Tropical storm Gustav has forced St. John's and New Orleans to cancel their the Labor Day trips to Cancun this weekend.

St. John's was slated to leave for Cancun tomorrow night, but Red Storm coach Norm Roberts just told me that both St. John's and New Orleans canceled due to the weather issues that are expected to hit Cancun.

``The storm's headed directly there and they are saying that the winds could get as strong as 120 miles-per-hour," Roberts said. "I don't ever want to put kids in harm's way."

Roberts said they have tracked the weather for the past 24 hours and finally made the decision this afternoon, shortly after he was told that New Orleans scrapped the trip.

St. John's was set to play a pair of games over the weekend.

``It's disappointing because the kids were excited to go," Roberts said. "They were looking forward to it, but you can't do anything about Mother Nature."

PELPHREY GOING YOUNG

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey is still waiting to hear whether talented freshman Jason Henry has been cleared by the NCAA and will be eligible to play this season.

Pelphrey knows it's going to be a tough year with Patrick Beverley's suspension, which has resulted in the lone returning starter deciding to leave and likely head overseas for a pro contract.

``It is what it is," Pelphrey said of having to deal without Beverley. ``It's an unfortunate situation, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

Arkansas lost 87 percent of its scoring production from last season.

Pelphrey said one of the key reasons why he'll miss Beverley was because of his mental toughness and leadership ability.

``He was able to show up every day," Pelphrey said. "He wasn't consumed with what happened in the past."

Pelphrey has some talent in the program, but he knows consistency will be an issue with all of the inexperience.

If Henry gets cleared, it's not out of the realm that the Razorbacks could, at some point this season, go with a starting lineup that looks like this: Freshmen Courtney Fortson and Rotnei Clarke in the backcourt, Henry on the wing and redshirt freshman Michael Sanchez and junior Michael Washington up front.

Washington is the only one with any experience and he averaged 13.4 minutes last season.

``We're definitely building for the future," Pelphrey said. "We're laying the foundation so when we get Arkansas back where we want it, we want to stay there."

RANDOM NOTES: Gardner-Webb coach Rick Scruggs has signed a four-year extension through 2012-13.