We interrupt the SEC officials/Ole Miss conversation to bring you some basketball nuggets.

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey met briefly with the media Wednesday to discuss the first week of practice and the Red-White Game, which is scheduled for Friday. Pelphrey and Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke will be talking to the SEC media at SEC Basketball Media Day in Hoover, Ala., today. Obviously, I’m not there. But we have Dudley Dawson of Hawgs Illustrated over there covering for us. So thanks Dudley!

Anyway, there was no big news from Pelphrey’s press conference yesterday. I was planning to blog this yesterday, but the SEC’s decision to suspend the officials changed my plans. But a couple of notes and quotes worth sharing:

• Just to get this out of the way, Pelphrey said there have been no suspensions for the Red-White scrimmage. It’s a question we’re going to ask frequently through the start of the season because of the offseason issues. Pelphrey said everyone is scheduled to participate Friday, though.

• Pelphrey said the attitude, energy level and enthusiasm at practice has been “outstanding” so far. Arkansas practiced six times in a four-day stretch. That can obviously be a shock to newcomers. Arkansas has a lot of newcomers, too. But Pelphrey said they’re working through it.

“We’ve got to get comfortable with learning new stuff,” Pelphrey said. “Half our team it’s the first time they’ve ever gone through it. So attention is a big thing. We’ve just got to continue to get a lot of reps in and everything. But we do have time for that. I think from being able to get through six practices in four days, I thought those guys did very well.”

• Pelphrey also was asked about Michael Washington and his leadership role so far. He said Washington has had a big impact on the new guys already, showing them what to do and where to go. That kind of thing. Pelphrey said he better because Arkansas needs every contribution.

“For me, he’s been very, very helpful with Glenn Bryant and Delvon (Johnson) and Marshawn (Powell),” Pelphrey said. “Which, he’s going to need to be. He’s been through it. Those guys haven’t and we’re going to need those guys. It’s been good to see.”

• Lastly, Pelphey was asked about the newcomers and if it’s clear they will all be able to contribute this season. Pelphrey said it’s hard to tell at this point, but each one has shown signs of promise in practice so far.

“They’ve had very good moments and they try,” Pelphrey said. “They haven’t been through something like this. Even though you go through several weeks of preparation with your conditioing and your strength program, to get your body ready for this is still very difficult. You go out and you get hammered like that in a large number of practices in a short amount of time. So even though they’re banged up, tired, their body was sore, I like the way they kept trying.”

• What is happening with the Red-White scrimmage? Here is the schedule:

Autographs — 6 p.m.

Women’s Red-White Game — 7:30 p.m.

Three-point competition — 8:14 p.m.

Hot Spot competition — 8:20 p.m.

Men’s Introductions — 8:40 p.m.

Men’s Red-White Game — 8:45 p.m.

It’s hard to believe, I know, but Arkansas basketball tips off preseason practice tomorrow night.

Most of the talk this week has centered on Arkansas playing top-ranked Florida in Gainesville on Saturday, but there is hoops news to share, mainly because we haven’t been able to talk at length to players and coaches for quite some time. John Pelphrey, Rotnei Clark, Courtney Fortson and Michael Washington were all available today. Here were some of the highlights:

• Off-the-court issues have been a big topic and Pelphrey addressed them somewhat today. He wouldn’t specify which players have been suspended for which games, saying that will be addressed later. He hopes players understand and have learned from their mistakes.

“Since I’ve been here, I find a value to doing the right things,” Pelphrey said. “Being a disciplined basketball team on the court, off the court. And if you don’t do the right thing we’ll be swift to take action. Thought out, of a response to that. I feel like there’s a standard to which we need to live up to in terms of representing this school and this state.”

• Point guard Courtney Fortson was asked about his insensitive comment on Twitter, which was posted while his teammates were being investigated for an alleged rape. Fortson said he regretted the Tweet and added “you live and you learn and you move on.” As noted earlier, Pelphrey wouldn’t comment on the discipline Fortson faces, but said it should be a lesson to everyone.

