. Arkansas coach Stan Heath, who has posted few impressive wins in his four years in Fayetteville, outsmarted Bobby Knight and employed a strategy that effectively utilized the strengths of his tall, athletic players.

 Stairway to Hog Heaven

Courtesy The Arkansas Traveler

The Razorbacks were able to shut down the passing lanes and stultify Texas Tech's motion offense, while giving Knight a taste of his own medicine on their offensive end. In the process, they proved resilient after losing the lead late in the first half and putting the game away after halftime--something they seemed unable to do in previous seasons. It was the most complete game Arkansas has played in the Stan Heath era, and for a team that has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2001 that means a lot. It shows that Arkansas may be on the rise again.

And that is important for the SEC. Since the league expanded to 12 schools in 1992, only one team has ever challenged Kentucky for supremacy -- the Razorbacks. Arkansas claimed its spot at the top of the college basketball world more than a decade ago but its halcyon days lasted only one year after it won the national title in 1994. Since then, the program has declined and Arkansas has become an afterthought.

But even when the Razorbacks were down and surrendered their role as Kentucky's foil, no other team was able to step in and challenge the Wildcats on a consistent basis. Florida, Mississippi State, Alabama and LSU have all tried. But they have failed. 

Now, Arkansas appears to be reemerging from the depths of mediocrity, and it's about time. After enduring the aftereffects of the controversial firing of former coach Nolan Richardson in 2002, the Razorbacks have been slowly rebuilding and adjusting to a new style of play that is less frenetic and more traditional. In the process, Heath has taken advantage of what Richardson left behind -- a program with a national reputation and world-class facilities. He has been able to lure players from all over the country and has pledged to recapture what was lost amid academic scandals, poor recruiting and embarrassing episodes that created the slippery slope Arkansas slid down.

It appears Heath may be finally fulfilling that promise. He has his players running his offense and they are doing it well. That much was evident Wednesday night. when Arkansas improved its record to 9-2. The win over Texas Tech may not mean a lot when it comes to RPI. But it demonstrates that the Razorbacks are no pushover and are on their way back to giving Kentucky a run for its money. And that is good for the SEC.

Bad decisions have consequences. Good ones reap benefits. Randolph Morris learned that Thursday, a week after the NCAA informed the 6-10 Kentucky sophomore that he would have to sit out this season for his failed attempt to go pro, but would be deemed eligible to play during the 2006-2007 campaign. Morris' suspension now stands at only 14 games. It was a fair ruling by the collegiate sports governing body -- one that penalized Morris but offered some leniency to a kid that made a mistake. The NCAA usually isn't his nice. It is an organization that is known for levying draconian punishments, especially when the amateur status of an athlete is called into question.

Kentucky should be pleased with the outcome and Morris should be relieved. After averaging only 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds as a freshman, he decided to enter the NBA Draft. It was a bad move. But Morris exacerbated the problem by not withdrawing his name by the June 21 deadline. Instead, he waited around long enough to find out he wasn't one of the 60 players selected in the first and second rounds. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone. Morris was one of six underclassmen from the Southeastern Conference who went undrafted. But he was the only one among his short-sighted peers who asked the NCAA to restore his eligibility after failing to be picked.

 Courtesy AP

Morris exercised a little-used NCAA provision that would allow him to compete at Kentucky again, if he paid back the expenses incurred while working out with NBA teams and petitioned Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart within 30 days of the draft to take him back. He did so and Barnhart acquiesced. After potentially botching his career, Morris had made a wise move -- a choice that only one other player had made before. After not being drafted in 2001, Jerry Green of UC-Irvine returned to play for the Anteaters after taking similar steps as Morris, who should consider himself fortunate, especially since the SFX sports agency arranged his workouts with NBA teams despite the fact it did not have a written or #### agreement with the Kentucky forward. The NCAA could have ruled him ineligible because of his quasi-relationship with an agency, but instead chose to offer a light penalty after reconsidering the initial punishment it handed down.

Morris was taught a fair lesson -- one that should be heeded by all underclassmen who entertain the idea of making the jump to the professional ranks. Now, players know they have a chance to make the right move and go back to college if they make the wrong choice by staying in the draft and not being picked. The NCAA has given college basketball players a chance to have it both ways. Careers can be resurrected and bad decisions won't seem so fatal. Morris and Kentucky should be thankful. So should his peers.