15. Arkansas (23-8)
The SEC has a number of pretty solid teams once again this season but Arkansas has shown to be just a bit better than the average this season. While they have dropped some tough games, including that horrible performance at Florida last weekend, the Razorbacks have stockpiled wins over those solid teams and have looked more and more like the real deal this season.
They had quite the fireworks earlier this week, winning 105-85 in their home finale over Texas. Darius Acuff Jr. starred with 28 points and 13 assists while Trevon Brazile added 28 points himself to down the Longhorns. An injury surprisingly kept Acuff out of the regular season finale, but Arkansas still got just enough to win 88-84 at Missouri in overtime. Meleek Thomas was the hero this time with 28 points while Brazile finished a great week with 19 points and 9 rebounds.
Two more important wins gets Arkansas to 13-5 in the SEC and that coveted bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The work from this team has been far from perfect, especially on the defensive end, but John Calipari’s teams of the past have a way of putting it all together in March. The Razorbacks are hopeful they can make a postseason run and clearly need Acuff back at full strength for that to happen.