Arkansas Basketball: Hogs ranked in ESPN’s pre-season Top 25

The Arkansas Basketball team is less than a month away from playing its first game of the 2021-22 college basketball season.

After a spectacular run in the 2021 March Madness tournament and a great offseason, expectations are higher than they’ve been since the 1990s.

Head Coach Eric Musselman and his ability to work the transfer portal has put the Razorbacks in a position to be successful year in and year out.

It’s just not Arkansas Basketball fans who are expecting big things from the team this year, ESPN and their college basketball analysts think the Hogs can do some special things in the 2021-22 college basketball season.

ESPN named Arkansas Basketball in it’s way-too-early Top 25 college basketball rankings for 2021-22

ESPN recently released their preseason Top 25 rankings and the Razorbacks are slotted in at No. 14. They’re the second highest ranked SEC team behind only Kentucky (No. 9). A total of five SEC teams appear in these rankings—  Alabama (No. 16), Tennessee (No. 18) and Auburn (No. 22)—meaning the Hogs will have their hands full during conference play.

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello projects the Arkansas Basketball starting five being comprised of: Chris Lykes, Davonte Davis, Au’diese Toney, Stanley Umude and Jaylin Williams. Expect JD Notae to continue his stellar play as one of the best bench players in college basketball.

The practices and camps currently taking place will be crucial for the Razorbacks as the team expects three of the starters to be transfers (Lykes from Miami, Toney from Pittsburgh and Umude from South Dakota). Building chemistry early is going to be a key to the team’s success.

We’ll get our first glimpse of the revamped Arkansas Basketball team when the Razorbacks host Mercer Nov. 11 at Bud Walton Arena.