From now until the end of the year, save 25% on an annual subscription to HawgBeat and we'll send you $75 to spend at Nike.com! New users | Returning/monthly users
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — College basketball is officially on notice: Arkansas is ahead of schedule and a legitimate threat to make the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the expectation he set during his introductory press conference, dancing in Eric Musselman’s first season as the Razorbacks’ head coach was mostly viewed as a stretch by those outside the program.
They were picked 11th in the SEC by the media before the season and virtually no bracketologies included them, but a 71-64 comeback win over Indiana at Assembly Hall has Arkansas firmly in the discussion for an at-large bid.
“Eric Musselman turned around Nevada drastically and quickly,” CBS columnist Gary Parrish said on Twitter after the game. “Now, it appears, he’s doing the same thing at Arkansas.”
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein called the Razorbacks “an SEC dark horse,” while Fox Sports Radio’s Aaron Torres said they are “for real.”
It was a significant victory and costly loss, as Arkansas vaulted up 10 spots to No. 26 in the all-important NET ratings and Indiana fell 26 spots to No. 56.
For much of the game Sunday, though, it seemed like the Hoosiers would be picking up the solid Quadrant 1 win between teams entering the day in the NET’s top 40.
Indiana built a lead over the final seven minutes of the first half and Arkansas couldn’t quite dig out of that hole, pulling within two points on six different occasions only to see the Hoosiers push it back out to six or eight.