6 observations from Arkansas' 2017-18 nonconference basketball schedule

Arkansas' Daryl Macon (4) reacts after making a three-point basket against North Carolina during the first half in a second-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S.C., Sunday, March 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

— Arkansas released its 2017-18 nonconference basketball schedule Monday, locking in the dates for 13 matchups.

Here are six observations from the schedule:

Anderson’s best at Arkansas

If Arkansas beats Oklahoma in the first round of the Phil Knight Invitational, the Razorbacks likely face defending national champion North Carolina in the tournament semifinals.

The realization of that matchup would all but assure this is the best nonconference slate of Mike Anderson’s tenure. Even if it doesn’t happen, it can probably still claim that billing.

Of the 11 set games, nine are against teams coming off 20-win seasons and seven are against foes who posted an RPI better than 100. National columnist Jon Rothstein ranks North Carolina No. 12 and Minnesota No. 15 in his preseason top 25 poll, with Oklahoma listed as one of his "five on the cusp."

Just as importantly, there should be few bad-RPI landmines to drag down the strength of schedule. On paper, Oral Roberts is the worst team on the schedule. The Golden Eagles have a new head coach and are coming off an 8-22 season that earned them a 290 RPI.

But they’re the only team with an RPI worse than 170, which is what Samford posted last year. Oklahoma had the third-worst mark at 162 and the Sooners figure to be much improved with a solid combination of returning experience and the addition of talented point guard Trae Young.

Last season, Arkansas posted the No. 19 nonconference RPI with the No. 41 nonconference strength of schedule, close to the best marks in both categories in Anderson’s tenure. In 2014-15, the Hogs had the No. 18 noncon RPI and No. 34 out-of-conference strength of schedule.

This year's schedule presents a chance to eclipse both of those seasons.

The NCAA tournament committee is reportedly going to put more emphasis on quality road wins and will try to incorporate new composite rankings into their decision making in a continued effort to improve on the RPI system. But the RPI isn’t phased out yet, by a long shot: The committee is still using it to determine what defines a quality road, neutral site or home win for the time being.

The key to a strong RPI is a mixture of winning and good scheduling. Arkansas has the latter taken care of.

The Razorbacks have an interesting combination of experience (6 seniors) and youth (4 freshmen, 2 fairly inexperienced sophomores), so the challenging schedule should harden them for what figures to be a deeper, improved SEC.

Nailing mid-major matchups

Matchups with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Minnesota and the potential rematch with North Carolina are the main draws of the nonconference schedule, for good reason.

But for the second straight year, the Razorbacks did a good job identifying and scheduling quality mid-major opponents to round out the schedule.

Cal State Bakersfield (Wednesday, Dec. 27) went to the NIT semifinals to cap a 25-10 season that included a No. 59 RPI and a regular season WAC championship.

Houston (Saturday, Dec. 2) went 21-11, had the No. 62 RPI and went to the NIT.

Bucknell (Sunday, Nov. 12) returns its top nine scorers from an NCAA Tournament team that had a 66 RPI and won 26 games, including claiming the Patriot League regular season and conference titles.

Colorado State (Tuesday, Dec. 5) went 24-12, had the No. 69 RPI, finished second in the Mountain West and went to the NIT.

Fresno State (Friday, Nov. 17) won 20 games, had the No. 77 RPI, finished fourth in the Mountain West and went to the NIT.

Troy (Saturday, Dec. 16) won 22 games, posted the No. 150 RPI and went on a run to win the Sun Belt tournament title to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament field.

Those aren’t gimmes or “paycheck games." The 6 teams above combined to knock off 27 RPI top-100 opponents.

If Arkansas can take care of business like it did a year ago, the schedule should pay major dividends.

Home foes with familiarity

Minnesota comes to Bud Walton on Dec. 9 and is, on paper, probably the best home nonconference matchup.

