Why Razorbacks Keep Climbing as SEC Basketball Power Rankings Reshuffle

The SEC doesn’t sit still, and neither do the Arkansas Razorbacks.

That’s been the lesson of this season, especially as the league’s power rankings keep reshuffling like a deck of cards nobody can quite organize.

One week, a team looks settled. The next week, it’s scrambling. Arkansas has lived right in that churn, trying to figure out who it is while still stacking wins.

For the Hogs, the story isn’t about chasing a number beside their name. It’s about finding rhythm in a league that doesn’t allow much of it.

Some nights, that rhythm comes from freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr., who keeps putting his name in headlines with scoring bursts and steady play.

Other nights, it comes from Meleek Thomas, who doesn’t always announce himself with numbers but does it with electricity. That was the case in an 83-79 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday night.

Watch Meleek Thomas (#1 in corner) celebrate after this huge and-one by Darius Acuff

Chemistry is flowing! pic.twitter.com/RFQo0Gx9aA
— Will Whitson (@will2whitson) January 28, 2026

Acuff Jr. got the headlines later, but it was Thomas' free throws with 11 seconds left that closed out the win.

Thomas has been Arkansas’ temperature changer. He’s the one who makes the crowd lean forward. He’s the one who turns a routine possession into something louder.

While Acuff has become the face of the freshman class, Thomas has become its spark.

That matters in the SEC, where games swing fast and confidence doesn’t wait around.

The Razorbacks are navigating the same thing everyone else is — a league with depth, physicality, and no easy outs.

Arkansas hasn’t separated itself from the pack yet, but it hasn’t fallen behind it either. The Hogs are very much in the mix, which feels like the most honest place to be right now.

And that’s why the power rankings matter less as predictions and more as snapshots.

They don’t tell you where Arkansas will finish. They tell you where the Razorbacks are standing while everything moves around them.

This week’s SEC basketball power rankings, compiled by Adam Spencer of Saturday Down South, reflect that ongoing motion. There’s another new No. 1. There’s movement up and down. And there’s very little separation once you get past the top tier.

Arkansas is right in the thick of it, leaning on freshmen, learning on the fly, and figuring out which version of itself is real.

That’s where players like Thomas become critical. In a league where scouting is deep and adjustments are constant, unpredictability is a weapon. Thomas brings that. He doesn’t just fit into the game. He bends it.

That doesn’t always show up cleanly in rankings. But it shows up when Arkansas needs a jolt.

Coach Cal has praised Meleek Thomas for overcoming poor-shooting first halves and making shots that helped the Hogs stay close in back-to-back games.

Thomas nailed two free-throws with 0:11 left to ice the game in Arkansas's road win at OU. He finished with 16 points. #wps pic.twitter.com/D2flGstnQE
— Armando Barry (@ArmandoBarry6) January 28, 2026

The power rankings show the Hogs are in the mix to have good shot at getting that bye at the SEC Tournament.

For the Razorbacks, sitting fourth isn’t a destination. It’s a checkpoint.

Arkansas is still shaping its identity, still leaning on youth, still figuring out how to finish games cleanly against a league full of grown men.

Acuff gives the Hogs steadiness. Thomas gives them edge. Together, they give Arkansas something it hasn’t always had this season — options.

And in the SEC, options matter.

The rankings will change again. They always do. Auburn won’t stay in one spot. Tennessee won’t stop climbing. Somebody near the top will stumble. Somebody near the bottom will steal a night.

What Arkansas can control is simpler. Keep growing. Keep defending. Keep letting Thomas be electric and Acuff be reliable.

If the Hogs do that, the next version of the rankings won’t feel like pressure. It’ll feel like opportunity.

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