Bill's Blog: It's Basketball Time

9:35 p.m. — Thanks for joining us on the first men’s basketball live blog. Looking ahead, not all the home games will have blogs. We’ll be back tomorrow for women’s basketball at 1 p.m. against Louisiana-Monroe. I’ll be on the radio, so tune in or click in on the stream. Good night from Fayetteville.

9:34 p.m. — Green’s last second heave rims out, and that’s the game — Arkansas wins 91-87 in overtime.

9:34 p.m. — Fortson misses the first, makes the second.

9:32 p.m. — Welsh makes a smart move by fouling Green going down the floor. He’ll get two free throws instead of a chance at a three, he misses the first free throw, then the second. A jump ball is avoided with a foul by SLU. Fortson to the line for two with 1.4. That should keep Arkansas from going to a second overtime, which would be the first time since 1987.

9:31 p.m. — . . . . and the second. Time out Arkansas — Razorbacks lead 90-87, but SLU has hit three last two trips down the floor. They have 6.9 seconds to try and send this game to a second overtime.

9:30 p.m. — Welsh gets the first, . . . . .

9:29 p.m. — Fortson gets one of two to make it a four-point spread, huge as Green drains another trey. Now a one-point game with 6.9 left. SLU now puts Stefan Welsh on the line.

9:27.30 p.m. — Yeah, that’s right. 30 points. That would be a 7-0 Washington run that Green breaks with a three pointer.

9:27 p.m. — Make that 29 points.

9:26 p.m. — Turnover by SLU — Arkansas inbounds with 27.8 left and the four-point advantage. SLU likely to foul on the inbound, and they do. Oh, yes, let’s foul the guy with 28 points.

9:25 p.m. — Michael Washington with authority!, Razorbacks by four now, 85-81.

9:22 p.m. — Warrell Span dribbles across the Arkansas defense, then gets trapped right on top of that big new Classic Hog logo. Span starts pivioting, flailing like a perch on a hook. SLU’s coach calls the TO to save the possession, and a good thing as Span almost steps across the midcourt stripe. Seems like the lost where the line was in all that Razorback. 1:30 left in OT, Hogs by 2.

9:21 p.m. — Fortson drives and gets oh-so-close, Washington pulls down the board — his 14th tonight, and he’s back at the line. Nothing but the bottom of the net on the first. Washington has 27 points and 14 boards; Razorbacks up 83-81.

9:19 p.m. — One of two at the line for SLU, but a foul on the free throw miss and Washington goes to the line for throws for Arkansas. He ties us, and gets the lead, 81-80, 2:27 to go. Full court pressure off the make, SLU struggles to get the ball up court and a poor shot. Big rebound for Arkansas.

9:18 p.m. — The teams have traded baskets, still tied, 80-80.

9:15 p.m. — First OT break for Arkansas as one of SLU’s top players, Chris Cyprian — the hometown kid from Hammond — fouls out. Fortson hits one of two, and we stay even at 78-78.

9:14 p.m. – Tipoff and the game picks up where it left off with about 1:30 to play. Arkansas a little tentative on offense, SLU doing just enough to hang on to the ball on offense.

9:11 p.m. — To the roughly 300 or so with us on-line for the audio stream, you’ve had a heck of a game. For those here on the blog, glad you’re here. But with the improvements to the arena and this kind of atmosphere with a young, exciting team — let me ask you — WHY weren’t you here tonight. I get the very real sense that Coach Pel’s team is going to give basketball fans these kind of games for a while until they get their college experience rolling. That means great entertainment, and OT barn burners like this.

9:09 p.m. — OH MY. SLU tries to inbound at midcourt, botches the play then commits the charge. Arkansas to inbound with 2.7 left. The heave can’t get off and we’re going to overtime.

9:08 p.m. — Fortson takes it up the court, then down the lane — you get the sense the freshman was not going to let anyone else have this — but with a steely determination, he also was not going to be denied. Those are the kind of nails you need — and we’re tied, 77-77. SLU rushes the ball up court, then calls time out with 3.5 left.

