Review of Bracketology Provides Insight on Quality of Arkansas Schedule

Razorback fans will find numerous familiar faces along projected path to NCAA Final Four

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Dec 12, 2022 11:05 AM EST
Original:
Dec 12, 2022

In this story:

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.