SCHEDULE OFFICIALLY POSTED!

[Porky861]

The day has finally arrived!  The schedule was released and can be seen at arkansasrazorbacks.com!

[hawgswinn]

It sure took long time, but I cant wait. Go Hogs

[Hooter]

No games on KATV in the early part of the schedule this year?

[HotlantaHog]

http://www.arkansasrazorbacks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=6100&KEY=&SPID=2421&SPSID=30748

Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri State, South Alabama plus the SEC -- it is a pretty challenging schedule.

[TRUHOG718]

whew. I was beginning to think we were going to have to cancel the season. 

[chiefsfan]

I thought we were supposed to play Baylor in NLR this year.   Did they drop?

[chiefsfan]

No games on KATV in the early part of the schedule this year?

Released at a later date.   Remember ISP controls those now

[chiefsfan]

Blurb that should make people happy

The Georgia game at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, concludes "Celebration of a Championship" weekend in which the 1994 national championship team is scheduled to be honored.

[AirForceHog]

That is a 20 win schedule easily.

[AirForceHog]

Blurb that should make people happy

The Georgia game at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, concludes "Celebration of a Championship" weekend in which the 1994 national championship team is scheduled to be honored.

Long overdue, but sure glad the university is doing this.

[chiefsfan]

That is a 20 win schedule easily.

uhhh...okay find those 20 wins.

Remember Texas and OU are at best toss ups.     Missouri State will be opening its new home arena, and South Alabama will be looking to beat John Pelphrey.      and that doesnt even factor in conference

[AirForceHog]

Auburn sucks x2
Mississipi sucks x2
We will Missouri St.
and probably split with Alabama

The rest of the cupcakes will add up to 20.

[Kevin]

i think it is a challenging schedule.  alot of teams who won their conferences last year. 

[Adam Stokes]

Hmmm, not sure how I feel on this schedule.  Let's look at the RPI of the teams we are playing performed last year.

Texas #6
Oklahoma #28
South Alabama #37
Stephen F. Austin #65
Austin Peay #83
Missouri St #124
North Texas #143
Northwestern #189
SE Lousiana #197
Florida A&M #254
NC Central #279
UC Davis #303
Texas Southern #320

The key to a good schedule is to have a lot of teams that are good, but not good enough to beat you.  You want a few teams that are top 50 to give your team competition.  Three in there is enough.  You want the bulk of your schedule to be teams in the 100-175 range, those are the best ones.  Those are the teams that flirt with .500 records all year.  They give you a W without you having to worry about losing.  Teams that are worse than the #300 mark are taboo, you don't go there, they are RPI killer's.  Half of our schedule are to teams that are below the 175 mark which I think is much too low.

In short, this team could go 10-6 in conference and would still be on the bubble with this type of schedule.  This team is going to be like last year's Florida team with less talent.  They played a patsy cupcake schedule ranked #279 out of conference that forced them to do much more in conference.  Even with the weakest bubble in memory at 8-8 in conference they were forced to sit out and watch.

Looking at this schedule I see a 9-4 non-conference record and at best 7-9 in conference.  RPI wise, to have a successful non-con we need 11-2 because I don't see this non-con schedule being ranked in the top 200, which will hurt come March.

[chiefsfan]

this isnt a schedule that screams NCAA Tourney.   We needed to drop Texas Southern and replace them with a good team

Where the heck did Baylor go, I thought they were supposed to be on there

[DalBear]

I believe there was a conflict with ESPN and the UTexas-Ark game, so we agreed to push the game back a year so UT-Ark could be on TV.   We had to scramble to do another home and home with S. Carolina as a result.  See you the following year.
 
Sic 'Em!

[PigSnort]

Home and home with S. Carolina?

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

why in the world is the oklahoma game not on TV?

[Hoggy1]

I can see us being undefeated heading into the Texas game.

[Modsquad24]

says on arkansas razorbacks . com that the arsn games are tba, I bet OU will be on shannel 7.

[chiefsfan]

why in the world is the oklahoma game not on TV?

and better yet.  Why in the world is the Northwestern State game on National TV.    did ESPN get confused or something?

[Hogbody]

Think ESPN will pick up some more games because of the new tv deal?

[HawgAdvocate]

this isnt a schedule that screams NCAA Tourney.   We needed to drop Texas Southern and replace them with a good team

Where the heck did Baylor go, I thought they were supposed to be on there

Are you kidding me? Replace Baylor with Texas (at home). Replace anyone else we played last year with Oklahoma (at home). A win at South Alabama  is just gravy on top of that. It's not flashy on paper, but a win means a lot come tourney time. We get Tennessee and Kentucky at home this season as well. I bet we'll be in the 18-21 win range before the post-season.

Besides, don't forget how many new faces we have this year. You gotta build their confidence in year one. These new kids will get major minutes.

The question is, will we win enough big ones (including SEC Tourney games) to avoid the bubble?

[McKdaddy]

What is the Jim Thorpe connection?  i.e. Why is our little tourney named for Thorpe?

[booogaga]

whew. I was beginning to think we were going to have to cancel the season. 

ha+1

[booogaga]

Hmmm, not sure how I feel on this schedule.  Let's look at the RPI of the teams we are playing performed last year.

