Arkansas Basketball: Who will the Razorbacks play in the PK80 Tournament?

The Arkansas Razorbacks earned a spot in the Phil Knight Invitational, but who will they play in the PK80?

Last season, the Arkansas Razorbacks went 26-10 overall and 12-6 in SEC play, enough for a third-place finish in the SEC and a trip to the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks would make it to the SEC Tournament Championship Game before getting blown out by the Kentucky Wildcats and came extremely close to knocking off the North Carolina Tar Heels for a trip to the Sweet 16.

Sure, you can point to the fact that North Carolina received a lot of help from suddenly tight refereeing at the end of the game, but a loss is a loss and the Razorbacks should have put away the eventual National Champions away well before that.

Who knows, if they had been able to win that game, we might have had an SEC team win it all – or even Gonzaga, who I would personally prefer to North Carolina.

Ranting aside, Arkansas will head into the 2017-18 season ready to build on the 2016-17 campaign. Mie Anderson has this team competing at a top level once again, and, due to returners and incoming recruits, the Razorbacks should finish in the top half of the SEC.

We’ll get a good look at Arkansas against top non-conference opposition in the PK80, however, as they play the Oklahoma Sooners at the Moda Center on November 24 during Session 1. Based on whether they win or lose, they will play North Carolina or the Portland Pilots in their second game of the “Victory Bracket.”

Next: Check out the rest of the PK80 field

The rest of the Victory Bracket includes the Georgetown Hoyas, Michigan State Spartans, Connecticut Huskies, and Oregon Ducks, so we are all but guaranteed some exciting match-ups for the Razorbacks down the road.