Arkansas basketball lands in Preseason AP Top 25
The Associated Press released its Preseason AP Top 25 on Monday, and Arkansas was included for the fifth season in a row.
The Hogs debuted at No. 14 in the AP Poll, which is third among their Southeastern Conference peers. The SEC teams ahead of Arkansas are No. 3 Florida and No. 9 Kentucky.
Head coach John Calipari is headed into his second season with the Razorbacks and is looking to build off a 22-14 (8-10 SEC) showing last year that ended with a trip to the Sweet 16.
The Razorbacks return four key pieces from last season — Karter Knox, D.J. Wagner, Trevon Brazile and Billy Richmond III — and also added three highly-rated prospects in five-star guards Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas, as well as four-star Isaiah Sealy, a Springdale native.
Arkansas will face five top 10 teams: No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Duke, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Texas Tech, plus No. 11 Louisville, No. 15 Alabama, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 20 Auburn and No. 22 Michigan State.
Calipari dipped into the transfer portal and snagged two big men to bolster the Hogs front court in South Carolina transfer Nick Pringle and Florida State transfer Malique Ewin.
Arkansas will begin the season with a pair of exhibition matchups, as it will host Cincinnati at home on Oct. 24 and travel to Memphis on Oct. 27 to play the Tigers at the FedEx Forum.
FULL AP Top 25
- Purdue
- Houston
- Florida
- UCONN
- St. John’s
- Duke
- Michigan
- BYU
- Kentucky
- Texas Tech
- Louisville
- UCLA
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Alabama
- Iowa State
- Illinois
- Tennessee
- Kansas
- Auburn
- Gonzaga
- Michigan State
- Creighton
- Wisconsin
- North Carolina
Others receiving votes in AP Poll: NC State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego St. 74, Texas 35, Ohio St. 23, Kansas St 13, Mississippi 11, Southern Cal 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise St. 4, Mississippi St. 3, VCU 2, Virginia 2, Saint Mary’s 2, Indiana 1, Oklahoma 1, Baylor 1.
