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Pac 10 might be too good at the top Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Identified as the best of the best in college basketball, the Pac 10 could just be too good at the top for its own good. If that's the case, Arkansas and the other maybes in the Southeastern Conference would be among the beneficiaries. Looking at the standings, it seems that parity is a better way to go when a conference goal is mass participation in the NCAA Tournament. UCLA and Stanford are tied for first in the Pac 10 at 9-2 while both Washington State and USC are three games behind at 6-5. Not another team is better than .500 in league play, and if the NCAA tournament committee was filling out the bracket this week, the PAC 10 might be limited to four teams. The number of slots assigned to the Pac 10, Big 12, Big East, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten will have a trickle down effect on Arkansas and other members of the Southeastern Conference pursuing one of the 34 at-large bids. SEC teams are eligible to be squeezed because the league is No. 6 in the power rankings, just a step ahead of the Missouri Valley and the Atlantic 10. At the halfway point in SEC play, a half-dozen teams have already been eliminated from NCAA consideration. Winner of four straight, the Razorbacks are right there, along with Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State. Tennessee, No. 7 in the country and the Razorbacks' opponent Wednesday night in Knoxville, is pretty much home free. Arkansas is 6-2 in the league, same as Kentucky. Mississippi State is 7-2, Florida is 6-3, and Vanderbilt is 5-4. The Eastern Division is perceived to be stronger than the Western Division and the East 14, West 5 supports that. Considering that, 10-6 in the league is probably a minimum requirement for the Razorbacks and-or the Bulldogs to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Since Arkansas joined up for the 1991-92 basketball season, 59 SEC teams have won 10 conference games or more and 58 of them have gone on to the NCAA Tournament. The exception was Georgia in 2003. The Bulldogs were 11-5 that year and a tournament lock, but the university removed itself from postseason competition for a variety of NCAA violations. The Razorbacks are 1-0 against both Florida and Mississippi State and can do themselves some good during the next two weeks with games at Tennessee, MSU and Kentucky. Those teams are a combined 12-1 at home in the SEC and, even with a depleted LSU in Fayetteville, Arkansas would do well to go 2-2. A 3-1 record and Razorback fans can begin speculating about the tournament seeding of their favorite team. If the Razorbacks are 1-3 during the upcoming stretch, their March 1 contest against Vanderbilt in Fayetteville could be an elimination game. Kentucky is the SEC team that could put the selection committee in a vise. The Wildcats recorded a head-scratching loss to Gardner-Webb in November and had a disaster of a December, losing to Houston, San Diego, and three other more notable opponents. Voters in The AP poll still can't get past the Wildcats' nine losses, but Kentucky could get into the tournament with 12 losses. After all, we're talking about tradition-rich Kentucky. If that happens, the bracket experts will have a field day, holding the Wildcats up to ridicule and bemoaning the exclusion of some third- or fourth-place finisher from a mid-major league. Just for the math of it, let's give out some at-large bids. We'll start with four from the Pac 10 and four more from the Big 12. Much like the Pac 10, the ACC appears top-heavy. But, somebody below Duke, North Carolina, Maryland and Clemson is likely to be a fourth at-large. The Big East is all about numbers with 16 teams, including five that are ranked this week. Let's give the Big East a half-dozen at-large bids. Five of the Big Ten teams are above .500 in the league and all of them should get invites so that's four more bids. Off the top, that's a total of 22 at-large bids before considering the SEC and the other leagues that will get multiple bids. Beginning this week, the Razorbacks will have every opportunity to make their argument for one of those spots. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
