FAYETTEVILLE -- The last time basketball opportunity knocked with the Arkansas Razorbacks vs. the Baylor Bears, Baylor knocked Arkansas out of the 2021 Elite Eight en route to winning the national championship.
Opportunity doesn't knock that mightily for either in today's 3 p.m. ESPN televised SEC/Big 12 Challenge game at Baylor's Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
Nevertheless it's a big opportunity for both. Especially Arkansas.
Coach Scott Drew's Bears, 15-5, 5-3 in the Big 12, are established 17th in the AP poll. They roll on a 5-game winning streak including last Monday over No. 9 reigning national champion Kansas. Baylor seems all but certainly NCAA Tournament bound led by 3-point shooting guards Keyonte George, Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer.
Arkansas, 14-6, 3-5 in the SEC, seemed so, too. Then it dawned upon AP voters that Coach Eric Musselman's Hogs wallow 0-4 in true road games.
So Arkansas enters today's game first-week unranked. Yet with some confidence built last Saturday and Tuesday beating the SEC basement of Ole Miss and LSU at Walton, Arkansas remains "bracketologists" bandied Big Dance material.
Today sports a national SEC vs. Big 12 stage and ranked opponent to prove it.
"It's a huge opportunity," Arkansas assistant coach Gus Argenal said Thursday. "They (the Bears) are unbelievable on offense right now. Our defense is going to have to be elite."
So must Arkansas' road presence. The Hogs went 3-1 away from
Arkansas during their 11-1 November-December nonconference. Three were neutral site games in Hawaii. The allegedly neutral site victory over Oklahoma in Tulsa was dominated by Hog-calling fans.
Though LSU's Tigers (1-7 in the SEC) are sub-standard, which Arkansas proved posting a 38-14 first half during last Tuesday's 60-40 rout, the Hogs played unprepared for the true road setting when LSU opened the SEC campaign Dec. 28 upsetting them, 60-57 in Baton Rouge, La.
Musselman tried preparing his young Hogs taking them to 90-60 exhibition game slaughter administered Oct. 29 by now No. 10 Texas in Austin. But an exhibition game just isn't the real thing.
Imagine Arkansas' 2023-2024 nonconference schedule will include an early true road game or two.
SNOW JOB
If ever tempted by big-time coaching vacancies, Eric Musselman isn't apt to forget Tuesday's LSU game.
Despite roads hazardous with eight inches of falling snow, Walton Arena's 20,000 capacity seemed at the least half-filled with the crowd full-house volume.
"I had a friend in from Palm Springs and another one in from Atlanta, and I told them 'They're gonna see an incredible atmosphere," Musselman said. "And they were like, 'Well, how is that gonna happen with the weather?' And I said, 'Just watch.'
What Musselman watched moved him to the postgame microphone.
"I grabbed the mic just 'cause I felt like they deserved a huge thank you," Musselman said.
Experiencing such support on a snowy night can make allegedly greener pastures seem not quite so green.