“I think all those guys need to be mindful, whether it’s Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, texting, there’s a standard there, too,” Pelphrey said. “It’s not just you it could affect. There’s a lot of people out there that may hold you accountable for your words.”

• Michael Washington spoke about his decision to return to the team after testing the NBA waters. Washington said he didn’t get too deep into the process, but did learn what he needs to work on. Interestingly, he said it was a family decision. His family decided Washington needed to come back to school, so that’s what he did. Pelphrey and the Razorbacks are counting on him to perform this season.

“We need Mike to do it again,” Pelphrey said. “The jump that he made was big. I think if he can somehow duplicate that, that would be better than what he did last year because he’s going to be the first name on the board. We’ve got to stop this guy. So if he duplicates that, he’s had a pretty succesful year and that would be phenomenal.”

• The golfer, also known as Stephen Cox, is back on the team. Pelphrey said he went to Arkansas golf coach Brad McMakin and asked if he could get Cox back for the season. Why? Well, Pelphrey said Cox is valuable to what the Razorbacks do.

“I think we’ve got a lot of people that are a huge part of our program that probably don’t start and score a lot of points and do those types of things,” Cox said. “But as you know, I find a value to Stephen. He helps us.”

• The status of another walk-on, Nick Mason, is not quite clear. Mason was involved in the fraternity house incident in late August. Pelphrey said he’ll address Mason’s situation later as well. However, he was asked if Mason would practice tomorrow and responded with:

“Nick will be a part of the team on some limited basis, yes.”

• Like I said above, Arkansas will practice for the first time Friday at 5 p.m. They will practice twice on Saturday and Sunday. There won’t be much time until they’ll take to the floor, too. The Red-White game is scheduled for Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m.

That’s all regarding the hoops team for now, but there’s much, much more to share. Look for more blogs and stories over the next several days.

It has been awhile since we’ve gotten to talk to Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey.

Actually, it has been four months if my math is correct. Wow. That’s a long time.

But Pelphrey was the guest speaker at the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Club banquet at Rogers Heritage High on Tuesday night, giving us a chance to check in with the coach. He took questions from the media for five minutes, then spoke to club for roughly 3o minutes, then spoke to the media again for another three or four minutes after it was all over.

Here are three highlights:

• For starters, Pelphrey said freshman forward Marshawn Powell will be ready when preseason practice begins Friday. Powell has been slowed by a broken left hand, something he sustained in a pickup game a little while back. Pelphrey said Powell missed individual workouts because of the broken hand, but still managed to lose 25 pounds since arriving on campus. He said Powell is in great shape.

“I wasn’t too alarmed when it happened,” Pelphrey said of Powell’s broken hand. “I was glad it happened when it did. He’s worked very hard to maintain his conditioning. We’ve been very, very cautious.”

• This also was the first chance we’ve had to talk to Pelphrey since he doled out the suspensions for players involved in the frat house incident in late August. Pelphrey wouldn’t say much when asked Tuesday night. He said he would discuss the situation further when he met with the media Thursday during a press conference set to preview the start of practice. But we did get a little bit out of him.

“I think it’s not one of those days you look forward to having, but sometimes in leadership roles you’ve got to deal with stuff like that,” Pelphrey said about the incident. “I’m sure somewhere along my career, if I can stick around long enough in some form or fashion, we’ll have other things we’ll have to deal with and we’ll certainly try to deal with them in as timely a fashion as we can.”

• Now for something completely different. … Pelphrey said he’s entertaining the idea of playing a game in Barnhill Arena sometime down the road. The idea really started to sink in when he attended an Arkansas volleyball game in Barnhill recently. There have been no serious discussions regarding Pelphrey’s idea. He said it would probably be difficult, but likes the thought of filling Barnhill for basketball.

“I don’t know if it’s possible,” Pelphrey said. “It would have to be a separate ticket and they may not let us do that. But being over there to watch that volleyball game the other day, it got loud in there a couple of times.”

