Razorbacks Approach To March Madness? “Respect The Opponent”

Like every team in the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas has dreams of cutting down the nets. To do so, they must take every opponent seriously.

Last season, the Arkansas Razorbacks ended their stay at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. by falling to No. 3 seed LSU in the semi-final round. Arkansas would then draw the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and would fall to the eventual National Champion Baylor Bears in the Elite Eight.

Fast forward to the 2022-23 season, and the Razorbacks are in similar positions. Arkansas currently holds a 25-8 record and was recently eliminated in the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament in Tampa, Fla. 

The Razorbacks are hoping for a similar fate this season by making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore forward Jaylin Williams says that in order to reach their goal of becoming national champions, they will need to take the advice of those key players from last season.

“Their message to us was just to “turn the page” and be ready for the next game,” Williams said on Sunday following the announcement of Arkansas’ selection to the NCAA Tournament. “You have to correct what you did wrong and be ready.”

Current NBA rookie Moses Moody was a key piece to Arkansas’ run to the Elite Eight after taking an early exit in the SEC Tournament. Despite only starting in five games for Arkansas one year ago, Williams says that the leader’s message from last year is one that he can communicate well to this year’s squad.

“This year, we are kind of preaching the same thing,” says Williams. “We lost, but we have to be a better team next game. We can’t have the same mistakes, we have to be better for this next game.” 

The first draw of the tournament is No. 13 seed Vermont, champions of the America East Conference. Several prominent media members, including ESPN’s Jay Bilas, believe that Vermont could pull off one of the bigger upsets in the first round.

Arkansas looks to pull out the win. But, to do that, Williams says that they have to respect Vermont, but outplay them.

“We have to be the harder-working team. We have to go into every game and respect every opponent,” says Williams. “We had Colgate in our (first round game) last year and they came out really good in the first half. We just have to respect everybody, we have to start early, and play all 40 minutes of basketball that night.”

No. 4 seed Arkansas faces No. 13 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, tipoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. CDT at KeyBank Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

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