Odds Arkansas Plays Night 1 of SEC Tourney Surprisingly High

Despite upward trend for Razorbacks, schedule, Mississippi State upset of A&M puts odds much higher Hogs fall out of Thursday slot

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It seems almost entirely implausible, but the odds of Arkansas having to play on Wednesday night instead of Thursday in the SEC Tournament went up dramatically over the weekend.

It's not really their fault. The Razorbacks have been playing well and had a chance to go to overtime against the nation's No. 2 team in Alabama. Unfortunately for Arkansas, the wrong SEC teams are also playing well enough to cause problems in seeding for the Hogs.

Both Florida and a highly motivated Mississippi State sit a game a game behind Arkansas in the SEC standings, and both have a distinct remaining scheduling advantage over Arkansas.

Bulldogs' remaining schedule

Mississippi State vs. South Carolina
Feb. 28, 8 p.m. (SEC Network)

Mississippi State at Vanderbilt
March 4, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

Gators' remaining schedule

Florida at Georgia
Feb. 28, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)

Florida vs. LSU
March 4, 5 p.m. (SEC Network)

Both teams have dramatically easier roads than Arkansas, which has to go to Knoxville to take on a dangerous Tennessee team that is ranked No. 11 as of this writing and just won a home game by 40. 

The Razorbacks then close out with possibly the hottest team in the SEC right now, Kentucky. The Wildcats are undefeated since losing to Arkansas at home a few weeks back at 4-0, and along the way beat Tennessee by 12 and made Auburn forget that it's a basketball school now with a 32-point beat down of the Tigers.

Mississippi State has the best chance to jump Arkansas. The Bulldogs own the tie-breaker over the Hogs and just took down a Texas A&M team that was looking to lock down the SEC championship. 

If the Razorbacks go 0-2 and Mississippi State only wins one of its final two games, the Bulldogs would leapfrog over the Razorbacks, sending Arkansas into a No. 9 seed and a path that would require Arkansas to defeat Mississippi State and Alabama on back-to-back nights.

That is unless Florida can pull it together and run the table against Georgia and LSU, which is highly probability. 

Technically, a single win, plus a pair of Arkansas losses would put the Gators and Razorbacks in a tie, but Arkansas has the tie-breaker because of that 84-65 win in Bud Walton a couple of weeks ago. 

But, if the the Gators win both of their games and Mississippi State can get at least one win in that scenario, the Razorbacks would be playing an 8 p.m. game Wednesday night against Ole Miss, possibly under the watchful eye of a newly hired Chris Beard or Will Wade from on high.

That would set up another 8 p.m. game against what would be Auburn if nothing else changes in the standings. 

 HOGS FEED:

FLORIDA STATE ATHLETICS DIRECTOR INDICATES HE HAS GOOD REASON TO LEAVE ACC FOR SEC

HOGS FALL TO BAMA IN GAME WITH ADDED CONTROVERSY BEFORE THE OPENING TIP

SEC ROUND-UP: IS WILL WADE HEADED TO OLE MISS; SEC PITCHER THROWS WITH BOTH HANDS

HOGS WOULD HAVE ROUGH DRAW IF SEC TOURNAMENT WERE TODAY

ARKANSAS CLAIMS VAN HORN'S 800TH WIN IN DRAMATIC FASHION

MUSSELMAN ABLE TO FOCUS ON PREPARATIONS FOR ALABAMA WHILE SPOTLIGHT ELSEWHERE

MURDER, MILLER'S PRESENCE, WILL CAST DARK SHADOW OVER SATURDAY'S BASKETBALL GAME AGAINST ALABAMA

FORMER RAZORBACK RUNNING BACK PEYTON HILLIS ADDRESSES FANS, EXPECTS FULL RECOVERY AFTER ACCIDENT

WHICH TWO-GAME VERSION OF THE RAZORBACKS WILL HOGS BRING TO ALABAMA?

HOGS SURVIVE SHOCKING CHALLENGE FROM SWAC'S GRAMBLING ST. TUESDAY

NEW BASEBALL CLOCK RULE NEEDS TO BE TRASHED ALREADY

RAZORBACK BASEBALL: YOU NEED TO KNOW JARED WEGNER

TURNS OUT ARKANSAS QB RECRUIT HAD VERY UNFORTUNATE REASON TO TRANSFER

IN DEFENSE OF NICK SMITH, JR.

THROWING NICK SMITH INTO THE FIRE AGAIN MIGHT BE HOGS' BEST OPTION

SEC BASKETBALL STANDINGS

FAYETTEVILLE WEATHER OUTLOOK

• Return to allHogs home page.

• Want to join in on the discussion? Click here to become a member of the allHOGS message board community today!

• Follow allHOGS on Twitter and Facebook.