With so much happening in the wide world of Arkansas Razorback athletics these daze, I thought I’d offer up a little bit of this and a little bit of that this week.
Indeed, the biggest news over the weekend involved the Razorbacks men’s basketball team receiving and accepting a bid to compete in this year’s NCAA March Madness as a #10 seed (one of a record-setting 14 teams outta the mighty, mighty SEC to do so). The Hogs open the tournament against #7-seeded University of Kansas, in Providence, R.I., on Thursday evening around 6 p.m. These two teams faced off in a pre-season exhibition game in December at Bud Walton Arena, and the Hogs thumped the Jayhawks 85-69. Granted, KU superstar Hunter Dickinson did not play that night.
Actually, coach Bill Self’s team was a preseason #1 but stumbled down the stretch and entered the tournament leaking oil and in need of a tune up, big time. Hopefully, they won’t tune up the Hogs, who will be closer to full strength with the eagerly anticipated return of freshman PG Boogie Fland, who has been out since January; while Adou Thiero remains doubtful for the first-round and questionable, at best, after that. It all depends on how far this team can advance and give his hyper-extended knee extra time to heal.
As is the case every year, the NCAA Selection Committee has created their fair share of drama by sending teams here, there and everywhere. They love to pair up old conference foes or coaches of former teams or anything they can to drum up more theater even though the game itself is amply dramatic.
If and when the Razorbacks win their first-round game, more than likely they’ll face St. John’s University and coach Rick Pitino two daze later. Pitino happens to be a mentor of sorts to our very own coach, John Calipari, and a no-doubt Hall of Famer. Both men had long and successful reigns at the University of Kentucky and are two of the most well-respected coaches in the country.
Providence is a scant, 1,283-mile trip from Fayettenam; and yet, it is somehow part of the West Regional. If Coach Cal and Co. can manage to escape Rhode Island, then their next stop is, logically, San Francisco, Calif.
Despite the fact that it is entirely possible to fill out a perfectly predicted bracket, there has never been one submitted anywhere in the history of the tournament. The odds are 1 in 9.2 quintillion (18 zeros), if every game were a 50/50 coin toss, and when you factor in NCAA hoops knowledge, the odds can drop to as low as 1 in 28 billion. If every person on the planet (7.5 billion) began filling out one bracket/minute, it would take more than 2,000 years to reach 9.2 quintillion. Lotsa hi-level math involved, there.
Gregg Nigi, a neuropsychologist from Columbus, Ohio, picked a record-setting 49 straight dubs in 2019 and currently sits atop the comfy cushions of the Bracketology throne.
SEC baseball kicked off its conference run over the weekend, and the #3-ranked Hogs bested Ole Miss, winning two outta three games down in Oxford, Miss.
The Hogs, and particularly the Aloy Boys, brought the wood (or aluminum), once again, with older brah, Wehiwa leading the way with three dingers, while Charles Davalan and Logan Maxwell hit two bombs, apiece, with the younger Aloy, Kuhio, and fellow Hawaiian, Nolan Souza, each belting one big fly against the Rebels.
Aloha!
So now is the time for all Razorbacks fans to come to the aid of their team, stand up and call those Hogs.
WOOOOO . . .