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- Other than Arkansas winning it’s own games, the most important thing for the Razorbacks is for Vanderbilt and Georgia to do well. Both schools are fringe top-50 teams (Vandy inside at #44, Georgia outside at #53) and top-50 wins are a big part of NCAA Tournament selection and seeding. Arkansas’ RPI likely won’t change much unless they lose to Missouri or beat Florida and/or Kentucky.
- Houston is also sitting right on RPI #50. Cheer for them in the AAC Tournament.
- The SEC basketball honors were released today. Moses Kingsley made All-SEC 2nd Team and was named to the All-Defensive Team. That’s it. There were 16 total players chosen. Georgia had two 1st-teamers. Texas A&M had two 2nd-teamers. South Carolina had the Player of the Year. Arkansas finished ahead of all of them. And Mike Anderson isn’t Coach of the Year? Either they underrated the other Razorbacks or they underrated Anderson. Or both.
- What does Dusty Hannahs have to do to get some recognition from the league? He finished 11th in the league in scoring while playing just 24.6 minutes per game, more than 3 minutes less than everyone in the top 10. Last year he finished 8th and was also not recognized. I think he still has a reputation as a pure three-point shooter. He isn’t a great defender, in fact he was often taken out of close games when defensive stops were necessary. But I think he’s a consistent enough scorer to warrant some recognition.
- Kingsley maybe should’ve been Defensive Player of the Year. Robert Williams from Texas A&M won it. Kingsley led the league in blocked shots at 2.58 per game, and he altered lord knows how many more, so he has a case. He also committed almost 30 more fouls than Williams and had a lower blocks-per-40 minutes number. So it may not be cut and dry, but he has a case.
- According to KenPom’s SEC Tournament forecast, Arkansas has a 68.2% chance of making it to Saturday, 19.6% chance of making it to Sunday, and 6.2% chance of winning the Tournament. So there you go.
- #WednesdayNightSadness Update: This is the 5th year the SEC has had a 14-team tournament, and therefore this is the 5th year of Wednesday Night Sadness. Only one school has participated every single year - Auburn. Mississippi State would have participated each year had Missouri not been banned from the postseason last year. Other numbers: South Carolina 3x, Missouri 3x*, Texas A&M 1x, Vanderbilt 1x, Tennessee 1x, and LSU 1x.
- I’m not asking for a lot for this SEC Tournament. But starting in 2009, Arkansas has only won SEC Tournament games in 2015. That’s it. From 2009-2016, they’ve only won those two games in 2015. 7 out of the last 8 years they’ve lost their first game. So please win on Friday. That’s really all I’m asking this year. Anything that might happen over the weekend is gravy.