With Arkansas fans bursting out the seams with anticipation about who the Hogs land in the transfer portal, most national media outlets are already thinking about next season. The way-to-early college basketball rankings have flooded social media, predicting 2025-26's top 25 teams.
We took a look at five way-to-early rankings to see where they, if any, had the Razorbacks. The five outlets chosen were ESPN, USA Today, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated, and FanSided's Busting Brackets. All five included Arkansas in their rankings, falling as far as No. 20 and rising as high as No. 7. That gives Arkansas an average ranking of around No. 13.
Here's how each views the Razorbacks heading into next season:
Arkansas basketball way-to-early rankings
In reality, the way-to-early rankings carry little weight because no one knows how the transfer portal will shake out. But what it can tell us is how much uncertainty rests on a particular program. For example, every ranking has Houston as the No. 1 team after its heartbreaking loss to Florida in the national championship.
It's apparent that no one really knows what to do with Arkansas. But it's also obvious that the Hogs had a top-25 team this season despite underachieving in the regular season. While some key pieces have left the program, and some have yet to decide, Arkansas will return a significant portion of its production, plus add at least two 5-star McDonald's All-Americans to the roster.
So, It's no surprise that the lowest Arkansas is ranked is No. 20. The Razorbacks return a top-tier backcourt, but the frontcourt raises questions, with Trevon Brazile standing as the lone big man. That's why the Sports Illustrated doesn't place them any higher. All of that could change with some quality transfer additions, though.
John Fanta of Fox Sports only gave reasonings for 10 of his top 25 teams. However, he's put the Razorbacks one spot higher than Sports Illustrated, sandwiching Arkansas between Michigan State at No. 18 and Gonzaga at No. 20.
Rather than emphasizing Arkansas' shortcomings in the frontcourt, USA Today writers believe the Hogs' guard play will be the key difference-maker. They highlight DJ Wagner and Karter Knox's ability to score, plus the new additions of Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas that bump Arkansas into the top 15.
However, the caveat they brought up would be Adou Thiero's then-pending NBA decision, who declared for the draft on Tuesday after the rankings were published.
Here we get into the top-10 territory, which would be weird to think about in January. That's exactly how Cole Amundson of Busting Brackets describes the Razorbacks' 2024-25 season. Despite losing Fland, Thiero, and Johnell Davis to the NBA Draft, he still thinks Arkansas has a top-10 roster.
Lastly — and most surprisingly — is ESPN. The sports media giant hasn't historically been kind to the Razorbacks, but I guess when you have one of the most famous college basketball coaches in the country as your head coach, they can't help but notice "little ol' Arkansas."
Jeff Borzello correctly points out that what matters the most is who played while Arkansas made its run at the end of the season. At the time of this article, four of those players with significant minutes will return.