Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

Nolan Richardson has often described his teams as being a family. It's a description he's used frequently in the past and again in a recent radio interview. So it seems very appropriate that Richardson's 1994 NCAA title team — the entire team — is being inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Members of the squad that went 31-3 with a 76-72 championship victory against Duke are among this year's class of honorees. read more >

Scan the various preseason baseball rankings and you'll see Arkansas ranked among the nation's Top 10 teams. But if you really want a sense of where Dave Van Horn has his program, check out the most recent construction project at Baum Stadium. Crews have been working to bring the right-field fence in 10 feet, meaning the ball will have to travel 365-plus feet to get out of the park instead of 375. What does this have to do with the Razorbacks' standing nationally? How is this a better measure of progress than rankings? read more >

It's not out of the question that the Razorbacks will finish the year highly ranked. Coach Dave Van Horn said Tuesday on Hog Sports Radio's The Show that he expected the team's deep pitching and infield defensive ability to be strong enough for another nationally competitive season. read more >

The state of Arkansas saw a year of wonderment, brilliance, the high of victory and the low of unspeakable tragedy in the sports year that was 2011. College football success may have reached an all-time high among the larger Arkansas universities, and even college basketball picked itself off the mat in some locales. The Razorback Nation was rocked by the death late in the season of backup tight end Garrett Uekman, just as the Hogs reached their highest national ranking nearly 34 years leading up to the showdown with LSU. We witnessed two exciting high-profile job searches, and we again cringed at the antics of Arkansans in the professional spotlight. It was quite a year. Here are some feats that stand out as best or worst. read more >

What will you remember about the 2011 sports year in the state of Arkansas? Without further ado — and in no certain order — here are 11 for 11, the top stories as I see them. Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments section, especially if you see something I missed. read more >