It's been an up-and-down year as Mike Anderson has begun his tenure at Arkansas. The Hogs took on an understandable (UConn), a not so great (Oklahoma), and a bad loss (Houston) in the non-conference, but they started the conference season in style by taking down Mississippi State. A tough loss to Ole Miss followed, but the Razorbacks built some positive momentum to get back in the bubble discussion with wins against Michigan and Vandy.
After last night, it's fair to say that the Hogs' bubble has burst.
Arkansas fell to LSU last Saturday and just had their doors blown off 81-59 by a rebuilding Georgia team that's barely outside the conference basement. It was the first time the Bulldogs even made it to 70 points in nine games of conference play, and they had been held below 60 points five times by SEC teams. Mardracus Wade was the only Razorback starter to make it into double digit points with 15.
Arkansas has been very good at home; even its only home loss came in its one game in Little Rock rather than in Fayetteville. However, the Hogs have yet to win a game outside Bud Walton Arena. They have three more chances to finally get a road win, and two of them (at Tennessee and at Auburn) are certainly winnable for this team. Given the results last night though, I wouldn't pencil in any W's just yet.
The Razorbacks should be safely in the NIT barring any kind of collapse, which is certainly a step forwards in Anderson's first year. That they were even in the bubble discussion for a while after missing the postseason entirely last season is definitely a positive development. However, the past two games sent a clear message to the selection committee: don't worry about us anymore.