Hogs, Dawgs Save SEC's Financial Bacon Wednesday Night

Talking heads were already working overtime at costing the SEC millions, then Arkansas, Georgia stepped up to the plate with stunners over ACC foes

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Nov 30, 2023 4:48 PM EST

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

The SEC owes Arkansas and Georgia a favor for bailing them out late Wednesday night.

The ESPN hype machine espousing the greatness of the ACC had already cranked up. Talking heads were going on and on about how the ACC's dominance of the SEC was going to mean so much come March when the selection committee would have no choice to do anything other than give spots that might have gone to the SEC to additional ACC teams.

When the talk was going on, there was reason to believe the worst the ACC would finish was a 9-5 edge, although 10-4 was definitely possible. Alabama had left a warm deposit in their sleeping quarters, Reveille apparently ordered Texas A&M to stop scoring against Virginia, and Tennessee was down by what felt like 300 at halftime in a game against North Carolina that was nowhere near as close as the final 100-92 would indicate.

By the time Arkansas tipped off, things were desperate. The league was in danger of losing all respect. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Georgia was down 17 to Florida State on the road with just over six minutes to play, so the Razorbacks' role at that time appeared to be avoiding SEC embarrassment, not breaking even.

Then the unexpected happened. Arkansas came out in the second half of a close game and began running away. A double-digit lead built up, reaching a point where it almost felt safe for the older people at home to doze off in the late hours.

At the same time, Georgia came storming back to tie it. That set the stage for Justin Hill to pull up for a contested fall-away jumper that went down with 1.5 seconds left to stun the Seminoles.

That left it to Arkansas to pull the league even. When forward Trevon Brazile knocked down a three to put the Razorbacks up 73-61, it seemed elemental. However, it was a white-knuckle ride the rest of the way for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey as the Hogs turned it over four times trying to figure out the basic concepts of beating the press.

Fortunately for the SEC, Arkansas held on. There was a lot of money made from those final two games because it put a stopper in the talking heads. They were ready to talk the SEC out of all but maybe three bids to the NCAA Tournament to allow for more ACC at-large bids.

Just like has been the case the last three seasons when it's come to the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas saved the SEC's reputation once again and roughly $20 million in potential lost revenue. With a thanks to help from the least likeliest of basketball programs – Georgia.