Missouri’s win over the University of Arkansas no more eliminated the Razorbacks from the NCAA Tournament than it put the Tigers in.
No doubt, it was a bad loss. A loss the Hogs can’t afford another of as they slipped to No. 38 in the NCAA NET rankings.
A loss tonight at Tennessee would be another bad loss, but Eric Musselman knows the keys to what the Hogs have to do to get back on the winning track.
First and foremost is play hard. Playing smart will help, too.
In fact, they must play harder and smarter until Isaiah Joe returns from knee surgery.
Arkansas’ short bench not only got shorter with the loss of Joe, it lost a legitimate scoring threat and s tough defender.
Meanwhile, the NCAA men’s basketball committee revealed its top 16 teams over the weekend. It was a bit surprising that only one was from the SEC, Auburn which came in as a No. 4 seed after beating LSU in overtime.
Baylor was the unanimous overall No. 1 seed, and the other three No. 1s were strong — Kansas, Gonzaga and San Diego State.
Proving there is a lot of parity in college basketball right now, nine conferences had teams ranked in the top 16, the most since the NCAA started announcing a Sweet 16.
West Virginia came in as No. 2 giving, the Big 12 three teams.
The ACC and Big East also had three teams. The Big Ten had two and the SEC, Pac-12, Mountain West, Atlantic 10 and West Coast Conference all had one team.
The seedings don’t bode well for the SEC overall, but there is a lot of basketball to be played. It does leave the burning question: What’s wrong with Kentucky?
The No. 3 seeds are Maryland, Florida State, Seton Hall and Villanova, and No 4 seeds are Auburn, Oregon, Butler and Michigan State.
Using existing bracketing principles (https://www.ncaa.com/content/di-principles-and-procedures-selection), the committee assigned Baylor to the South Regional, which will take place in Houston. Kansas was sent to the Midwest Regional in Indianapolis, while Gonzaga was assigned to the West Regional in Los Angeles, and San Diego State was sent to the East Regional in New York City.
If this plays out, and it probably won’t, on Selection Sunday, it would be just the second time that two teams from the Pacific time zone were No. 1 seeds in the same tournament.
The committee has the regions as:
South (Houston): (1) Baylor, (2) Louisville, (3) Seton Hall, (4) Auburn
Midwest (Indianapolis): (1) Kansas, (2) Dayton, (3) Florida State, (4) Michigan State
West (Los Angeles): (1) Gonzaga, (2) West Virginia, (3) Villanova, (4) Oregon
East (New York City): (1) San Diego State, (2) Duke, (3) Maryland, (4) Butler
That means Auburn was the top No. 4 and could move up to a No. 3.
The committee has a ton of criteria in addition to the NET rankings, and the highest rated team in the NET which didn’t make its top 16 was No. 10 Arizona. Colorado at No. 16 wasn’t mentioned either.
Arkansas’ final eight regular-season games and their NET ranking are: Tennessee (twice) No. 68; Mississippi State (No. 41); Florida (No. 45); Missouri (No. 96); Georgia (No. 91); LSU (No. 27); and Texas A&M (No. 136, one spot ahead of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock).
Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and A&M are road games.
The Razorbacks could also help themselves with a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament.
After the loss to Missouri on Saturday Musselman bristled when asked about fatigue. He is a no-excuse coach who expects the same from his players.
“We just need to play hard,” he said.
Which is the main criteria for the Razorbacks staying on the NCAA Tournament bubble.