21. Arkansas (5-1)
Something that John Calipari has thrived at throughout his collegiate coaching career has been bringing talent into his programs. He’s done that once again with the Razorbacks and is hoping to make an even bigger splash in year two in Fayetteville. His Razorbacks blew a big chance at Michigan State a few weeks ago and are fresh off a close call against Samford, but surely they could break into another gear?
The immediate answer was no, as Arkansas barely scraped by Winthrop on Tuesday, clinging to an 84-83 victory. They survived a really rough effort on defense thanks to 26 points from freshman Meleek Thomas off the bench. Fortunately, Friday was more what Calipari and the Arkansas faithful are used to seeing, as the Razorbacks won 115-61 in a blowout against Jackson State. Malique Ewin scored 21 points and was one of 7 Arkansas players in double figures, including a double-double from Karter Knox.
Close calls against Samford and Winthrop don’t exactly help Arkansas’s cause, but the Razorbacks have at least avoided the bad loss early this season. This team is certainly still figuring things out and coming together, but frankly it needs to happen very quickly if they want to remain in the national rankings. Arkansas has a Thanksgiving battle against Duke in just a few days and have three more very tough nonconference games in the next month.