Arkansas moves up in NET, now 2nd in SEC

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Despite splitting its pair of games last week, Arkansas actually jumped four spots in the NET rankings.

After checking in at No. 24 in the initial NET for the 2020-21 season, the Razorbacks are up to No. 20 after losing a close game at Tennessee and blowing out Georgia at home.

The metric, which is in its third year of existence after replacing the RPI as the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s primary tool, has just one SEC team ahead of Arkansas: Tennessee at No. 3.

Only three other teams in the conference are currently inside the top 50 of the NET and each of them are among the top 30: LSU at No. 22, Missouri at No. 25 and Alabama at No. 29.

Arkansas has already played Tennessee and Missouri and has road games at LSU and Alabama this week. That means it will play all four of the SEC's top-30 NET teams within its first six conference games, with three of them being away from Fayetteville.

Both games this week will be Quadrant 1 opportunities for the Razorbacks, who are 0-2 in such games so far this season. Right now, they are the highest-ranked team in the NET without a Q1 win, excluding the pair of teams - No. 12 Drake and No. 19 Colgate - that haven’t played one.

Last week, Arkansas’ road win at Auburn was on the verge of being a Q1 victory, as the Tigers were No. 76 - one spot outside the Q1 window. However, they have since fallen to No. 90, firmly inside the Q2 range.

That is actually the Razorbacks’ lone Q2 win now because Abilene Christian has dropped outside of the top 75. Having fallen 37 spots over the past week, Oral Roberts (No. 158) is in danger of becoming a Q4 win for Arkansas.

Across the SEC, the biggest movement involved Kentucky. A close home win over Vanderbilt and dominant road win at Florida was enough to move the Wildcats up 56 spots to No. 88.

Mississippi State (up 32 spots to No. 81) and South Carolina (up 28 spots to No. 75) also made huge strides in the NET over the last seven days, while Florida (down 33 spots to No. 55) and Texas A&M (down 25 spots to No. 122) had the largest drops.

You can find a complete rundown of the SEC and Arkansas’ non-conference opponents below…

~Quadrant 1: Home vs. 1-30, Neutral vs. 1-50, Away vs. 1-75

~Quadrant 2: Home vs. 31-75, Neutral vs. 51-100, Away vs. 76-135

~Quadrant 3: Home vs. 76-160, Neutral vs. 101-200, Away vs. 136-240

~Quadrant 4: Home vs. 161-plus, Neutral vs. 201-plus, Away vs. 241-plus

3. Tennessee (—)

20. Arkansas (+4)

22. LSU (+1)

25. Missouri (-15)

29. Alabama (+7)

55. Florida (-33)

65. Ole Miss (-3)

75. South Carolina (+28)

81. Mississippi State (+32)

86. Georgia (—)

88. Kentucky (+56)

90. Auburn (-14)

122. Texas A&M (-25)

174. Vanderbilt (+3)

36. Oklahoma State (-1) — HAVEN’T PLAYED YET

83. Abilene Christian (-10)

143. North Texas (-21)

158. Oral Roberts (-37)

206. UT-Arlington (+22)

220. Lipscomb (+22)

246. Central Arkansas (-23)

278. Southern (+25)

345. Mississippi Valley State (-5) — OUT OF 345 TEAMS