Predicting Arkansas' non-conference record for the upcoming season

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The Arkansas fanbase has seemingly moved on to basketball with the football team's struggles. With the season opener on Monday, a talented roster and some marquee matchups, there are plenty of reasons for Razorback fans to be excited this upcoming basketball season.

Keeping with the annual tradition at HawgBeat, I will be giving my preseason predictions for the Hogs' schedule. Here are the non-conference predictions:

2020 predictions: 21-5 (13-5)

2020 actual record: 21-5 (13-4) (Texas A&M game canceled)

2021 predictions: 20-11 (10-8)

2021 actual record: 24-7 (13-5)

2022 predictions: 26-5 (15-3)

2022 actual record: 19-12 (8-10)

*records do not include the SEC or NCAA Tournaments

Arkansas and Alcorn State have faced each other five times. The Razorbacks have won all five matchups by an average margin of 46.0 points. I don't see anything changing this season, although the Braves are picked to finish third in the SWAC.

Gardner-Webb has been a consistent competitor in the Big South. The Runnin' Bulldogs have won 10+ conference games in 10 of the last 11 seasons. Longtime coach Tim Craft has taken them to a single NCAA Tournament birth, and were voted to finish fourth in the Big South this season.

Arkansas should have no issues at home.

This will be the first time Arkansas and Old Dominion have faced each other in the programs' histories, and it comes with the Monarchs attempting to revive their program in the Sun Belt.

Old Dominion is entering year two in the SBC after finishing 5th in the conference last season. The Monarchs were picked to finish third in their second year in the league. It shouldn't be a major issue for Arkansas at home, but could be another NCAA Tournament team on the resume come March.

The Razorbacks and Spartans met most recently just last year, as Arkansas narrowly won the matchup 65-58. UNC Greensboro was picked to finish second in the SoCon this season, a year removed from finishing third with a 14-4 conference record. Greensboro has consistently been near the top of the Southern Conference, making the NCAA Tournament as recently as 2021, but it is another matchup the Razorbacks should manage at home this season.

Stanford was picked near the bottom of the Pac 12 preseason poll, coming in at 8th of 12 teams in what may be the conference's final season in existence. The Cardinal have not been to an NCAA Tournament since 2014, when they lost in the Sweet Sixteen. They have not recorded a conference record above .500 since the 2017-2018 season.

While it has been a tough stretch for the program, it is still a high major team with talent on a neutral court. Anything can happen in college basketball.

The Cardinal return a good amount of experience, with four of their five leading scorers returning to play for head coach Jerod Haase, including leading scorer Spencer Jones. Stanford also added Providence transfer point guard Jaredy Bynum to assist with backcourt duties, and have some talented freshmen in the fold as well.

Stanford has a good amount of size to go with its experience, but despite that the Cardinal weren't a great rebounding team last season. They excelled in shooting from the perimeter, but did not do anything else exceedingly well.

Given that Arkansas has size to match, great perimeter defenders, and experience of its own, I give the overall edge to the Razorbacks on a neutral court.

It's tough to predict a game when the opponent isn't even known, but I have a feeling that Memphis will beat Michigan, so as long as Arkansas beats Stanford, the Razorbacks will meet the Tigers.

The matchup would be the first time the two schools have played since Jan. 2, 2003, when Memphis beat Arkansas in Fayetteville, 72-67. Currently, the Razorbacks lead the all-time series 11-10.

Memphis landed a loaded transfer class after losing almost every contributor from last season. The transfers are highlighted by Jahvon Quinerly (Alabama), Caleb Mills (Florida State), David Jones (St. John's), and Jordan Brown (Louisiana). In addition to the heralded transfer class, head coach Penny Hardaway added three four-star freshmen into the fold.

While there is a great deal of talent on the Tigers' roster, it is uncertain how the pieces will all fit together. They have good size in the frontcourt, a lot of experience, but the scorers they have are largely inefficient and they greatly lack perimeter shooting.

Both teams will likely try to push the pace and play with tempo and rely on experienced guards to control the flow of the game. Arkansas gets the edge in this matchup because of better perimeter shooting and a better coach. The Razorbacks most likely will be the better defensive team, as well.

I can not predict a game without an opponent.

One of the premier matchups of the non-conference slate across all of college basketball, Arkansas and Duke meet for the first time since facing off in the Elite Eight in 2022. The schools are an even 2-2 against each other all-time, with the winner of this year's matchup breaking the tie (although Arkansas holds the ultimate tie-breaker with a win in the national championship game head-to-head).

The Blue Devils return four of their starters from last season, which has them picked as the favorites in the ACC by a wide margin. They also added four five-star recruits, in typical Duke fashion.

Duke went 27-9 (14-6) last season, with six of its losses occurring on the road. While this Blue Devil team will have more experience, there are still young players who will be contributing, and it will be one of the most hostile environments they will face all season in a sold out Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas boasts the homecourt advantage, an advantage in age and experience, and potentially in shooting. Duke, on the other hand, has a clear size and talent advantage. It's early, and it's hard to know exactly what each team will bring to the table a month from now, but I'll give the Razorbacks the slightest of advantages at home.

This will be the first ever matchup between Arkansas and Furman. The Southern Conference powerhouse was picked to finish first this season, and have won 10+ conference games for eight consecutive years. Last season the Paladins even made a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Arkansas versus Furman could be one of the more underrated non-conference matchups in the SEC this season. The Razorbacks should win and hold home court, but it won't be the easiest game on the schedule.

The Sooners were picked 12th in the Big 12 as Porter Moser looks to make up some ground after a mediocre start to his tenure in Norman. Oklahoma returns just two of its top six contributors from a year ago, but Moser and staff tried to supplement through the transfer portal with impressive additions like John Hugley IV (Pittsburgh), Le'Tre Darthard (Utah Valley), and Javian McCollum (Siena).

It will be hard to judge the impact of some of these transfer for Moser, but the overall talent level just doesn't seem to be there to beat Arkansas.

North Little Rock should get to breathe easy this season, as the Lipscomb Bisons come to central Arkansas. Lipscomb was picked to finish third in the A-Sun after finishing fifth last season.

The Bisons and Razorbacks have played each other twice in program history, most recently in 2020-2021, when Arkansas won 86-50. This year's result should be similar, even with Lipscomb expected to be better.

The Wildcats slumped in year two under new coach Brette Tanner, but have a chance to get back on track in his third year. Abilene Christian was picked to finish fifth in its third year in the WAC after a near-decade at the division one level in the Southland.

While ACU has a strong program, the Wildcats will be overmatched against the Razorbacks this season.

Yet another team picked to finish near the top of its conference this season, UNC Wilmington is on the heels of finishing 1st and 3rd in the CAA in back-to-back years. The Seahawks are another team that should provide a solid out of conference test and could bolster the Razorbacks' resume by winning their conference tournament and earning an automatic bid. Regardless, Arkansas should handle this team at home.

Just predicting games where the opponent is likely, I have Arkansas going undefeated in the non-conference portion of its season. Obviously, that is barring one result in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but nonetheless, 13-0 is still attainable.

Can Arkansas get it done? Perhaps. This year's schedule is one of the toughest the Razorbacks have faced in recent memory, but this is also one of the deepest, most talented teams Arkansas has had of its own.

The Hoop Hogs will get things started Monday at 7 p.m. CT against Alcorn State inside Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The game will be streamed on the SEC Network Plus.

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