Razorbacks Land No. 4 Seed in West, But Open in Buffalo
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The NCAA Selection Committee may not have done Arkansas and favors Sunday evening.
The Razorbacks, seeded fourth in the West Region, will face Vermont, the region’s No. 13 seed, on Thursday in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Championship. The game will be in Buffalo’s KeyBank Center.
Times and television will be announced later.
The Hogs earned its 35th NCAA bid and second straight.
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports
SEC
SEC
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports
This is the sixth time in program history the Hogs have earned a No. 4 seed and the 13th time to be among the top-4 seeds since the NCAA began its current seeding process for the 1979 championship.
The previous No. 4 seeds came in 1999, 1993, 1990, 1983 and 1982.
Arkansas is 21-12 in NCAA Tournament openers and own a 45-33 all-time record in NCAA action.
The Hogs (25-8; 13-5 SEC) finished fourth in the SEC regular-season and are No. 20 in the both the NCAA Net and the KenPom.com ranking.
This was the 14th time Arkansas posted 25 wins and the marks the first time since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons the Razorbacks accomplished the feat in back-to-back seasons.
The Hogs won at least 13 games in the SEC for just the fifth time in program history and it was the first time ever to accomplish the feat in back-to-back years.
They started the SEC season 0-3 (losing five-of-six overall) before turning its season around.
After the 0-3 start in league play, the Hogs won their next eight conference games and became the first major conference team to win eight consecutive conference games immediately following an 0-3 (or worse) start to league play since UCLA accomplished the feat in 1981-82.
Overall, the Razorbacks won nine straight games, including a victory over West Virginia in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge and closed the regular-season by winning 14 of its final 16 games.
Both losses came on the road versus Quad 1 opponents (Alabama and Tennessee) by a combined five points.
The Hogs accomplished their strong finish despite playing arguably the toughest schedule in the country (factually for the final five regular-season games).
Including the SEC Tournament, nine of Arkansas’ final 10 opponents are NCAA Quad 1 opponents, and the Hogs posted 7-3 record including wins over then No. 1 Auburn, then No. 16 Tennessee and then No. 6 Kentucky.
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports
Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports
Other Quad 1 wins this season include a road win at Florida, a road win over then-No. 12 LSU, a home win over LSU and a win over LSU in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal.
Arkansas is 7-6 versus Quad 1 teams, 5-1 versus Quad 2, 6-1 versus Quad 3 and 7-0 versus Quad 4 teams.
This will be the first time Arkansas has faced Vermont.
Vermont, who has a Net of 52, won the America East tournament to be an automatic qualifier and posted a 28-5 record this season.
With a first-round win, Arkansas would face the winner of No. 5 UConn and No. 12 New Mexico State on Saturday.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
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