We’re still a long ways off from the 2026 NCAA Tournament, but that isn’t stopping Joe Lunardi from making predictions in his Bracketology.
Lunardi released his latest bracketology projections on Tuesday, and there’s some interesting matchups that could come out of it.
The bracket projection has the Hogs playing in a familiar place for the first round of the tournament — all the way up in the northeastern United States in Buffalo, New York.
It’s the same place Arkansas spent the first and second rounds of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, and where it beat Vermont in the first round and New Mexico State to advance to the Sweet 16 and later an Elite Eight appearance.
Other teams in Lunardi’s projection
Lunardi’s projection has Arkansas matched up with Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the tournament, and should it advance to the Round of 32 would face the winner of Louisville-Illinois State.
If the favorites both advanced in that scenario, it would be the second time this season the Razorbacks will face the Cardinals, as Arkansas and Louisville are set to play in Bud Walton Arena in the SEC/ACC Challenge this December.
Should Arkansas advance to its second-straight Sweet 16, there’s the possibility of some intra-conference flavor. The Hogs would head west to the Bay Area, as they did last season, and play in San Jose, California. There are five potential opponents the Hogs would face, one of which is in the Southeastern Conference.
The bracket projection has Purdue as a one-seed facing off against either Norfolk State or Long Island (First Four game). The other two teams are Missouri and Cincinnati.
Arkansas and Purdue haven’t matched up since an exhibition in 2023. Arkansas won 81-77 in overtime, but finished the season 16-17 and missed the NCAA Tournament. The Hogs played Cincinnati in 2021 and beat the Bearcats 73-67. That’s also where former Razorback Jeremiah Davenport came from.
Last season, the Razorbacks split the season series with Missouri. They lost to the Tigers in Columbia in the middle of their five-game losing streak to start SEC play, but got revenge when Missouri came to Bud Walton in February.
Tough schedule for Arkansas basketball
In order to get to the NCAA Tournament, the Razorbacks will have to run through a gauntlet of a schedule.
In addition to the regular throes of an SEC schedule, the Razorbacks will have to go up against Texas Tech, Louisville, Duke, Michigan State and Houston. With conference matchups against Auburn, Alabama and Florida, John Calipari’s squad will play every team that was in the Elite Eight last season.
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