FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas basketball team could have its first top 10 ranking in 26 years when The Associated Press poll is released at 11 a.m. today.
Arkansas went 2-0 as the No. 12 team last week, winning at South Carolina 101-73 and beating Texas A&M 87-80, while four teams ranked ahead of the Razorbacks lost on Saturday and another lost on Sunday.
No. 6 West Virginia lost at home 85-80 to No. 17 Oklahoma State, which played without star Cade Cunningham because of an ankle injury.
Ohio State, ranked No. 7, lost its fourth consecutive game when No. 4 Illinois beat the Buckeyes 73-68 in Columbus, Ohio.
Villanova, ranked No. 10, lost at Providence 54-52 and No. 11 Florida State lost at Notre Dame 83-73.
On Sunday, No. 2 Michigan lost 70-64 at Michigan State.
AP voters moved Arkansas up eight spots last week, from No. 20 to No. 12, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable the Razorbacks could improve at least two spots given Saturday’s results.
Arkansas last was ranked in the top 10 during the 1994-95 season, when the Razorbacks returned every starter from their national championship team.
The Razorbacks opened that season No. 1 and were No. 6 when they lost to No. 1 UCLA 89-78 in the 1995 NCAA Tournament championship game in Seattle.
West Virginia and Ohio State losing at home and Villanova and Florida State losing on the road to teams that didn’t have winning records underscores the challenges the Razorbacks (21-5, 13-4 SEC) have overcome in winning eight consecutive games and 11 in a row in conference play.
Arkansas rallied from a 14-point deficit against Texas A&M in the first half and didn’t take the lead for good until 56 seconds left on Moses Moody’s three-point basket that put the Razorbacks ahead 79-78.
“I think it was really vital for us to play in a game like this that we had to grind it out,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “That we didn’t play our most cosmetically pleasing game and to still find a way to win.”
Despite the victory Arkansas dropped from No. 12 to No. 17 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, because Texas A&M (8-9, 2-8) was No. 135 coming into the game.
The Razorbacks are projected to be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who had Arkansas No. 9 overall after Saturday’s games. Jerry Palm of CBS Sports also projects the Razorbacks as a No. 3 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas will be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament and play at 6 p.m. Friday in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., against the winner of Thursday night’s Missouri-Georgia game.
Missouri (15-8, 8-8) is the No. 7 seed and Georgia (14-11, 7-11) is the No. 10 seed.
“To win this many games in a row, there’s a reason that a lot of teams don’t do it, because it’s really hard,” Musselman said of the Razorbacks’ SEC streak. “It becomes a grind after six or seven games mentally and physically.
“But look, we know the SEC Tournament is coming up. We understand that the NCAA Tournament is coming up. That’s what we’re onto now.”
Musselman said the Razorbacks would take Sunday completely off before beginning preparations today for the SEC Tournament.
“We’ll do what we’ve done in the past, which means we’ll start getting ready for two teams that are next on the bracket for us, not knowing who will win the game the night before,” Musselman said. ”We’ll start off on Monday going through the top three players on both rosters and their tendencies. Do some station work on their individual moves for those top three players on both teams.
“Then we’ll take their top three offensive sets and we’ll go through our defensive scheme for how we’re going to guard those and then we’ll go through each team’s top base line out of bounds. Then Tuesday we’ll build off of that and so on and so forth until we know exactly who we play.”
The SEC and AP will announce their All-SEC honors on Tuesday, including all-conference teams, player of the year, coach of the year and newcomer of the year.
Coaches vote on the conference honors announced by the SEC and media members vote on the AP’s honors.
Musselman will compete with Alabama’s Nate Oats — who led the Crimson Tide to their first SEC regular-season title since 2002 — for coach of the year honors. Both are among 10 finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year national award.
Moody, a 6-6 freshman guard from Little Rock who is averaging 17.5 points and 5.7 rebounds, figures to be a contender for player of the year and newcomer of the year and should be a lock for first-team All-SEC honors. He scored 28 points in each of the last two games.
“He’s a go-to player on one of the two best teams in the league,” Musselman said.
Alabama senior Herbert Jones and LSU freshman Cameron Thomas are expected to be player of the year candidates along with Moody, and Thomas should be Moody’s main competition for newcomer of the year.
Jones is averaging 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds, but he is an elite defender, and coaches in particular might lean toward rewarding a senior on the SEC’s championship team in their voting. Thomas is averaging 23.1 points to lead the SEC.
Moody no doubt will be on the All-Freshman team chosen by the coaches, and he could be joined by two other Razorbacks in Davonte Davis and Jaylin Williams considering there were eight players on last year’s team.
Arkansas junior guard JD Notae, averaging 12.9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 22.3 minutes off the bench, has a shot to be sixth man of the year.
Connor Vanover, the Razorbacks’ 7-3 sophomore, is a strong candidate to make the All-Defensive Team based on his 50 blocked shots.
Arkansas guard Jalen Tate said he believes Moody should be the SEC’s player of the year and top newcomer.
“He’s right up there, man,” Tate said. “I mean, I know I’m taking my guys over anybody right now, especially with the work that Moses has done on the year.
“I think he’s a shoe-in for both of those awards, honestly. He deserves it.”
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