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Bracketology 2020: Northern Iowa, UCLA, Texas in trouble after tough week

By Andrew Dieckhoff

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 15: Tyger Campbell #10 of the UCLA Bruins talks to head coach Mick Cronin while playing Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion on January 15, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 15: Tyger Campbell #10 of the UCLA Bruins talks to head coach Mick Cronin while playing Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion on January 15, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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FAYETTEVILLE, AR – FEBRUARY 26: Isaiah Joe #1 of the Arkansas Razorbacks (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
FAYETTEVILLE, AR – FEBRUARY 26: Isaiah Joe #1 of the Arkansas Razorbacks (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Arkansas Razorbacks (19-12, 7-11 SEC)

It was another puzzling, frustrating week for the Razorbacks, as the team split its final two SEC games of the regular season—just not in the way they necessarily would have expected. During the week, the Hogs outlasted LSU in a shootout in Fayetteville, scoring a crucial 99-90 victory that immediately qualifies as their best of the season. It was an extremely well-timed win, as it gave Arkansas a Quadrant 1 victory that they desperately needed.

Unfortunately, in the next breath, the Razorbacks incurred their second-worst loss of the year. During a Saturday trip to College Station, Arkansas was bested by a Texas A&M team that has shown improvement in the tail end of the season. Still, while the road loss to the Aggies currently qualifies as a Quadrant 2 defeat for Arkansas, their record in those games is now just 2-6. The Hogs may not have any truly ugly losses on their resume, but their 6-12 record in Quadrant 1 and 2 games is cause for grave concern.

Besides their win this past week against LSU, the most impressive win for first-year head coach Eric Musselman is a December triumph over Indiana. The Hoosiers, for all the griping between Archie Miller and Joe Lunardi, appear to be headed to the Big Dance. That being said, the Razorbacks’ other four Q1/2 wins were against Alabama, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. None of those four squads currently project as NCAA Tournament teams, which could work against Arkansas.

The most interesting wrinkle about this team is that they played a stretch of their SEC season without one of their top players, Isaiah Joe. It remains to be seen whether or not the selection committee will take his injury into account, but it should be noted that Arkansas lost all but one of the games that Joe missed. How much leeway, if any, will his healthy return buy for the Hogs?

Perhaps the best plan is to remove all doubt by winning next week’s SEC Tournament. Their loss to Texas A&M made that task more difficult, however, as Arkansas ended up earning the #11 seed in the bracket. That means they will have to face a last-place Vanderbilt team that is coming in fresh off a win over South Carolina, who will face the winner of Razorbacks-Commodores.

Those two wins alone likely won’t be enough, though. Arkansas will probably need to beat LSU again and would certainly benefit from an upset of Auburn, as well. Short of that, this team will be sweating like pigs as they await word of their NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday.

Out west, another first-year head coach has also backed himself into a corner heading into the Pac-12 Tournament.

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