The Arkansas Razorbacks had high expectations heading into this season, especially after prying head coach John Calipari away from the Kentucky Wildcats. This season ahs been far from easy, considering how tough the SEC has been, as a whole. After all, the likes of Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida are all in the running for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas has been going through it a bit since January, at one point going on a five-game losing streak against SEC foes Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, and Missouri. But entering Saturday, the Razorbacks have won three of their last four games. All that was awaiting them in the regular season finale were the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who were ranked No. 25 in the country.
Arkansas managed to defeat Mississippi State 93-92. The Bulldogs missed out on two chances to take the lead with only 11 seconds remaining on failed layup attempts by Riley Kugel and RJ Melendez. With that, Arkansas improved to 19-10 on the year and 8-10 in conference play. But what does this win do to their NCAA Tournament chances?
Let's take a look at Arkansas' bracketology.
Arkansas bracketology: Does win over Mississippi State help Razorbacks
This should definitely help their chances, especially after ESPN's Joe Lunardi's bracketology update prior to noon tipoff on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Lunardi had Arkansas as a "last four byes" team, alongside Utah State, Georgia, and Ohio State. In the bracket, Lunardi gave the Razorbacks the No. 11 seed in the West Region.
Considering Arkansas picked up a win, they should remain in that spot at minimum.
While the regular season is over, Arkansas will be competing in the SEC Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, March 12. If the Razorbacks are to go on a run, that could help their case and remove them from the bubble altogether.
As of now, they will be the No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament, considering they defeated Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Georiga, who are all tied for ninth place in the conference standings. To ensure they are safe, they will need to get past the 16th seed, South Carolina, in the opening round. If the Razorbacks can do that, they should be safe for March Madness.