NET key to Arkansas' tournament hopes

Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr. (3) works past Alabama guard Mark Sears (1) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas basketball team is tied for eighth in the SEC standings going into the regular-season finale against Kentucky on Saturday in Walton Arena, but the Razorbacks are well positioned to make the 68-team NCAA Tournament field based on bracket projections and the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings.

ESPN and Yahoo have Arkansas (19-11, 8-9) as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and CBS Sports and USA Today Today have the Razorbacks as a No. 9 seed.

None of those four websites list Arkansas as a bubble team.

The Razorbacks are No. 15 in the NET rankings despite losing their last two games at SEC champion and No. 2 Alabama (26-4, 15-1) and at No. 12 Tennessee (22-8, 11-6) because the Crimson Tide and Vols are No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in the NET rankings.

Kentucky (20-10, 11-6) is No. 23 in The Associated Press poll and No. 21 in the NET rankings despite a 68-66 home loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.

The NCAA rates Arkansas’ strength of schedule at No. 15, which is a nod to the Razorbacks playing more SEC games against the top half of the conference as well as a non-conference schedule featuring nine opponents with 18 or more victories.

Arkansas beat Mountain West champion San Diego State (23-6) in the Maui Invitational 78-74 in overtime, beat Missouri Valley Conference champion Bradley (23-8) in North Little Rock 76-57 and beat Big South Conference champion North Carolina-Asheville (24-7) in Walton Arena 85-51.

Other non-conference home victories for the Razorbacks include Fordham (23-7), North Carolina-Greensboro (20-11), Troy (19-12), San Jose State (18-12) and South Dakota State (18-12).

The two non-conference losses for Arkansas are against Creighton 90-87 in Maui and at Baylor 67-64. The Bluejays (19-11) are No. 14 in the NET rankings and the Bears (22-8) are No. 12.

“We talk to the team a little bit about it,” Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said of the bracket projections and NET rankings. “But you have to worry about the next game at hand.”

Musselman credited Arkansas assistant coach Anthony Ruta, the point man on scheduling, along with the entire coaching staff for evaluating non-conference opponents that boosted the Razorbacks’ resume.

“You handle your business the first part of the year, and that has a big impact once you get to the end of the season,” Musselman said. “Our players did a great job of playing very, very, very well in non-conference and won some really good games against some very good competition.”

Two non-conference victories for Arkansas against notable programs that before the season would have sounded pretty good — 88-78 over Oklahoma in Tulsa and 80-54 over Louisville in Maui — aren’t as helpful because the Sooners (14-16) are No. 68 in the NET rankings and the Cardinals (4-26) are No. 309.

But a key for the Razorbacks is that they didn’t lose those games away from home.

After the Razorbacks play Kentucky, 11 of their 18 SEC games will have been against teams that finished in the top seven in the conference and have a combined 161-76 overall record going into Saturday’s matchups.

Seven of those 11 games against the top teams in the SEC — that are a combined 81-38 in conference play — were on the road.

In addition to playing Alabama and Kentucky twice, the Razorbacks played home-and-home against Texas A&M (11-8, 14-3), Missouri (22-8, 10-7) and LSU 13-17, 2-15).

The Razorbacks opened SEC play with a 60-57 loss at LSU when the Tigers were 12-1.

It was Arkansas’ first road game of the season and is arguably the Razorbacks’ worst loss considering LSU’s NET ranking of 155. The Razorbacks got some payback with a 60-40 victory over the Tigers in Walton Arena.

Arkansas avoided what would have been a more damaging loss when the Razorbacks held on to win 65-63 at South Carolina (10-20, 3-14), which is No. 233 in the NET rankings.

“The key to this game was desperation,” Arkansas junior guard Ricky Council said after the Razorbacks survived a missed three-point attempt at the buzzer by the Gamecocks. “We knew we couldn’t lose this game.”

Arkansas’ most notable SEC victory was at Kentucky 88-73.

Of the Razorbacks’ 31 regular-season games, including the Kentucky rematch, 28 will have been against opponents among the top 155 in the NET rankings.

The Razorbacks were swept by Alabama — including an 86-83 loss on the road last Saturday — and split against Missouri and Texas A&M with the home teams winning each game.

Arkansas had road losses at Auburn (19-11, 9-8) and Vanderbilt (17-13, 10-7) in addition to Tennessee. Besides Alabama, the only other visiting team to beat the Razorbacks in Walton Arena was Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9).

“It’s a hard schedule, and it’s a very hard schedule to end the year,” Musselman said. “You play on a Saturday at Alabama. You lose a close game, a game that really came down to a possession or two. You fly home and then get on a plane Monday and go play Tennessee.

“So you’re playing the 2nd-ranked team and 12th-ranked team in back-to-back games. And now we have a ranked team in Kentucky coming in on Saturday.”

The Vols handed the Razorbacks their most-lopsided loss of the season, 75-57, in Thompson-Boling Arena.

“Not the record that we would like,” Musselman said of the Razorbacks’ being a game under .500 in SEC play. “Certainly wish we would have played better against Tennessee.

‘But there’s been a lot of games we’ve lost that we put ourselves in a good position to win. So I think we’ve proven we can play with anybody.”

Arkansas sophomore forward Trevon Brazile, a 6-10 transfer from Missouri, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the ninth game against UNC-Greensboro. In the first eight games, he averaged 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds.

Freshman guard Nick Smith, projected as an NBA Draft lottery pick, missed 19 games because of right knee management and returned to the lineup for the second time three weeks ago. He’s averaging 12.8 points, including 21.0 the last three games.

“We’ve had two major injuries,” Musselman said. “I’m not talking about [a player] gets hurt and misses a couple games. I’m talking about guys out for an extended period of time.

“We’ve done a really good job of holding it together and we had to re-invent who we are — and we’re still re-inventing who we are. We’re still experimenting with plays and different ways to get different players involved from an offensive standpoint.

“We’ve been pretty steady all year with our scheme and how we’re going to do things from a defensive standpoint. But certainly the roster makeup changes who you are offensively.”