ESPN's Jay Bilas Not Surprised Hogs Playing Duke

November matchup one of biggest home games for Razorbacks in long time

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — When you think about it, Arkansas hosting Duke in the SEC-ACC Challenge in November really shouldn't be that surprising. The Razorbacks may not be a basketball blueblood, but they are about as close as anything in the SEC right now just behind Kentucky while the Blue Devils have been for awhile.

Jay Bilas of ESPN wasn't particularly surprised in the least Friday morning when he was asked about that on The Morning Rush on ESPN Arkansas with Tye Richardson, Tommy Craft and Chuck Barrett. If anything he may have little surprised at anybody being surprised.

"No! Not at all," Bilas said. "They've been two of the best teams in their respective leagues and have done well in the NCAA Tournament. It's a marquee game and that's what everybody's looking for in these things."

A lot of folks figured the Wildcats would be playing Duke, except they aren't the only team with a ton of history in the ACC. You could throw North Carolina. Historically, North Carolina State hasn't been too bad, either. It could have gone a few directions from that standpoint.

He also has seen the changing face of college basketball with the transfer portal creating so much more havoc. Don't think the freshmen are going away completely anytime soon for some teams.

"You're still going to see super-talented freshmen that are going to play right away and be valuable pieces to winning teams," Bilas said. "You are going to see a shift. You're going to see some coaches decide, "if I'm only going to have a player for two years, then I'd rather have a transfer that's only going to play his junior and senior year."

It will be a huge non-conference game for Razorback fans. Now all the Hogs have to do is making it pay off with a win. Everybody will probably be watching.

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