Here's a closer look at what's at stake this weekend in Tuscaloosa...
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — After being alone atop the standings since the first week of conference play, Arkansas’ lead in the SEC West has evaporated heading into the final series of the regular season.
With a 17-10 SEC record following a series loss to Vanderbilt over the weekend, the Razorbacks are now tied with Texas A&M for first place in the division. Whether they win the SEC West or not will come down to this weekend’s series at Alabama.
The Aggies head to Oxford, Miss., to face a red-hot Ole Miss team this weekend and must lose more games than Arkansas does to the Crimson Tide in order for the Razorbacks to win the division outright.
“It’s pretty much exactly what I thought it would be,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “I told the coaches a few weeks back — more like five weeks back — I said 18 might tie and 19 might win it, and that might end up being what happens, so it doesn’t surprise me a bit.”
If the Razorbacks and Aggies end up tied for first, they’ll technically share the title, but Texas A&M holds the tiebreaker thanks to winning two of three games in College Station last month.
That was an incredibly tight series in which the aggregate score was 14-14, but the Aggies managed a pair of one-run victories. In both losses, Arkansas had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs in the seventh inning or later, but couldn’t get it done at the plate.
“We played them, two one-run games at their place,” Van Horn said. “You look back and you kind of kick yourself, but you do it every year. There’s some other one-run losses in there for us that are frustrating. We won a few of those, as well.”
Auburn (15-11) and LSU (14-13) are still alive in the divisional race, as well.
Tiebreakers won’t factor into the title race for Auburn because it has played one less game than everyone else, as Sunday’s matchup with Alabama was ruled a “no contest” due to weather wiping out the game before five innings were complete.
For Auburn to overtake the Razorbacks and Aggies, it would need to win two more games than them when it takes on Kentucky in Lexington. A 17-12 or 18-11 record would be half of a game better than a 17-13 or 18-12 record, respectively.
For LSU to grab a share of the title, it would need to sweep Vanderbilt on the road and also have Arkansas and Texas A&M get swept. That’d create a three-way tie and the Aggies have the tiebreaker over both teams.
Whichever team wins the SEC West, or shares the title and owns the tiebreaker, will be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament next week because Tennessee — with an incredible 22-5 conference record — has already clinched the overall regular-season title and will be the No. 1 seed.
Beyond the top two seeds, which are awarded to the division champions, divisions don’t matter and seeding is based solely on conference records. The seeding behind the Volunteers is very much still up in the air.
Arkansas could finish with that No. 2 seed or fall all the way out of the top four, which receive a first-round bye and avoid the single-elimination round on Tuesday in Hoover.
“Having seen Tennessee play, they’re better than everybody this year, and they’ve proved it week in and week out,” Van Horn said. “Other than that, I think the league is just very balanced, very talented.”
All things considered, sitting at 17 wins in SEC play with three games left is generally a good spot to be. In Van Horn’s previous 18 seasons with a conference slate, the Razorbacks had at least 17 wins entering the final weekend just six times (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2021).
It was obvious, though, that the veteran coach was disappointed Arkansas didn’t find a way to win one more game this weekend to take the series against Vanderbilt.
“This league’s tough,” Van Horn said. “We’ve got 17 wins in the SEC. A lot of teams would be smiling with that. I’m happy with it — I would like to have 18. But man, it’s a tough league this year. Everybody’s about the same, honestly.”
In those previous six seasons, Arkansas hosted a regional in all but one (2013) and was actually a top-eight national seed each of those times.
While he said he hopes the Razorbacks have at least already locked up a home regional as a top-16 seed, Van Horn was not sure that’s the case. That’s because they are just No. 29 in the latest RPI rankings.
Over the past 10 NCAA Tournaments, a whopping 96.9 percent of regional hosts were inside the top 20 of the RPI. It’s also worth noting that the lowest-ranked team in the RPI to earn a top-eight national seed was Tulane in 2001, when it did so at No. 19.
So not only are the Razorbacks fighting for an SEC West title and SEC Tournament seeding this weekend, but they likely still have work to do in the RPI — which has Alabama at No. 53 — to secure home field advantage in the postseason.
“We still have a lot to play for,” Van Horn said. “We’d like to get a bye the first round. We don’t have anything locked up there. We want to get better. We want to win the tournament. It would be nice if we had an opportunity to host and come back here and play.”
