Arkansas cracked the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. The Lady Razorbacks are ranked No. 23 in the nation after winning their first 12 games of the season under first-year coach Tom Collen.

This weekend, Arkansas will play two games at the Dartmouth Tournament in Hanover, N.H.

“We feel great about being ranked,” Collen said Wednesday. “We have taken the schedule they have given to us and we conquered it. I think we deserve the recognition.”

Collen, though, said he’s not ready to buy into the notion that the Lady Razorbacks are an elite team.

“We’re ranked in the polls because we’re undefeated, not because we have beaten anybody really good yet,” he said. “So, I understand that. We’ve still got our tough games ahead of us.”

Last season, Arkansas jumped out to a 15-1 start and climbed to as high as No. 20 in the AP poll— beating up on weak competition before losing its final 10 games and finishing with a pedestrian 18-13 record.

“They pulled the rug out from underneath themselves,” Collen said. “We realize we’re going to get smacked down. We’re going to lose games. We’re not going to go undefeated.

“But the challenge for this year’s team, as opposed to last year’s team,when you get knocked down are you going to get back up?”

Filed under: Arkansas Women's Sports by Rainer Sabin. Posted on: December 27, 2007 at 6:37 pm