Hogs’ RPI still high despite losses
After that shellacking Wednesday at No. 4 Tennessee and today’s six-point loss at Mississippi State, Arkansas’ RPI standing is still pretty steady and high at No. 35, according to RealtimeRPI.com.
The Razorbacks have yet to prove they can win on the road in the SEC to help secure thoughts of an NCAA Tournament bid, but the remainder of the UA’s road schedule should play favorably.
Here’s the Hogs’ remaining schedule, with RPI ratings:
Date Opponent Record RPI
Feb. 20 LSU 8-15 (2-8) 193 Feb. 23 at Kentucky 13-10 (7-3) 74 Feb. 27 at Alabama 14-12 (3-8) 109 March 1 Vanderbilt 22-4 (7-4) 21 March 4 at Mississippi 17-7 (3-7) 47 March 8 Auburn 13-10 (3-7) 136
The supposed easiness of the remaining schedule is a catch-22, though. With RPIs in the 45-195 range, save for Vanderbilt, every Arkansas loss the rest of the way could prove to be bigger than early SEC hiccups to lowly South Carolina and Georgia.
Trap games are the emotionally-driven No. 193 LSU Tigers this Wednesday fresh off the firing of John Brady, and No. 109 Alabama, which played Arkansas to overtime the last time they met.
I say if the Hogs can win their three home games (LSU, Vandy and Auburn), and one on the road (Kentucky, Alabama and Ole Miss), Razorbacks fans can pack their bags for the Big Dance. A 10-6 SEC record and an SEC Tournament win for cushion would get the Hogs in, even if the conference is weaker than usual this year.
4 Responses to “Hogs’ RPI still high despite losses”
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I think the hogs will get in the dance. Bottom line though is this team has decent talent, but lacks the killer instict of great teams from the past as well as the killer instrict of coach Pelphrey. Big men for some reason want to dribble in the lane which on Saturday & last Wednesday led to turnovers. On Saturday when Arkansas played great defense & team offense they went on a 19-2 run against MS State or whatever the run was. Once they got the lead it seemed it was whoever had the ball trying to drive the lane & make off balance shots. Irving thinks he has to be the team. While he played some what decent Saturday, over two years he has been a problem with playing team ball. He is no where as good as his actions lead me to believe he thinks he is. Teams with great guard play do what Tenn did to Arkansas last Wednesday. I for one will be happy to see this class go & get to the point where we have Pelphreys recruits. Give him time, he will lead us to the promise land all of miss so dearly. It takes more than talent, it takes a burning desire to sacrafice for the better of the team. While team play & sacrafice has improved under Pelphrey. These players are too far gone with selfish bad habbits. Wewill get in the big dance, and can possibly make it to sweet 16 if we have match ups with teams that have guard play that is weak such as ours. Morethan likely though we will win 1st round & lose in the 2nd round. That will at least match the under acheiving Senior year of Mayberry, Day & Miller.
Gary Erwin seems to believe that he is a shooting guard, as opposed to a point. Corey Beck was one of the best point guards the Razorbacks have had, and rarely jacked up the ball, like Erwin. Beck was the “engine” which drove the car. Erwin is no Beck.
I am ready for these consistently underachieving seniors to graduate. Pel has an outstanding freshman class coming in next year and he will bring the program back to where it belongs - the top.
It’s just too bad that these seniors didn’t get more exposure to Coach Pelphrey. To hear that these guys are still growing and still learning to play as a team doesn’t say much for Coach Heath, he didn’t teach these boys much in his time here.
The dribbling by the big guys drives me crazy, one dribble, maximum, in the lane for a big man to reset his feet and head to the basket. Our big men have really lost out, at a time when a big man really needs solid instruction they were given Coach Heath.
I can’t wait to see what the under-classmen and our new kids do over the next few years with Coach Pelphrey driving this thing. It’s gonna be great.
GO HOGS GO!!!
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