There was much more said tonight and I’ll do my best to get some more hoops info up in the next few days.

There will be plenty more Thursday, too, when Pelphrey does meet with the media in Bud Walton Arena.

Former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson participated in Thursday’s Pro-Am of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship. He played with Lucy Nunn, a former Arkansas golfer who now competes on the Futures Tour.

After their round at Pinnacle Country Club, Richardson spoke briefly with media members about yesterday’s news concerning Arkansas’ basketball program. Richardson was supposed to play with Pelphrey in the Pro-Am, but Pelphrey withdrew at the last minute.

Here are his comments below:

“I spoke with John (Thursday) morning, and of course, John was supposed to have played with us, but with so many things going on, that this is not one of the important things for him at this stage. The sad part, and we’re all going to face it, and it’s not so much at Arkansas, but all the universities have to be so hands on (with players). And it’s so difficult to you to have that kind of hands on with youngsters 24/7, it’s just very difficult.

“The good part, and I guess it is the good part, is that they were not charged with rape. The thing that bothers you as a parent, and I’ve got daughters, you worry so much about your girls. And of course, I have sons too, so you’re playing both parts, so it’s just an unfortunate thing that happened. That’s just something you don’t ever want to happen.

“You can sit around and talk to (the players), and I know John has done it, I’ve done it and I know other coaches do that, about their conduct off the floor. It’s just as important. And again, you try to penalize them for having bad conduct. I’m sure there will be a penalty that will fit the crime for them. Again, it’s just very difficult. This day in age, it’s even more difficult than yesteryear.

“John and I spoke this morning, he wanted to make sure that I knew that he wasn’t going to be able to do it today, and of course, I didn’t expect him to. We did talk briefly about what has happened. Again, I just said to him that my prayers go out to you, not only you, but the players and the young lady and her family. That’s just the way things work.”

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey recently talked to ESPN’s Andy Katz about the off-the-court situations going on with his team. You can read the story here. Katz wrote a small story about the conversation he had with Arkansas’ third-year coach and posted it on his ESPN blog.

Pelphrey told Katz that all the news going on with Arkansas’ basketball program is a “… very, very unfortunate situation” and that coaches within the program are doing a lot of “damage control.”

“There was a lot of damage control, communicating to a lot of people about the information,” Pelphrey said. “It’s been a very, very unfortunate situation. We’re trying to get to a number of spots (in recruiting) and we’re trying to communicate.”

Pelphrey also told Katz that since the legal process has been completed, coaches and other administrators will look into the situation about yesterday’s story and see if any university rules or team policies were broken.

Pelphrey was scheduled to participate in Thursday’s Pro-Am of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship, but withdrew at the last minute.

Stay tuned as we find out more information and reaction to everything going on with this story.

We may be busy with football practice, but there’s a rush on basketball news tonight.

Alex blogged a little while ago on West Memphis big man Anthony Borden, who is heading off to junior college and won’t be heading to Arkansas for at least two years now. The news means the Razorbacks will have 12 scholarship players on the roster next season, one under the NCAA limit.

But Arkansas coach John Pelphrey appears to have added a nice first piece to his 2010 signing class.

According to our good friend Dudley Dawson over at Hawgs Illustrated, Memphis-area prospect Mardracus Wade has verbally committed to Arkansas. Wade is a 6-3 guard who is rated as a four-star prospect according to Scout.com. Wade also is rated No. 74 in Scout.com’s top 100.

To read more about the addition and subtraction, make sure you check out tomorrow’s paper. Dudley will have a story on both these developments.

While we’re at it, Arkansas also announced that it will not raise basketball season ticket prices this season, either. The good news: the Razorbacks played 20 home games last season and have 22 this year. So, it seems, you can get more for your money — in theory — for the 2009-2010 season.

But let’s be honest: Arkansas really couldn’t raise prices after the team’s troubles in 2008-09 could it?

