This article originally appeared on January 8, 2014 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.
Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
That’s exactly what the Razorbacks’ season means up until today,
with Southeastern Conference play beginning at Texas A&M.
Sure, the 11-2 record looks nice on paper. So does Arkansas’
SEC-leading 87.2 points per game, 49.4 field goal percentage, 17.2 assists per
game, 19.1 turnovers forced per game and plus-7.1 turnover margin.
However, tonight marks the beginning of a new season. Arkansas’
postseason fate will be determined by how it performs in SEC play, specifically
on the road.
In head coach Mike Anderson’s first year at Arkansas, the 2011-12
season, the Razorbacks went 12-4 in nonconference play. A 6-10 record in SEC play,
though, caused Arkansas to miss the NCAA Tournament and NIT.
If you need more evidence to support the argument that you can’t
put too much stock in nonconference play, you don’t need to look further than
the 2008-09 season.
That year, the Razorbacks went 12-1 in nonconference games,
including victories over No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas in a span of eight
days.
It seemed as if Arkansas would crack the top 25 and possibly earn
a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Razorbacks lost their first
four SEC game and finished the season with a 2-15 record against conference
opponents.
Anderson must refocus his team and throw the nonconference
schedule out the window if Arkansas expects to contend in the SEC and make
postseason play.
This is the 26th
and final of a series of short articles about the Arkansas basketball team.
Each day leading up to SEC play, I posted an entry about something basketball
related that started with each letter of the alphabet. Here are links to the
previous 25 entries. Enjoy…
No comments:
Post a Comment