FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sometime soon, possibly even by the time you read this, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi will have a new round of bracketology posted.
However, for those who were able to see last week’s version of the projected NCAA tournament bracket, the path to the final four should have felt very familiar.
Arkansas, No. 3 seed in the Midwest, was slated to kick things off against Bradley as automatic qualifier in the No. 14 slot. Of course, the Braves are the Hogs’ next opponent this weekend in Little Rock, a place where Arkansas has had a habit over the years of playing notoriously uninspired basketball.
Should the Razorbacks hold off the upset bid from Bradley in the opening round, Arkansas will find itself staring down the lone team to step on the floor with Arkansas and come away with a win – No. 6 seed Creighton.
This will probably change in the upcoming iteration of the bracket. After losing to BYU in Las Vegas 83-30 this past Saturday, the Blue Jays stumbled into their fourth straight loss.
Their last win? It came against Arkansas in Maui.
Since then, Creighton has lost to No. 10 Arizona, No. 2 Texas, and a 6-5 Nebraska team in addition to BYU. The Blue Jays had climbed to No. 7 in the polls at one point, but not anymore.
A revenge win over Creighton will most likely lead Arkansas into a match-up with Kansas in this scenario. The Razorbacks will have a strong familiarity with Kansas already.
While the two don’t play each other this season, the Jayhawks appear on the Baylor schedule immediately before the Bears take on the Hogs in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. This means the Razorbacks will have already poured over the tape of Kansas prior to needing to prepare for their Sweet 16 match-up.
Waiting on the other side of Kansas in the great wall of Arkansas rejection that has been the Elite 8 is the No. 1 overall seed, Houston.
Now it’s looking more and more like Alabama is headed down a path to claiming the No. 1 overall seed, despite a loss earlier this season to No. 5 UConn.
Alabama is the gift that keeps on giving as far as potential NCAA tournament prep video with wins over then No. 1 North Carolina, then No. 12 Michigan St., an upcoming game against No. 18 Gonzaga, and, in this case, a highly valuable road win over No. 1 Houston.
If the Hogs study up well on the Alabama-Houston tape and keep rolling, they line up against either the South regional’s No. 1 seed Texas or No. 2 seed Tennessee. The Hogs will have lined up against both on the court already.
That puts Arkansas all the way to the national championship game with only two teams in the path that aren’t on its schedule. The two that aren’t are only one degree of separation away.
While brackets in the first half of December are pretty useless, they do have one bit of value. This particular one speaks volumes as to how much better this Arkansas schedule is designed toward preparing Arkansas for the NCAA tournament than in years past.
The SEC is expected to have a football-like four Top 10 teams in the newest Top 25 polls while also posting five Top 15 teams and a high potential for six in the Top 20 with an undefeated Mississippi State team inching up the rankings.
It’s illogical to expect this team to reach the tournament with only a single loss considering what’s left on the schedule.
The neutral site games are over after this coming weekend and the brutality that is going to be this SEC schedule will take a toll.
However, one thing that is even more clear as the Razorbacks edge closer to the beginning of the conference schedule is how prepared they will be once tournament time rolls around.
HOGS FEED:
FORMER UALR, CURRENT TEXAS COACH CHRIS BEARD ARRESTED ON FELONY CHARGE FOR CHOKING FAMILY MEMBER
FOUR AREAS WHERE ARKANSAS BASKETBALL QUIETED CONCERNS AGAINST OKLAHOMA
FORMER MORRILTON QB JACOBY CRISWELL COMMITS TO RAZORBACKS
DIGGING UP DISGRACED SEC HEAD COACHES TREND ARKANSAS MIGHT COULD FOLLOW
SHOULD HOGS BE LOOKING AT SOMEONE THAT’S NEVER BEEN A DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR TO REPLACE BARRY ODOM?
ISAIAH SATEGNA’S NIL DEAL SHOWS VALUE OF SOME OF THESE MINOR BOWL GAMES
STATUS OF TREVON BRAZILE UPDATED AND THE OUTLOOK ISN’T GOOD
KEY STAT SHOWS HOGS MISSING INGREDIENT PAST TEAMS HAD IN ABUNDANCE
BARRY ODOM APPARENTLY HEADED OUT OF TOWN AFTER ALL … TO LAS VEGAS
SAM PITTMAN, LANE KIFFIN HAVE DIFFERENT APPROACH LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS
TRANSFER PORTAL: WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT IN THE SEC?
HOGS LAND IN TOP 25 AFTER STARTING SEASON 10-0 WITH TWO BLOWOUTS
SAMARA SPENCER, SAYLOR POFFENBARGER LEAD HOGS PAST ORAL ROBERTS
HOW KANSAS FOOTBALL SET THINGS IN MOTION FOR HOGS’ EXPLODING IN FOOTBALL
FORMER HOGS, OLE MISS COACH TALKS HONESTLY ABOUT HUGH FREEZE
RAZORBACK FANS GET TO SEE WHAT MUSSELMAN ENVISION LAST SPRING
CRAZINESS IN TULSA JOB SEARCH OPENING DOOR FOR HOGS’ DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR?
NEXT 47 DAYS WILL SAY A LOT ABOUT HOW HOGS STACK UP IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD
TEXAS WIDE RECEIVER INDICATES HE MIGHT BE HOGS’ CHRISTMAS PRESENT NEXT YEAR
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