Anyone wanting season tickets can call 1-800-982-HOGS or go online to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

  Now that Arkansas has opened football practice, not much attention is being paid to John Pelphrey and the Razorbacks’ basketball team.

  Well, there is a little bit of basketball news to come out today. 

   Pelphrey announced Monday evening that basketball recruit Anthony Borden will enroll in a junior college this upcoming season instead of joining the Razorbacks.

  “Anthony will not be joining us this fall,” Pelphrey said in a statement released through the university. “He will be going to a junior college. I have a lot of respect for Anthony and his family, and we wish him well.”

  Borden signed with Arkansas during last year’s early signing period after starring at West Memphis High. 

  We will have more about this, as well as Pelphrey’s latest additon, in Tuesday’s edition of The Morning News. 

  What a wild day and it’s not over. But here is my story that will appear in Saturday’s edition of The Morning News on Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long working on extending the contract of men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey from 2012 to 2014.

  Back to writing…

  FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas officials are in the process of finalizing the paperwork that would extend the contract of men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey from 2012 to 2014, Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long told The Morning News on Friday.

  Long said he spoke with Pelphrey in June and informed the coach that his contract would be extended for another year.

  University officials are also working on finalizing the paperwork for the one-year extension that Long agreed to give Pelphrey after he took the Razorbacks to the second round of the NCAA Tournament during the 2007-08 season.

  Because of some delays involving attorneys, Long said the paperwork for last year’s extension hasn’t been completed.

  “At the end of every season, the way coach Pelphrey’s contract is structured, I need to make a decision whether to extend him another year or let him know that he has not been extended,” Long said.

  “This summer, as part of our process, I notify him that he’s being extended per his contract and that’s what we’ve done. We haven’t finalized the paperwork on that at this time.”

  Long said Pelphrey’s new deal doesn’t include a raise. The extension agreed to last summer pushed the length of Pelphrey’s contract to 2013 and the new deal extends it to 2014.

  “Going back with attorneys and whatever, that (first extension) never got finalized. But the agreement, the commitment, was there,” Long said. “So, this year when I made the decision to roll him over, we just decided we would handle both years with one document.”

  On Thursday, Long expressed his support for Pelphrey, who has had to deal with a tumultuous offseason that has seen several players transfer, leave the team or get suspended.

  Pelphrey announced last Sunday that troubled guard/forward Jason Henry will not return next season. A source close to the program told The Morning News on Thursday that guard Stefan Welsh has been suspended indefinitely from the team because of academic issues.

  In addition, forwards Brandon Moore and Andre Clark decided to transfer after last season, leaving the Razorbacks with only two players from last year’s six-man recruiting class.

  But Long said the long-term deals that Pelphrey, Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino and baseball coach Dave Van Horn have further proves that “they have a commitment from the university and likewise we know that we have a commitment” from them.

  It’s been a crazy day, as I predicted. But I wanted to post something I’m working on at the moment involving a contract extension for Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey.

  FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas officials are in the process of finalizing the paperwork that would extend the contract of men’s basketball coach John Pelphrey from 2012 to 2014, Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said Friday evening.

  Long said he spoke with Pelphrey in June and informed the coach that his contract would be extended for another year.

  Meanwhile, university officials are working on finalizing the paperwork for the one-year extension that Long assured Pelphrey he’d receive following the 2007-08 season. Because of some delays involving attorneys, the paperwork for last year’s extension hasn’t been completed.

  “At the end of every season, the way coach Pelphrey’s contract is structured, I need to make a decision whether to extend him another year or let him know that he has not been extended,” Long told The Morning News.

  “This summer, as part of our process, I notify him that he’s being extended per his contract and that’s what we’ve done. We haven’t finalized the paperwork on that at this time.”

  Long said Pelphrey’s extension doesn’t include a raise.

Just wanted to post a link for the story that will appear in tomorrow’s edition of The Morning News.