The Golden Gophers won 24 games last year, posted a top-25 RPI and made the NCAA Tournament. Oh, yeah, they also throttled Arkansas 85-71 on a snowy night in Minneapolis last year, so this game represents a payback opportunity for the Hogs.

Oklahoma State is a good bet to draw the biggest nonconference crowd when the Cowboys come to town Jan. 27 as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Like the Golden Gophers, OSU blew out Arkansas on its home court a year ago, which gives the game a revenge factor. Unlike Minnesota, the Cowboys lost their coach (Brad Underwood) and star point guard (Jawun Evans) in the offseason.

Still, those two are going to be the biggest nonconference home games. There isn’t an absolute marquee matchup coming to Fayetteville. Those will happen in Portland. But there are a handful of games sure to interest casual fans.

Arkansas did a better job of scheduling home games against opponents with name recognition this year.

As written above, ORU easily had the worst season last year of the nonconference foes.

But the Golden Eagles are a known entity to Razorback fans, a traditionally solid mid-major program located less than two hours from Fayetteville. Arkansas played them 11 times between 1985 and 2008 and the programs had exciting matchups toward the tail end of the Nolan Richardson glory days when Bill Self was at ORU.

It isn’t a stretch to think Razorback fans will be more willing to show up to watch the Hogs host ORU than say Fort Wayne or UT-Arlington, even though those two opponents were almost assuredly better than the what ORU will be. The former won 20 games and beat Indiana last year, but only 7,504 fans showed up to watch them in Bud Walton. The latter won 27 games and walloped Texas, but just 6,623 attended their exciting game against the Razorbacks.

Hog fans are sure to remember the program’s only other meeting with Bucknell, a 59-55 Bison win in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The matchup should carry more cachet with Arkansas fans.

Arkansas has only played Fresno State once, but the Bulldogs are more of a name program than most mid-majors thanks to a string of six straight 20-win seasons under Jerry Tarkanian from 1995-2002.

Colorado State is more well-known than directional schools like North Florida and North Dakota State.

Attendance always picks up when SEC play begins. Nonconference attendance is often based on 1) the public’s level of excitement for the season, which is based largely off the previous year and 2) name recognition for the opposing team.

Arkansas returns key pieces from a 26-win team that took the eventual champs to the brink and there are a number of familiar names on the home slate, ORU and OSU especially.

Getting defensive

Arkansas had one of the best offenses in the nation last year and returns a pair of talented senior guards who can fill it up in Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon.

The Razorbacks will get to test their offense against several schools which posted elite defensive ratings last season.

The Hogs already know what to expect from North Carolina if the rematch happens. The Tar Heels ranked No. 11 in adjusted defensive efficiency last year, allowing a stingy 92.5 points per 100 possessions, according to KenPom.com. Arkansas, to put it in perspective, scored 116.1 points per 100 and gave up 99.8.

Cal State Bakerfield posted the No. 20 defensive rating, allowing just 93.7 points per 100. Minnesota came in right behind the Roadrunners at No. 22, but also allowed only 93.7. They held Arkansas to a 96.3 offensive rating last year, nearly 20 points less than its season average.

Oklahoma ranked 39th in the country, allowing a solid 95.9 points per 100, while Fresno State ranked No. 60 and gave up 98.2.

Style clash

Of the 11 set nonconference opponents, only Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Bucknell played at an overall faster pace than Arkansas last year and the Razorbacks actually operated quicker on offense than all three, ranking 33rd in the nation with an average possession length of just 15.7 seconds.

Season-opening doubleheaders

Arkansas opens the season with a Friday matchup against Samford on Nov. 10 and then hosts Bucknell on Sunday, Nov. 12.

Both games will be a nightcap of sorts for a doubleheader with the Razorbacks women’s team.

The Mike Neighbors era at Arkansas begins on Friday against Sam Houston State in the annual Elementary Day matchup. Sunday, the women’s team hosts Samford.

The doubleheaders will give fans a chance to make a day out of Razorback basketball and check out Neighbors, a former Arkansas assistant who took the head job in April after a highly successful run at Washington.