Texas #6
Oklahoma #28
South Alabama #37
Stephen F. Austin #65
Austin Peay #83
Missouri St #124
North Texas #143
Northwestern #189
SE Lousiana #197
Florida A&M #254
NC Central #279
UC Davis #303
Texas Southern #320

The key to a good schedule is to have a lot of teams that are good, but not good enough to beat you.  You want a few teams that are top 50 to give your team competition.  Three in there is enough.  You want the bulk of your schedule to be teams in the 100-175 range, those are the best ones.  Those are the teams that flirt with .500 records all year.  They give you a W without you having to worry about losing.  Teams that are worse than the #300 mark are taboo, you don't go there, they are RPI killer's.  Half of our schedule are to teams that are below the 175 mark which I think is much too low.

In short, this team could go 10-6 in conference and would still be on the bubble with this type of schedule.  This team is going to be like last year's Florida team with less talent.  They played a patsy cupcake schedule ranked #279 out of conference that forced them to do much more in conference.  Even with the weakest bubble in memory at 8-8 in conference they were forced to sit out and watch.

Looking at this schedule I see a 9-4 non-conference record and at best 7-9 in conference.  RPI wise, to have a successful non-con we need 11-2 because I don't see this non-con schedule being ranked in the top 200, which will hurt come March.

you did not include strength of schedule for sec teams. that plays a factor as well.

[thehill1414]

What you guys might be forgetting is that OU is going to be ranked in the top 10, if not the top 5, to start the season. A win against them or Texas (also in the top 10) would be huge, but probably won't happen. OU returns almost everyone (Blake Griffin) and also adds the #5 player out of hs Willie Warren. They will be good. I like the way this sets up for us though, because we get some easy games plus a couple of good road tests early before we play the Sooners and Horns.

SEC play - the SEC will be better than last year, and we will be worse. We might manage 7-9, but I see more of 6-10 or 5-11 coming our way. Realistically, an NIT appearance would be a good thing for this team.

As someone alluded to earlier, where is Baylor?? We are supposed to be playing them in LR this year.

[Brian the Turrible]

Who cares about the cupcakes? If we go 9-7 in the SEC we're in the dance. If we don't we're not. Yes we do need to win 2 out of 4 between UT OU SA and MS, but how we go down the stretch in the conference will decide our fate.

[HotlantaHog]

Who cares about the cupcakes? If we go 9-7 in the SEC we're in the dance. If we don't we're not. Yes we do need to win 2 out of 4 between UT OU SA and MS, but how we go down the stretch in the conference will decide our fate.

9-7 may be on the bubble this year, especially if the SEC is down as a conference which it seems to be.

[DalBear]

As someone alluded to earlier, where is Baylor?? We are supposed to be playing them in LR this year.

From what I understand, ESPN wanted to televise the Texas-Arkansas game just one day after or before the BU-Arkansas game was already slated to be played in Little Rock.  Instead of having Arkansas playing back to back like that, BU officials agreed to move it back to the 2009-2010 season.   That's a shame since we return virtually everyone this year except Aaron Bruce.  I was really looking forward to making the trip to LR for the game after a really fun conference tourney type of atmosphere in Dallas last year.  Here's hoping this game happens next year. 

[chiefsfan]

From what I understand, ESPN wanted to televise the Texas-Arkansas game just one day after or before the BU-Arkansas game was already slated to be played in Little Rock.  Instead of having Arkansas playing back to back like that, BU officials agreed to move it back to the 2009-2010 season.   That's a shame since we return virtually everyone this year except Aaron Bruce.  I was really looking forward to making the trip to LR for the game after a really fun conference tourney type of atmosphere in Dallas last year.  Here's hoping this game happens next year. 

Blame Texas.   They were supposed to play Arkansas last season, and they backed out at the last minute.

[McKdaddy]

What is the Jim Thorpe connection?  i.e. Why is our little tourney named for Thorpe?

Anybody? (crickets)

[hogsanity]

We are going TO South Alabam and TO Missouri State?  Thats the equivalent of going TO Ball St or Miami of Ohio in Football. 

[McKdaddy]

We are going TO South Alabam and TO Missouri State?  Thats the equivalent of going TO Ball St or Miami of Ohio in Football. 

You're not scared are you Sanity?  lol

Pel gave his reasons for this when the sched was released.  S Ala was to pay them back for giving him his first opportunity.  I don't remember the reason for going to MO St.

[hogsanity]

You're not scared are you Sanity?  lol

Pel gave his reasons for this when the sched was released.  S Ala was to pay them back for giving him his first opportunity.  I don't remember the reason for going to MO St.

Not scared.  Just wondering if we have fallen that far.  Actually though, after I thought about it,  did recall Pel's comments.  I also got to thinking about other teams who have gone to small schools to play.  I think NC went to Davidson a few years ago, and Duke went to some small school to, i think. 

It just struck me as odd.

[grayhawg]

With all the young players I would much rather have a couple of hostil crowds at smaller schools than say, Tenn.

That may not be the reason but to me might be a good idea.

[Razorvet]

I would be excited about the NIT with a team this young. I dont know if they could win it but any post season experience is good for a young team.

[40MINSOFHELL]

Basketball team will be better than the football team, I am 100% positive on that. Football seems boring this year

[Razorvet]

Basketball team will be better than the football team, I am 100% positive on that. Football seems boring this year

Your crazy. This is the most excitng offense we have had at Arkansas since our ten win season.