20. Arkansas

Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson is going to Hell, and he can hardly wait. For the first time since the Razorbacks reached back-to-back NCAA title games in 1994 and '95, Richardson possesses the necessary combination of athletes to unleash the full wrath of his beloved 40 Minutes of Hell attack. "Lately we've been maybe 20 Minutes of Hell and then a lot of praying," Richardson says. "This year we're back to running around kicking and scratching and biting. It ain't pretty, but I've always said that a raggedy ride is better than a smooth walk."

The spark to reigniting Richardson's frenetic strategy is the addition of six incoming freshmen who the Hogs coach believes comprise his most talented crop since Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller arrived in '88. Freshman guards Brandon Dean and Jason Gilbert and forward Sergerio Gipson will add depth and lift some of the scoring burden off senior guard Pat Bradley, who is a 41% three-point shooter despite wearing a bull's-eye throughout his career. "Last year I had so many guys chasing me around, I'd finish a game with cuts and bruises," Bradley says. "The key to our season is finding some more offensive options to scare the defense."

The Hogs boast one of the country's most experienced backcourts, with a combined 165 starts from Bradley and senior point guard Kareem Reid, a natural distributor who needs 163 assists to break Mayberry's school record. Another senior, Derek Hood, must crash the boards as he did when he led the SEC in rebounding in '96-97. Richardson acknowledges that the one guy who can help the Hogs make a quantum leap is Jason Jennings, a 7-footer from tiny Bald Knob, Ark., who is the team's only player taller than 6'8". A rebounder and shot blocker, Jennings is a giant Opie Taylor who needs to play more aggressively, so Richardson has done everything short of insulting the kid's mama to make him meaner. Ferocity is a critical element to sustaining 40 Minutes of Hell, and with it Richardson can honestly preach to his diminutive troops that size doesn't matter. Says the coach, "I tell my kids, 'It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.' I've seen a lot of big dogs running away from little bitty dogs."

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