9:07 p.m. — SLU calls time out with 20.0 left. Arkansas will inbound on the far end after the free throw miss, down by two. Here goes the Hog Call, and its very loud.

9:06 p.m. — Clark fouls on the inbounds, Fortenberry has one-and-one for SLU. 21.9 left; Razorbacks next foul is double bonus. The entire arena is standing, and Fortenberry quiets the crowd. Now a two point game. The momentum of the roar comes back, can he do it again, NO — and the rebound goes to Arkansas.

9:05 p.m. — The stands are vibrating.

9:03 p.m. — Andre Clark gets the honor of being the second Razorback into the Courtside Seats, but he gets there from being driven out of bounds by an SLU player as he hits a fall-away trey to cut the margin to one, 76-75. The crowd roars to life, and SLU is finally confused. The coach is trying to call a time out, the officials are blowing their whistles on the far end of the floor, but no one can hear them. Finally, they get the TO, and with 23.4 seconds left, you can’t hear yourself think. THIS IS OLD SCHOOL ARKANSAS BASKETBALL.

9:01 p.m. — Momentum giveth, and mo taketh away. Arkansas gets back-to-back big buckets, each time working the crowd into a frenzy and the margin back to four points. Each time, SLU answers to take it back to six points. With 1:06 left, Arkansas cannot afford to keep trading buckets.

8:56 p.m. — A young team will be entertaining, but often frustrating. Coach Pel calls a timeout to rescue Fortson from a trap, only to have his inbounder call another timeout to save the possession from a five-second call.

8:51 p.m. — After a very dramatic foul on Courtney Fortson, the ball rolls away as the officials separate players. They forget the ball, and Razorback band director Jeremy Pratchard stands holding the ball over his head, sort of waiving it, to get the official’s attention. Everyone is lineup on the free throw line, ready to shoot — oh, yes, we need that orange thing.

8:49 p.m. — Crowd on its feet for a defensive stand, Washington steps in to try for his third charge, but instead gets called for his third personal foul, his second blocking foul. Tibbs gets one of two, SLU 72-65.

8:47 p.m. — The teams trade buckets. Arkansas needs to make a defensive stand and get on a roll. The Lions keep hanging around.

8:41 p.m. — Nothing like William Tell to get the crowd up on its feet. In this third media timeout, Razorbacks can’t get over the five-point hump with SLU. We reel the Lions in, only to have them pull back to this five-point spread.

8:38 p.m. — Stefan Welsh gets the honor of being the first Razorback player to plow into the Courtside Club seats. His steal attempt results in a key turnover for Arkansas.

8:37 p.m. — A trey from Marcus Britt gets the crowd up — and the Razorbacks down by only one, 57.56.

8:34 p.m. — Washington gets one, but Montrelll McDonald gets fouled taking the missed free throw back up. He gets the bucket and one — now a two-point SLU lead, 55-53.

8:32 p.m. — SLU foul takes us to the second media timeout. Razorbacks playing with rushes of intensity, but SLU is not shaken so far. Lions hang on to their 55-49 lead.

8:30 p.m. — Not much blog cause not much offense until right now — Washington flushes a nasty two-handed jam to cut the SLU lead to three, 52-49.

8:26 p.m. — First media time out of second half, score hasn’t changed — 52-45 SLU.

8:21 p.m. — Lions break the Arkansas press, move back to a seven-point spread. Time out Arkansas.

8:19 p.m. — Arkansas puts on the full court press and Sanchez wills the ball first away from SLU then into the bucket. The crowd is on its feed and roaring, SLU lead down to three.

8:17 p.m. — Lions come back with a 7-0 run to take their largest lead, driven by back-to-back buckets from Robert Tibbs.

8:15 p.m. — We open the second half with a Washington bucket in the lane to tie it up.

8:09 p.m. — Tomorrow’s women’s game will be live streaming video and audio. Why? Conference rules are different for women’s hoops.

