[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=none image=https://razorbackswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
Only 12 teams in Division I college basketball remain as unbeaten. Arkansas is one of them.
Coach Eric Musselman, in his third year, has started the Hogs with a 9-0 record for the second straight year. A win Saturday against Oklahoma would give the Razorbacks their best start since 1993, when they won the national championship.
Still, the weekend came and went and Arkansas actually dropped in both the Associated Press Media Poll and the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll. So, what gives.
The Razorbacks aren’t treated kindly by the peripheral analytics.
Ken Pomeroy, of the infamous KenPom.com, has Arkansas as the 25th strongest team in the nation right now, well below their poll rankings and sixth best among all the unbeaten teams. Much of that has to do with 27th-ranked adjusted offensive score and their 35th-ranked adjusted defensive score.
Musselman has spent a question or two in his post-game press conferences frustrated with his team’s ability to defend the 3-pointer, make good decisions and shoot the 3-ball themselves. And while a team with seven new players in the rotation needs time to gel, SEC play starts in just three weeks.
“We’ve got issues to get better at for sure,” Musselman said after his team’s win over Little Rock on the weekend. “We don’t want to start a game giving up a 3. We don’t want a team to shoot 8 of 21 from 3. We’ve got to do a better job of that.”
Arkansas’ KenPom ranking places them sixth in the SEC. They’re two spots ahead of Florida and five spots behind Kentucky in 20th. Ultimately, closer to seventh than fifth.
A win against a power-conference team in Oklahoma should help, as should starting conference play against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, three lower-tier SEC teams. And ultimately, all that matters is where that number is come March.
For now, Arkansas is winning, but Musselman wants to do it in a bit sharper fashion.
“Do I think our team has got to be more mentally sharp? Yes, for sure,” He said. “We’ll continue to look at things to try to improve in that area.”