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Arkansas is still included in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology projection for the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed. However, he now has the Hogs heading to Raleigh to take on Iowa in the first round.
The Hogs were the second team in the "Last Four Byes" in the December 16th update, but are now the third, so basically, he moved Arkansas down one spot. Even though the Hogs haven't lost since the Maui Tournament, they've played a pretty soft schedule since playing Clemson in early December, and that has caused the team's RPI to go down. It now sits at #41 with one more bad non conference team to play.
He still has six SEC teams in the tournament, which would be great for Arkansas' schedule. Razorback non-conference opponents Minnesota and Louisiana-Lafayette are also currently in the field.
Arkansas is also included in Jerry Palm's most recent projections. He has the Hogs as an 8-seed playing Texas (!) in the first round in Buffalo. This brings up an interesting question, if we all agree that the Hogs' main goal is just making the tournament, do you prefer the dreaded 8/9 game with a fun opponent like Texas, even if it means playing Syracuse in basically a true road game a couple of days later, or be a lower seed with a better chance at a Cinderella run by avoiding the one-seed for as long as possible?
Also, if we're going to pick the location of Arkansas' potential first round games, the Hogs would get pretty lucky to get selected for the St. Louis games. Which means that likely won't happen, but we can dream.
Arkansas' first SEC opponent, Texas A&M, lost last weekend to North Texas. At home. By 20 points. The Aggies are currently the second-lowest rated SEC team in RPI at number 209, so that's quickly becoming a more important game for Arkansas, as losing to anybody rated over 200, even on the road, will tank Arkansas' RPI. Of course, after that game, the Razorbacks will have some big RPI opportunities in hosting Florida and Kentucky.
