Razorbacks' non-conference slate wasn't flashy, but it delivered
HawgBeat's coverage of Arkansas's journey in the 2021 NCAA tournament is present by Wright's Barbecue. Already serving up the best meats in Arkansas, you can now also find Wright's meat rub and sauces at Walmart.
When the Razorbacks had to replace an exciting multiteam event in Vegas and marquee matchups versus Oklahoma and Tulsa for the 2020-21 season with likes of Mississippi Valley State and Lipscomb, there was criticism about the sexiness and overall strength of the schedule. Five months and 22 wins later, the Razorbacks are now No. 10 in the final AP top 25 poll.
The unsung champion of Arkansas's 21-5 regular season record and their subsequent pull of the No. 3 seed for the upcoming NCAA tournament was Eric Musselman's director of basketball operations Anthony Ruta. The Arizona State alum has been crafting schedules for Musselman for a while and knows how to play the numbers game.
"The people that had negative thoughts on the non-conference schedule, I know exactly who they are," Musselman said after learning the team had locked in a 3-seed. "Obviously, they didn't do their homework, at all.
Of all of Arkansas's opponents, 11 finished conference tournaments with a top-75 ranking in NET (the determining rankings system for the NCAA selection committee) and of Arkansas's nine non-conference opponents, four earned a bid to the Big Dance.
Finding those teams that have a shot to go all the way before they've played a game yet is key to Ruta's scheduling strategy. It's a craft he refined while helping Nevada reach three consecutive tournaments and it's only gotten easier since he's been able to factor in strong conference opponents in the SEC.
"Your staff has got a spreadsheet that's got 100 teams, what you're trying to do is find teams that can win their conference tournament. When you're at a place like Nevada, that's the way to get an at-large bid. I think the natural thing at a Power Five is to just schedule other Power Five teams and get two or three of those games.
"To think that we had nine non-conference games, and four of those teams are in this tournament... then you add in the fact that we wanted to play some instate schools and we were able to. And then you think that we were supposed to play Oklahoma and Tulsa. We had a really good non-conference schedule, and again, I thought our staff and the crew that does all that really spent a long time and did a great job on it."
Not only did Ruta help the squad with scheduling, he also had the head hog prepped on who they'd be playing in round one. Since the Hogs had already faced 15-seed Oral Roberts, 14-seed Abilene Christian and 13-seed North Texas, Ruta figured Colgate was the best bet.
Musselman came prepared to the post-seed announcement press conference and was able to rattled off stats and strengths for the Raiders like he'd been watching them all season long.
The Razorbacks tip off versus Colgate at 11:45 a.m. on Friday on truTV.
MORE: 2021 NCAA Tournament: Round one tip-off times, TV, locations
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