Razorbacks

DALLAS -- Give them the trophy. Tell their fans to head straight for Fayetteville and start the celebration. And make out those Rose Garden invitations, because Bill Clinton's beloved Hogs are coming to Washington.If this weekend's victories in the NCAA Midwest Regional at Reunion Arena weren't enough to convince the skeptics, consider what Nolan Richardson said about his Arkansas Razorbacks yesterday."I don't know if we're the most talented team in the country," Richardson said after his top-seeded Razorbacks beat third-seeded Michigan, 76-68, to advance to this week's Final Four in Charlotte, N.C. "But if we play up to the very best of our potential, we'll win the national championship."

DALLAS -- After his Arkansas team had routed Tulsa, 103-84, in last night's Midwest Regional final, coach Nolan Richardson was asked if his Razorbacks can perform any better."

Their most famous export is already here. But Arkansans, eager to capitalize on their state's newfound appeal, followed favorite son President Bill Clinton to Washington yesterday, turning up with catfish, fruit cobbler and the conviction that America's interest in all things Arkansas will bring them big business.The "Especially Arkansas" trade show at the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel -- which Mr. Clinton attended -- was just one way, though, that the Razorback state is selling itself.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- North Carolina passed over Arkansas' press, but the Razorbacks threw in three-pointers over the Tar Heels and nearly knocked the top seed out of the NCAA East Regional.North Carolina used its size and experience to hold off Arkansas' youth and quickness last night for an 80-74 third-round victory. The Tar Heels will play Cincinnati in tomorrow's regional final at the Meadowlands Arena.Fourth-seeded Arkansas dropped in 11 three-pointers, one short its seasonal high, and the last came from Darrell Hawkins with 1:06 left and cut the Tar Heels' lead to 75-74.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Its supporters say Arkansas is just the kind of team that can give North Carolina fits -- quick, athletic, unpredictable.But its detractors claim Arkansas is lucky to be here. That the Razorbacks don't have a leader, and don't have a chance against a rumbling Tar Heels juggernaut favored by many to win it all.Coach Nolan Richardson understands the non-believers as the no-name Razorbacks prepare to take their "Forty Minutes of Hell" up against top-seeded North Carolina in the East Regional semifinals tonight at the Meadowlands.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Arkansas didn't give St. John's "40 Minutes of Hell" yesterday in the NCAA East Regional at Joel Memorial Coliseum.Just five minutes of misery was enough.The fourth-seeded Razorbacks trailed virtually the entire game, but East Regionaleventually they wore out point guard David Cain and the Redmen for an 80-74 victory that earned them a shot at North Carolina, the region's top seed.And Nolan Richardson, Arkansas' ebullient coach, already has thrown down the gauntlet: "I would hate to play Arkansas if I was a team that had a chance to win the national championship," he said.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Craig Tyson, a scholarship basketball player at the University of Arkansas, was arrested here over the weekend and charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both are felonies.Tyson, a 6-foot-4 junior forward from Baltimore's Southern High, hasn't played for the Razorbacks because of a series of knee injuries. He transferred to Arkansas this year from Southern Idaho Junior College.Tyson, 23, was arrested at his Fayetteville apartment Sunday night as part of a joint operation by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Fourth Judicial Drug Task Force and Fayetteville Police Department.

The stench first wafted across the Arkansas border Feb. 28, three days before the Razorbacks were to play their final Southwest Conference regular-season basketball game against Texas.The university reported that its police and the Washington County prosecuting attorney's office were investigating an alleged on-campus sexual assault involving four members of its basketball team.Eight days later, on the eve of the Razorbacks' opening game in the SWC tournament, the police investigation ended.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Arkansas center Oliver Miller has big feet. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, he also has a big mouth. The two parts of Miller's body, no strangers to be sure, met again yesterday.Miller, who talks nearly as well as he plays, was quoted in an Arkansas newspaper expressing his disappointment that the Razorbacks were not playing Indiana in the final of the NCAA Southeast Regional at the Charlotte Coliseum."I always wanted to play against a Bob Knight-coached team," Miller was quoted as saying.