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This wasn't totally unexpected.
If you've been watching our regional projections posts over the last few weeks, you saw that most of the people doing the projections had Arkansas out after losing the series to Auburn last weekend. Two wins in the SEC Tournament, including one over #2 LSU wasn't enough to get Arkansas back into it.
It's easy to complain about the selection. Arkansas swept South Carolina in Columbia and won the series against Mississippi State, both of whom are hosting. The Razorbacks won seven of ten SEC series through the spring and finished with the third best record in league play, and in most years, that would be enough to host.
But it wasn't enough to overcome all the eggs the team laid throughout the year. It started the first weekend with the home loss to Western Illinois, then followed up with an 0-4 effort against three teams on a trip to Arizona, a disaster that effectively knocked Arkansas out of the top 10 for the rest of the season. There was also a home loss to New Mexico and losing a doubleheader (including getting no-hit in one game) at Nebraska.
The good news though is that Arkansas didn't host a regional in the previous two times they eventually made it to Omaha. So they definitely can do it. We're willing to bet whoever gets Arkansas in their regional won't be happy about it. (Most projections before the SEC Tournament had Arkansas going to the Kansas State regional.)
To find out where Arkansas will be heading, watch the selection show at 11:00 am Monday. The one-hour program will be shown live on ESPNU. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the College World Series, and will not reseed the field after play begins.