Razorbacks' Tournament Chances on Life Support After Loss

Top-ranked Auburn closes out win Arkansas had legitimate shot at winning late on road

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari talks to a game official during the first half against the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena. | John Reed-Imagn Images

AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas may need a miracle run they haven't put together in a quarter of a century to make the NCAA Tournament now. A 67-60 loss to No. 1 Auburn pretty much sealed that Wednesday night.

"Every game we play is an NCAA Tournament game now," Razorbacks coach John Calipari said. "I didn’t want to say that before Texas A&M because I thought they’d miss every shot.

"But I said it for this game and I’m saying it’s our NCAA. That is a Final Four game, because that’s what they are."

We'll see how that pressure plays out for a team that is not what fans were expecting when Calipari was hired away from Kentucky in April. Wildcats' faithful will say they warned everybody, but nobody in Arkansas was listening.

Now the margin of error has shrunk to almost zero more games they have to lose. This is like what Nolan Richardson had to pull off with the 2000 Razorbacks. They only got in because of a run in the SEC Tournament and everybody else was over-looking them.

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Billy Richmond III (24) grabs a rebound over Auburn Tigers center Dylan Cardwell (44) during the second half at Neville Arena. | John Reed-Imagn Images

Calipari, though, is sounding more and more like a coach who's developing a team for next season. Don't expect him to say that because he's still trying to win games this year, but the changing face of college athletics is kind of making him re-think things.

"The whole idea is not who you’re bringing in," Calipari said. "It’s who you’re retaining. So when you look at this roster, they’re all grad students. They’re all seniors, and they all played together, a bunch of them. Same thing with Buzz [Williams' Texas A&M] team."

In other words, teams want talented freshmen, but the days of recruiting the five best high school players in the country and making a title run are long gone. Thank the transfer portal for all of that.

Auburn Tigers guard Miles Kelly (13) goes up for a layup against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Neville Arena | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Calipari will still try to get some of the best high school players, but somebody's probably watching the portal and evaluating those guys more.

"Now all of a sudden, [Auburn] has got a little rhythm going and the rest of us are trying to figure out how are we doing this and how are we going to finish," Calipari said. "They’re good and they’re older than most of his teams. Probably that’s the right way to go. Just go, get older players, retain the ones you have and go from there."

He may get an early start on everybody else, though. Unless the Hogs get on a historic run, they will be done whenever they finish the SEC Tournament.

Before you start thinking I'm being completely over the top here, I said almost the exact same words in 2000 at this time of the season. They ended up winning the SEC.

Right now the Razorbacks need all the luck they can muster.

HOGS FEED:

• Auburn hangs on against Arkansas; protects No. 1 ranking

• All options on table for Razorbacks' SEC transfer in logjam

• Hogs' 1990 Final Four team to be honored at Saturday's game

• Who Hogs will host for official visits this summer?

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