Two incredibly well-known National Championship coaches with teams that many believed underachieved this year meet in a 10-7 matchup in the first round of the West Region in Providence, RI. At the beginning of the season, if you told pundits that these two teams would meet in the tournament, the thought would be that it’d be an Elite Eight/Final Four game. Now it’s a Ffirst-roundmatchup.
Well, this, quite honestly, at first glance, is one of the most intriguing first-round matchups in the tournament.
Providence might be hosting some of the most intriguing games of the first round with St. John’s making an appearance as a two-seed and the excitement that’s bringing. Also, Purdue is in Providence, and I am a big Purdue fan! (I graduated from Purdue!) So there is special intrigue for me there as well!
How to watch Arkansas vs Kansas
How to watch North Carolina vs San Diego State
Date: Thursday, March 20th
Time: 7:10 p.m. ET
Location: Amica Mutual Pavillion, Providence, RI
How to Watch (TV): CBS
Streaming: fubo TV
Arkansas record: 20-13
Kansas record: 21-9
Arkansas vs Kansas odds, spread and total
Odds provided by FanDuel Sportsbook
Moneyline
Arkansas +146
Kansas -176
Spread
Arkansas +3.5 (-120)
Kansas -4.5 (-102)
Total
144.5 (over -110/under -110)
Arkansas injury report
Boogie Fland, G: Probable (foot)
Kansas injury report
None
Arkansas and Kansas series history
Kansas record vs.Arkansas: 8-6
As far as Arkansas vs. Kansas goes, it’s a matchup that’s on at 7:10 on CBS, so the networks really know how intriguing this matchup is. John Calipari pretty much-shocked everyone by taking the Arkansas Job after leading Kentucky for 15 seasons. He brought in a lot of transfers, and the excitement around the program was, yeah, a cliche is on the way,…palpable. His team took a beating in the conference of NIL/the conference of “It Just Means More…Money!”, ending up with a sub-.500 conference record. In most conferences, that’s an immediate early off-season, but in the conference of NIL, that meant the Razorbacks were getting in their boogie shoes.
Boogie Fland (15.1 ppg) returns after being injured for a lot of conference play, when many thought he was done for the season. Arkansas said “not so fast” and he’s back. Good timing I guess. He’s a PG who can lead a battle-tested team into the tournament. Look out for Adou Thiero down low, he leads the team in scoring (15.6 points a game) and rebounding (6.0 rebounds a game). Adou is from Pittsburgh, so I’m going to tell here, ADOU WHY DIDNT YOU GO TO PITT?!?. (Yes I’m a Pitt fan as well. H2P).
On the Kansas side, Bill Self’s team has honestly been pretty disappointing. They were preseason number one in the AP poll, but it just has felt like they never got into a rhythm. Hunter Dickinson has put up good statistics, 17.6 points per game, and 10.0 rebounds per game, and so has Zeke Mayo, 14.5 points per game, but the team just doesn’t have the same gusto as past Kansas teams. It’s very similar to last year’s Kansas team, one who earned a four seed, in that they just kind of struggled more than usual in the regular season.
I mean, most teams would take a seven seed in the tournament, but with the big expectations in the preseason, many KU fans probably see this as a disappointment. Although winning six games in a row would definitely change that sentiment.
Both teams have skill, both teams underachieved, and both are led by iconic coaches in a matchup that, like I said, at the beginning of the season people thought could be a Final Four matchup in the Alamodome in San Antonio.But, this is a superb first round matchup, that I am excited about and with both teams boasting the players they have, could be darkhorse teams to make a long run.
Should be a wonderful one. I think Arkansas wins because Boogie Fland is back. He adds an element to Arkansas that they haven’t had since his injury, and with the combination of him, Johnell Davis, and Adou Thiero (go to Pitt) down low, the Razorbacks might have their groove back, just like Stella. Also, I’m not one to comment on one’s name, quite frankly it doesn’t matter, but having the name Boogie is quite spectacular. And if his middle name was Nights, that would be quite something.
Prediction: Arkansas 87, Kansas 83