HawgBeat - Final regular-season series big for Hogs in SEC West race, RPI
The SEC West race is going down to the wire, but that's not all that's at stake this weekend at Alabama.
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — After being alone atop the standings since the first week of conference play, Arkansas’ lead in the SEC West has evaporated heading into the final series of the regular season.
With a 17-10 SEC record following a series loss to Vanderbilt over the weekend, the Razorbacks are now tied with Texas A&M for first place in the division. Whether they win the SEC West or not will come down to this weekend’s series at Alabama.
The Aggies head to Oxford, Miss., to face a red-hot Ole Miss team this weekend and must lose more games than Arkansas does to the Crimson Tide in order for the Razorbacks to win the division outright.
“It’s pretty much exactly what I thought it would be,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “I told the coaches a few weeks back — more like five weeks back — I said 18 might tie and 19 might win it, and that might end up being what happens, so it doesn’t surprise me a bit.”
If the Razorbacks and Aggies end up tied for first, they’ll technically share the title, but Texas A&M holds the tiebreaker thanks to winning two of three games in College Station last month.
That was an incredibly tight series in which the aggregate score was 14-14, but the Aggies managed a pair of one-run victories. In both losses, Arkansas had the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with no outs in the seventh inning or later, but couldn’t get it done at the plate.
“We played them, two one-run games at their place,” Van Horn said. “You look back and you kind of kick yourself, but you do it every year. There’s some other one-run losses in there for us that are frustrating. We won a few of those, as well.”
Auburn (15-11) and LSU (14-13) are still alive in the divisional race, as well.
Tiebreakers won’t factor into the title race for Auburn because it has played one less game than everyone else, as Sunday’s matchup with Alabama was ruled a “no contest” due to weather wiping out the game before five innings were complete.
For Auburn to overtake the Razorbacks and Aggies, it would need to win two more games than them when it takes on Kentucky in Lexington. A 17-12 or 18-11 record would be half of a game better than a 17-13 or 18-12 record, respectively.
For LSU to grab a share of the title, it would need to sweep Vanderbilt on the road and also have Arkansas and Texas A&M get swept. That’d create a three-way tie and the Aggies have the tiebreaker over both teams.
Whichever team wins the SEC West, or shares the title and owns the tiebreaker, will be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament next week because Tennessee — with an incredible 22-5 conference record — has already clinched the overall regular-season title and will be the No. 1 seed.
Beyond the top two seeds, which are awarded to the division champions, divisions don’t matter and seeding is based solely on conference records. The seeding behind the Volunteers is very much still up in the air.
Arkansas could finish with that No. 2 seed or fall all the way out of the top four, which receive a first-round bye and avoid the single-elimination round on Tuesday in Hoover.
“Having seen Tennessee play, they’re better than everybody this year, and they’ve proved it week in and week out,” Van Horn said. “Other than that, I think the league is just very balanced, very talented.”
All things considered, sitting at 17 wins in SEC play with three games left is generally a good spot to be. In Van Horn’s previous 18 seasons with a conference slate, the Razorbacks had at least 17 wins entering the final weekend just six times (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2021).
It was obvious, though, that the veteran coach was disappointed Arkansas didn’t find a way to win one more game this weekend to take the series against Vanderbilt.
“This league’s tough,” Van Horn said. “We’ve got 17 wins in the SEC. A lot of teams would be smiling with that. I’m happy with it — I would like to have 18. But man, it’s a tough league this year. Everybody’s about the same, honestly.”
In those previous six seasons, Arkansas hosted a regional in all but one (2013) and was actually a top-eight national seed each of those times.
While he said he hopes the Razorbacks have at least already locked up a home regional as a top-16 seed, Van Horn was not sure that’s the case. That’s because they are just No. 29 in the latest RPI rankings.
Over the past 10 NCAA Tournaments, a whopping 96.9 percent of regional hosts were inside the top 20 of the RPI. It’s also worth noting that the lowest-ranked team in the RPI to earn a top-eight national seed was Tulane in 2001, when it did so at No. 19.
So not only are the Razorbacks fighting for an SEC West title and SEC Tournament seeding this weekend, but they likely still have work to do in the RPI — which has Alabama at No. 53 — to secure home field advantage in the postseason.
“We still have a lot to play for,” Van Horn said. “We’d like to get a bye the first round. We don’t have anything locked up there. We want to get better. We want to win the tournament. It would be nice if we had an opportunity to host and come back here and play.”
