Where We Stand (Sorta)

The following NCAA Tournament projections were drawn up before the Hogs' Wednesday night shellacking at the hand of the UT Vols, so consider accordingly. Still, they offer a rough guide of where the Hogs may fit into the March Madness picture.

After last weekend's roller-coaster win over Ole Miss, Rivals.com pegged John Pelphrey's squad as a No. 8 seed and said the following: "The Hogs have won four in a row, including wins over Mississippi State, Florida and Ole Miss, to move into second in the SEC West, a half-game behind Mississippi State. The next two are equally big, with road trips to Tennessee and Mississippi State. A sweep of those two, and the Hogs can start dreaming about a No. 5 seed." Well, to quote John Lennon, "The dream is over," at least for now.

Meanwhile, SI.com's Stewart Mandel also projects the Hogs as a No. 8 seed, although he gets a little more specific, naming their opponent (Dayton, cast as a No. 9 seed) and region (Midwest).

And finally, there's ESPN.com's famous Bracketology page, the Grand Poobah of NCAA projections. There, Joe Lunardi's Feb. 11 post says the Razorbacks will be a No. 7 seed in the East Region and will take on No. 10 seed Maryland in a first-round match-up in Birmingham, Ala. [Update: Bracketology now has Arkansas slated to be a No. 8 seed in the West Region and says the Hogs will take on No. 9 seed BYU.]

It appears that the Hogs are in pretty good shape to make the NCAA Tourney, but with four of their remaining seven games on the road, plus a home game against Vanderbilt - currently ranked No. 19 in the ESPN/USA Today poll - they still have the opportunity to make themselves NIT material.

* On another note, ESPN.com is currently counting down the Top 25 college basketball players of all time. So far, no Hogs. (If Dwight Stewart doesn't make the list, the boys in Bristol will have some serious explaining to do.)