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Arkansas Razorbacks Bracketology NCAA Tournament Projections: February 13th

The Bracketology experts are updating twice a week, and so are we. Have the Hogs moved up or down?

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

We spend so much time discussing RPI in tournament resumes without really explaining what RPI is, so it seems like a good idea to do that now.

RPI or Ratings Percentage Index is a formula that combines a team's winning percentage with their opponent's win percentage and their opponent's opponent's win percentage.  A team's RPI is made up of 25% their winning percentage, 50% Opponent winning percentage, and 25% Opponent's Opponent's winning percentage.

"But everyone is talking about how road wins matter?"

The win percentage is weighted for road games over home games.  0.6 points are available for a home win, 1.0 points for a neutral court win, and 1.4 points for a road win.  The points a team has are divided by the points available and then weighted.

The Razorbacks have an RPI of .6120 and are ranked number 23 currently.  This is largely built off of the improved scheduling of the SEC, the terrific win percentage the Hogs are carrying, and more ambitious scheduling by the Hogs out of conference.

So with that in mind, here's how the latest brackets are shaping up:

  • ESPN: 6-seed vs Stephen F. Austin in Portland, with the winner playing the Utah/UC Davis winner.
  • CBS: 5-seed in Jacksonville vs Wofford, with the winner playing the Oklahoma/Murray State winner.
  • SB Nation: 6-seed vs Illinois in Portland. The winner playing the Utah/Stephen F. Austin winner.
  • Fox Sports: 6-seed vs Stanford in Omaha. The winner would play the Oklahoma/Eastern Washington winner.
  • USA Today: (not updated since Sunday) 6-seed vs St. John's (they don't project which teams go to which location). The winner would play the Louisville/Buffalo winner.
  • The NCAA held a mock selection in Indianapolis for the media this week. They ended up putting Arkansas in Columbus as a 6-seed vs the UCLA/Oregon play-in winner and potentially playing Louisville in the 2nd round:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>All 68 teams placed. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MockSelection?src=hash">#MockSelection</a> <a href="http://t.co/MRhPUD6uN2">pic.twitter.com/MRhPUD6uN2</a></p>&mdash; Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href="https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/566321872061874178">February 13, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

  • ESPN Bubble Watch: The Hogs are listed as a team "that should be in".  Kentucky remains the only lock from the SEC, while Georgia, A&M, Ole Miss, and LSU are still keeping their bubble from bursting.