The Arkansas Razorback basketball team has an elite homecourt advantage with Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The program hardly plays home games in other parts of the state, aside from an annual game in North Little Rock. That hasn't always been the case, however, and could be changing soon.
Jack Allen of KATV posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the Razorbacks are working on scheduling scrimmages in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff. These would be preseason scrimmages, and not actual games, which would preserve the maximum home court advantage while also allowing fans in other parts of the state to get a firsthand look at the basketball team.
Allen added that these plans are still in the early stages as the staff works its way through new NCAA rules regarding scrimmages. A team representative did not have further details when HawgBeat inquired.
"We're going to do our scrimmages in Hot Springs, maybe Pine Bluff just to take the team to the communities," head coach John Calipari said on Friday. "They don't always have to come to Fayetteville. Let us do our thing and come to you."
Current rules in place seem to indicate that scrimmages against outside competition cannot be open to the public nor broadcast.
The bylaw states in pertinent part: "In men's basketball, an institution may play two practice scrimmages during any year it does not use the exemption set forth in Bylaw 17.5.5.3.1-(h), or may play one practice scrimmage and one exhibition contest against a non-NCAA Division I four-year collegiate institution."
A report on social media on June 18, 2024 suggested that those rules are up for alteration, though. Major Madness on X posted that programs will be allowed two intrasquad scrimmages off campus and open to the public, as well as two exhibition matchups against NCAA affiliated schools.
The new rules would allow for Hot Springs and Pine Bluff to be two off-campus locations for an intrasquad scrimmage for the Razorback faithful to attend in person, while also allowing the program to schedule two more exhibition games in the preseason, as well.
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