ICYMI – Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: 7 Degrees of Arkansas Razorbacks

Feb 2, 2013; Fayetteville, AR, USA; An Arkansas Razorbacks cheerleader performs during a time out at a game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas defeated Tennessee 73-60. Mandatory Credit: Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky faces Arkansas (RPI 89) this weekend in Fayetteville at 4:00PM EST. The game is another must win for the Wildcats who, despite beating Mississippi State soundly Wednesday night, saw their RPI drop to 49, one spot away from the dreaded 51-60 spot. That 51-60 spot is the territory no team wants to belong in as only 50% of all teams have made the NCAA Tournament with an RPI in that range, while 92% in the top 50 have made it in over the last 5 years.

Arkansas, despite their low RPI, comes into the game with a 16-1 home record, with their only loss coming against RPI 12 Syracuse back on November 30th.

Here are your 7 degrees connecting the Kentucky Wildcats to the Arkansas Razorbacks with scandal, candy bars and curvy women:

• Walmart is a staple in the Arkansas economy, with their headquarters in Bentonville Arkansas being a mere 30 minute drive to Fayetteville, it was no surprise to see the largest corporation’s charity (The Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation) donate $50 million dollars in 2005 to the Arkansas school of business and $300 million to the University. At the time, the donations were the largest gifts given to a public university in America.

• Thomas A Mars, the same guy that yesterday resigned as Walmart’s Chief Administration Officer after being with the organization for the past 11 years, is a graduate of Arkansas University. Mars, who is not affiliated with the Mars Candy company (despite a statement on Wikipedia to the contrary), only works with an organization that has for years been affiliated with overweight customers, versus contributing to their obesity through high calorie candy bars (I’m a Snickers man myself).

• The University of Arkansas’ mascot is the razorback. The razorback is sometimes refered to as a “hog”. Fans of the University of Arkansas have been “Calling the Hogs” since the 1920s. A tradition that refers to the school’s most popular cheer during games and is said to have “begun when a group of farmers attending a game began issuing hog calls to encourage a lagging Razorback football team. The encouragement worked and the attending crowd took notice of the farmers’ calling.” During the next game, a group of men began crying “Wooo, Pig, Sooie”.

• Former President of the United states Bill Clinton is an Arkansas alum. On January 17, 1998, The Drudge Report broke a story about Clinton and his wooing of a coincidently curvy intern named Monica Lewinsky. While the President adamantly denied having relations with Lewinsky, the University of Arkansas takes credit for many different accomplishments. The most noteworthy being the discovery of Vitamin E by agricultural chemistry professor Barnett Sure.

• Vitamin E is an antioxidant responsible for positive human health promoting the evacuation of toxins in the human body. It is of no relation to the potential health hazard Vitamin C, the singer, who was discovered in 1991 while performing in a band named “Eve Plumb”. The Orange Hair one hit wonder disappeared from the music scene around 2001, but recently resurfaced when Nickelodeon named her the VP of Music. She now oversees all music for Nickelodeon and its sister cable channels.

• Eddie Sutton, who likely not a fan of Vitamin C but has no public record of renouncing his fandom for said singer, befriended a law professor at UARK during his tenure named Bill Clinton while coaching basketball at the University of Arkansas. During his 11 year tenure as head basketball coach, Sutton compiled a record of 260-75, including five Southwest Conference championships, nine NCAA tournament appearances, and a Final Four appearance in 1978.

• Eddie Sutton was the head coach of Kentucky from 1985-1989 and while Bill Clinton kept his job after his scandal, Sutton subsequently lost his after an Emery Worldwide employee discovered $1,000 in cash in an envelope that Kentucky assistant coach Dwane Casey sent to Chris Mills’ father.