8:07 p.m. — Stats make it hard to see why SLU is leading. Arkansas has outshot the Lions, but SLU has more possessions.

8:00 p.m. — Pom squad set to dance in hot pink to Hall and Oates.

7:59 p.m. — It’s a full house on the Courtside Club — looks like all the seats are taken tonight.

7:58 p.m. — The last second trey is blocked, and the Lions lead the Razorbacks, 38-36, at halftime.

7:57 p.m. — Washington gets one of two to cut the SLU spread to two, 38-36, but Lions will now try to milk the clock to finish with the lead. Arkansas forces a turnover, and Pel sends three subs in for the last 5.2 seconds.

7:52 p.m. — SLU keeping its slight lead through the last media time out thanks to Arkansas turnovers. The Lions are +5 on the TOs, but Arkansas’ 52% is keeping us at pace with SLU.

7:46 p.m. — Washington squares up for an elbow three-pointer and drains it — Arkansas has now hit its last four treys in a row.

7:44 p.m. — Washington sets for his third charge attempt, but this time it’s a blocking foul. The crowd, already up from Clarke’s three, makes it loud in the house for the SLU free throw, which is missed. Next trip down, Michael Sanchez tries for the charge on the perimeter, and he’s called for the block. Lions make the most of the possession, and regain their lead at 30-28.

7:44 p.m. — So much for the SLU lead — Clarke rains in his third trey and brings down the house.

7:44 p.m. — SLU gets another baseline jumper to pull back ahead, 27-25. The Lions have worked the Arkansas baseline hard tonight. This looks like it will be a back-and-forth game for a while as the Southland visitors are hanging close.

7:41 p.m. — OK, during this timeout, a longer explanation — if you missed it from the start of the blog this afternoon — about when we are allowed to stream live video on men’s basketball. These are SEC rules, and come from the league’s contracts with its major TV carriers. If one of those partners has a game, we have to protect the "window" of that game. Tonight is one of those nights. But we will have the game up for replay as soon as possible after the game. This also knocks off the game with Cal-Davis, but FAMU is set to be the first live video stream. We’d do every one live if we could, but not unlike some of the football restrictions, these aren’t our calls.

7:39 p.m. — Media timeout, Razorbacks ahead 25-24, off a Fortson jumper. Fortson, Washington and Clarke have eight each.

7:38 p.m. — Clarke strikes again.

7:37 p.m. — Washington draws his second charge of the night.

7:34 p.m. — Roteni Clarke goes down in the books with the first three-pointer from behind the new arc, and the first tonight. Puts Arkansas back up.

7:30 p.m. — The Lions have tied it up at 15-15 here at the second media timeout. Fortson is perfect 2-2 and Washington is 3-4, but the rest of the team hasn’t joined in on the offense just yet. SLU will inbound under its own goal, and gets its first lead of the night on a baseline jumper from Jeremy Dunbar, 17-15.

7:23 p.m. — Out of the timeout, a defensive struggle for both ends. Washington just broke that with a nice scoop in the lane, 14-9.

7:18 p.m. — First media timeout of the day, Razorbacks lead 10-7. Arkansas is shooting 57% from the field, but the Lions are keeping pace and are on a mini run heading into this time out of 6-3.

7:15 p.m. — Micheal Washigton takes the charge from SLU. There’s a little of the defense Coach Pel was asking for out of this team.

7:14 p.m. — It’s 6-1, and Fortson is exciting the crowd on both ends of the court.

7:09 p.m. — Courtney Fortson for two, and Arkansas opens with pressure on SLU.

7:09 p.m. — Everyone up in the student section, tipoff to Arkansas.

7:06 p.m. — The laser hog runs across the floor, and the new hog gobos are bathing the crowd. Nice new graphics for the player intros on the main score board. Big roar for John Pelphrey.

7:05 p.m. — Nice Hair, says the student crowd for the SLU head coach. Ah yes, the students are back in Bud.

