It's Going to Hurt, but Hog Faithful Must Now Be Kentucky Fans

Scorching hot Vanderbilt stealing Arkansas Razorbacks' role as most dangerous team

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Mar 4, 2023 11:10 PM EST
Original:
Mar 4, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When Trevon Brazile went out and then Nick Smith, Jr. fell out of the line-up a second time, the prevailing line of thought was that Arkansas would struggle for a bit, but would be the team no one wanted any part of come March in tournament play.

It turns out, that role got stolen by someone this group of Razorbacks dislikes perhaps even more than Kentucky.

Vanderbilt.

As of this writing, the Commodores lead a salty Mississippi State team that is desperately trying to fight its way into the NCAA Tournament by 10 points at the half.

Last weekend they took down the same No. 23 Kentucky team that literally knocked the Razorbacks up side of the head in their own arena while leading for just shy of 39 minutes.

If Vanderbilt holds on tonight, that will be nine straight SEC wins for the Commodores. That streak will include a win in Rupp Arena and wins over Tennessee and Auburn in Nashville.

That means that out of the eight SEC teams projected to have a shot at hearing their names called on Selection Sunday, the Commodores will have beaten five, including Arkansas.

They can also boast of a Top 25 win over Pitt.

If that score holds against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt will be tied at 11-7 with Tennessee and Missouri. With Alabama coming three shots away from being 0-4 the past two weeks, it's easy to argue that the Commodores are the league's hottest team.

Meanwhile, it looks like Arkansas will take on Auburn at 6 p.m. next Thursday in a battle of two teams that came into the season with high expectations only to fall flat.

This was initially expected to not only be an elimination game for both teams as it pertains to the SEC Tournament, it was potentially an NCAA Tournament play-in game where the loser gets relegated to the NIT.

However, the Auburn upset of Tennessee to close out the regular season has likely made this a bracket or bust situation only for Arkansas.

A win should do enough to get Arkansas into the dance, but another loss, especially if it's by double-digits, might be too much of an albatross for the selection committee to ignore.

The Razorbacks would be 2-6 to close the season and there would be no reason to attribute the rough start to the SEC to not having Nick Smith in the line-up.

At that point, it would come down to quality wins. For Arkansas those would be San Diego State, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Missouri.

That would put Razorback fans in the awkward position of cheering for Kentucky in Friday's quarterfinals after spending an entire Saturday spewing venom and vitriol about the Wildcats to a level that pastors across the state are going to have to deliver double services on asking for forgiveness tomorrow morning.

That's because while there's no such thing as a safe bet in the SEC Tournament, Vanderbilt beating either Georgia or LSU is about as close to a lock as it can get. Should the Commodores take down Kentucky also, they are suddenly in an argument for one of the final NCAA Tournament slots that Arkansas can't win.

Vanderbilt would have 11 consecutive SEC wins and 13 overall. Arkansas would be five games back at eight.

Vanderbilt would have 20 wins. Arkansas would have 19.

Vanderbilt would have two recent wins over a Kentucky team that out-muscled Arkansas on its own floor bell to bell and another over a Tennessee team that curb stomped the Razorbacks through the court in Knoxville. They would have also beaten a Mississippi State team and an Auburn team that Arkansas couldn't hang with in three tries.

Vanderbilt would have six quality wins. Arkansas only has four.

And, of course, there's the big kicker.

Vanderbilt beat Arkansas on the court.

If Razorback fans don't want to watch the Commodores live the Hog's dream of becoming the NCAA Tournament's most dangerous team, then they're going to have to learn to bleed a little Kentucky blue.

And it's going to hurt.

Probably as much as a pair of Oscar Tshiebwe elbows to the brain.