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The success Arkansas had on the hardwood last season is well documented.
By all accounts, head coach Eric Musselman has made quick work of turning the program around, as Year 2 ended with the Razorbacks’ first Elite Eight appearance since 1995, but maintaining that level of success is just as vital as achieving it.
There have been some “flash in the pan” programs recently in college basketball, where a new coach seemed to completely revitalize their program and was on the track to creating a regular contender, only to never come close to matching their peak success.
One such program was Washington, led by Mike Hopkins. After taking over a losing Huskies program and leading them to 21 wins in his first season, Hopkins followed it up with a 27-win season and a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In the two years since, though, Washington has back-to-back losing records with a 5-21 record this past year.
South Carolina shook up the college basketball landscape by hiring Frank Martin away from Kansas State, and it looked to be paying off in Year 4 with a 25-9 effort. Year 5 saw Martin lead the Gamecocks to a 26-11 record and Final Four appearance, the first in school history, but South Carolina has not made an NCAA Tournament since and just finished 6-15 in 2021.
Jamie Dixon led TCU to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 20 years in 2018, but narrowly missed the tournament the year after. The previous two seasons, TCU is 28-30. There are examples like this all over the country, with each program having different histories and definitions of success.
College basketball fans will be hard pressed to find a program that has waited as long as Arkansas for a return to such high expectations of success. From winning a National Championship and finishing runner-up in back-to-back years, to not making it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for 25 years, the Razorbacks experienced one of the most dramatic falls from grace in college basketball history.