7:02 p.m. — Was that an arrangement of The Black Parade from the band?

7:00 p.m. — John Pelphrey brings down the house with the closing line. "I’ve got news for you, this is Arkansas basketball and it’s game time." JP grunts, slaps the ball like he was starting the inbounds play. The video ends, John George says, "It’s basketball time and the Arkansas Razorbacks are in the house." Lights up and crowd cheers the re-entry of the Razorbacks.

6:59 p.m. — Here’s the first video, the Historic Moments. It’s issues of the Arkansas Traveler, the school newspaper, that come to life with video clips from the photos. There’s the Scotty Thurman shot . . . . and Arkansas wins the National Championship — the crowd roars here again.

6:58 p.m. — Let’s stand up and CALL THOSE HOGS.

6:56 p.m. — Arkansas ROTC color guard presents the flag at midcourt to in a spotlight from those new show lights. Very cool.

6:54 p.m. — 9:30 left on the arena clock, the student section is almost full and the band just broke into Paint it Black.

6:50 p.m. — Oh, and if you come to the games, be ready for it to get very dark when the lights go out, and very light very quickly. The new TV lights come complete with a shutter system. The lights never go out, but are fully covered by the shutters. It’s very dramatic.

6:47 p.m. — Intros will be very different this year. Not unlike football, there is a special highlight reel that will roll after the National Anthem, then another video before the players are introduced. The arena also has new show lights with special Razorback hogs to "run" across the floor. They are fully articulated, "spinning" gobos, to use the theater trade lingo.

6:46 p.m. — Both teams are on the floor for warm-ups, and here comes the Razorback band making its entrance. This is another change to get a little more excitement rolling early.

6:38 p.m. — If press row moved into the seats on the baseline, what about the student section? Actually, we increased the number of students in the primary space along the south sideline. How? By taking out the old folding chairs and replacing them with bench seats. This allows more per row.

6:35 p.m. — Now entering Bud Walton Arena, says John George, these are the Arkansas RAAAAAAAZORRRBAAAACKS.

6:23 p.m. — The lights. Oh yes. They are new. They are bright. In fact, some folks in the preseason asked if we could turn them down. As a part of the great improvements, the key is that we went from some of the most dim TV lights to NBA standard.

6:17 p.m. — Depending on which side of the arena you enter, the next thing you see is either the new scorer’s table or the lack of a press row on the South side. The new Courtside Club seats have replaced the traditional press row. It gives the side where the students sit a very clean look.

6:10 p.m. — The first thing fans will notice at Walton Arena is the new floor logo — the Classic Hog is large and in charge.

6 p.m. — Welcome to the new press section at Bud Walton Arena.

Tonight, the blog makes is debut at Bud Walton Arena. It won’t be the only new thing at the arena known for years as the “Showcase of Mid-America.”

At the outset, let me make all our RazorVision members aware that tonight’s game is not a live video stream, but will be up as soon as conference regulations allow for replay.

The Southeastern Conference contracts limit the ability of its member schools to provide a live stream for men’s basketball whenever a game involving one of the broadcast partners is on television.

Tonight’s game with Southeastern Louisiana is bumped due to the Toledo-Florida game on ESPN, and the same applies for the Nov. 20 game with Cal-Davis. Our first live stream is Florida A&M on Nov. 29.

Starting with FAMU, we project that six of the non-conference games will be live for fans on RazorVision.

All the women’s basketball non-conference games are live stream, starting with tomorrow’s game against Louisiana-Monroe at 1 p.m. The same SEC rules do not apply to the women’s contests.

All the men’s basketball games will be up on the site as soon as possible after the end of each game, so later tonight you can watch the replay of the SLU game.

Meanwhile, we will keep you up on the game through our first basketball blog, and try to relay to some details of the new videos, lighting and scorer’s table changes. For now, it’s off to the arena for set-up and we’ll resume the blog at 6 p.m. when the doors open at Walton.