Before tonight's victory over Vanderbilt, ESPN analyst and former Razorback walk-on Jimmy Dykes tweeted the following:

Arkansas with a shot to pick up 3rd top 40 RPI win tonite vs Vandy. Are they playing their way into NCAA's...

In my highly unbiased opinion, yes, yes they are. Most likely, they will need to go undefeated at home (they're 16-0 in Bud after tonight's win), snag a road win or two, and win an SEC Tournament game to get a ticket to the dance (I can't believe I just typed that - I've always hated that phrase) but all of those things are real possibilities.

I didn't think an NCAA bid likely before the season, when Marshawn Powell was still healthy. That Arkansas is having this kind of season without him is impressive and fun as hell to watch.

As for tonight's contest, it was another big game for Rickey Scott, who led the team with 18 points and also grabbed five rebounds. The gritty Julysses Nobles added 17 points The evening even brought the first game appearance of backup Razorback quarterback Brandon Mitchell.

Before we all go back to obsessing about the soon-to-be-announced college choice of a certain Springfield, Mo., wide receiver, chime in with your thoughts about tonight's game and the Hogs' NCAA chances.

WPS!

Tonight the Hogs play on ESPN (9 PM Eastern) Vanderbilt in Bud Walton Arena to what I expect will be a loud and jumping crowd. Note to crowd, you all need to have your "We Want You DGB!" signs made and ready for tonight, haha. Vanderbilt brings a 2-0 road record to Fayetteville. The only other team to go undefeated on the road in the SEC is No. 1 Kentucky. Arkansas has not lost a conference game at home, but Vanderbilt is one of the rare conference teams to have a home loss. And that brings us to today's trivia question, a rare basketball trivia question from me. After 39 conference games as of yesterday, just how hard to win on the road in the SEC this year do you think it is? The answer is in the comment section.

He didn't play in many games or score many points, but few players have captured the hearts of Razorback fans like Eugene Nash did. During his time as a walk-on for Eddie Sutton's squads of the late 70s and early 80s, the waning moments of blowout wins featured a soundtrack of booming crowd chants of "Eu-GENE! Eu-GENE!" When Sutton would put Nash in, the crowd would go nuts. His thunderous dunk against Southwest Missouri State (pictured above) is a moment that will never be forgotten by those who saw it; the feat so thrilled fans that someone began producing "Eugene, Eugene, The Dunking Machine" t-shirts.

In this edition of the Hog Call Podcast, we talk with Eugene about his Razorback career. Site historians may recall that we published a two-part Q&A with Nash four years ago (here's part 1 and part 2) but we thought you'd enjoy a chance to hear his tale in his voice.

During the course of the show, Eugene discusses how he became a walk-on, which Razorback did a dead-on impersonation of Coach Sutton, the most exciting victory of his Arkansas career and which Barry Manilow song makes him think about his stint as a Hog. Many thanks to Eugene for his time.

To hear all of these entertaining yarns and more, hit the play button on the widget below (note: the audio is a little choppy in parts. We apologize.). Download the episode and subscribe to the podcast by visiting TalkShoe or iTunes.

I'm visiting family in Charlotte today and, except for a few peeks at the Yahoo! in-game box score, I didn't follow the game. Looks like a close one. I'm very interested to hear from those who saw it. I think the Hogs are really close to breaking through on the road.

And one other note before I rejoin the family reunion: Rickey Scott and Mardracus Wade are good. With the hoopla surrounding this year's freshman class, it was easy to forget about those two, but they have both improved by leaps and bounds. Looks like they both had good afternoons. They will be important parts of this team's success in the games and seasons ahead.

The winds of change, from what I can tell, appear to be blowing over War Memorial Stadium in connection to the Hogs' tradition of playing LSU there every other year on the Friday after Thanksgiving. You might have noticed that when Jeff Long and company put out next year's football schedule that locations were omitted. It just says "Home." Count me amongst those who would miss seeing LSU in Little Rock. And, yes, I am a ticket holder for the Little Rock games. But if a change is to be made, as it seems like it will be, which team would we want to have in Little Rock in place of LSU? That is the subject of today's poll question. And I am even adding the option of "None - Move Them All to Campus" just to see how many of you lean in that direction. I don't count myself amongst you, but I do acknowledge you and your arguments.

It stood to reason that after Saturday's emotionally draining win over ranked Michigan, these young Hogs would suffer a bit of a letdown. But, man, that first half was some letdown - the Hogs shot just 4 of 27 from the field before intermission. The eyesore that was the first 20 minutes prompted these two tweets, the first from Wally Hall and the second from Hawgs Illustrated (presumably written by Dudley Dawson):

That may have been the ugliest half of basketball in the history of Bud Walton Arena. Hogs shooting 14.8 percent from floor.

Over my 30 years covering Arkansas hoops, I have seen some really bad halves of basketball. This tops them all for both teams.

Fortunately, the Razorbacks were a good deal better in the second half (they shot 56 percent from the field in that time) but they never could put Auburn away, and the Tigers missed a last-second shot that would have sent the game into overtime.

B.J. Young led the way with 11 points (included in that total was a vicious dunk that he threw down with 20 seconds to play), and Rickey Scott (8 points) and Rashad Madden (10 points) had some big baskets in the second half. Not the easiest game to watch, but I'm not going to make too much of it. These guys are young, and they're undermanned: nights like this are going to happen. But they're also talented, and they're tough-minded: we've got some fun games ahead of us as well.

Let's get ready for the Crimson Tide.