The best decade in Arkansas basketball’s history was the 1990s. The Razorbacks became a juggernaut in those 10 years and were on the brink of joining Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and Kansas in “blue blood” territory.
By the end of the 1990s and into the early 2000s, however, it was clear that the good times were over.
Nolan Richardson’s highly publicized and scrutinized firing in 2002 ended the most successful era in Arkansas basketball. Stan Heath replaced him, but failed to win an NCAA Tournament game in his five seasons at Fayetteville.
The end of the 2000s decade was the beginning of John Pelphrey’s reign with Arkansas and he didn’t fare much better than Heath – though he did win an NCAA Tournament game in his first season. We can skip over the 24 hours that Dana Altman was head coach of the Razorbacks.
Despite the turmoil and controversy, Arkansas produced some extremely talented players. Here’s a look at Arkansas basketball’s All-2000s team with the best players from this decade.