ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Bilas caught heat from Arkansas fans prior to their Round of 64 matchup with Vermont on March 17, calling for the No. 13 seed Catamounts to upset the No. 4 seed Razorbacks in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
“One of the matchups I think is going to be really interesting is Vermont vs. Arkansas,” Bilas said following Selection Sunday. “Arkansas doesn’t shoot the ball great, although they are very athletic, but they don’t shoot it great — and Vermont does. Vermont runs a five-out offense; they take care of the ball; they’re very smart and they’re all seniors. Vermont dominated the America East, and I think they’ve got with Ryan Davis and Ben Shungu a great opportunity to win that game.”
Arkansas would go on to defeat Vermont, and win their next two games in the NCAA Tournament, including an upset of No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga, to advance to their second-straight Elite 8 appearance.
Arkansas’ finish, plus the plethora of talent that head coach [autotag]Eric Musselman[/autotag] has coming in from high school as well as the Transfer Portal, has made a believer out of Bilas, as he has ranked Arkansas No. 1 in his way-to-early top-10 released on Monday.
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Griffin McVeigh of On3 added his thoughts on Arkansas in response to Bilas’ selection of the Razorbacks for the No. 1 spot:
Eric Musselman has been relentless on the recruiting trail, bringing in the No. 3 class in the 2022 cycle. Three different On3 Consensus five-star prospects will be in Fayetville next season, with in-state shooting guard [autotag]Nick Smith[/autotag] highlighting the group. Small forward [autotag]Jordan Walsh[/autotag] has signed his national letter of intent, while [autotag]Anthony Black[/autotag] recently made his commitment. The transfer portal is also a place Musselman has excelled in before and won’t be afraid this go around either. It’s been two straight Elite Eight for Arkansas. They will be wanting to get over that hump and make their way down to Houston for the Final Four in 2023.
Jay Bilas is not the only one to have Arkansas as the top-team in the nation heading into the 2022-23 season. ESPN’s Jeff Borcello recently named Arkansas as his No. 1 team heading into next season.
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