FAYETTEVILLE - Non-conference play will not be unicorns and rainbows for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks will play the likes of Gonzaga (Oct. 24) and Memphis (Oct. 28) in a pair of exhibition games before taking on five Power Four schools in their first 12 non-confence games, including a four-game stretch will the Hogs will play Indiana in Madison Square Garden, Michigan State in Detroit and North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Arkansas Razorbacks forward Cooper Bowser speaks during the SEC Basketball Tipoff at Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Arkansas will also take on Virginia on Nov. 8 in Washington, D.C., in the second game of the season and Arizona, which beat the Razorbacks in the Sweet 16 in March, on Dec. 19 in Phoenix before rounding out non-conference play against Central Michigan and UT Rio Grande Valley.
To say non-conference play will be a huge test for Arkansas' eight freshman and the rest of its roster is an understatement, but such tests are needed when the SEC will be as deep as it is this season.
"We have a group that thinks they can, but they have no idea what that would take," head coach John Calipari said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. "That's part of what my job is, teaching them how to win, how to play in tough games.
"Our schedule's ridiculous. Why I opened the season with Virginia, I must have been on crack. Then you go Michigan State. What? Then you go we're going to go play in Phoenix, play Arizona. Indiana, way better than I thought. We're playing them in New York. Then we play an easy one, North Carolina in the Dean Dome. What?"
In his first two years at Arkansas, Calipari took a similar approach to non-conference play. Arkansas played Baylor, Illinois, Miami and Michigan in 2024 and Michigan State, Duke, Louisville, Texas Tech and Houston last year.
"I must have lost my mind when I did all that with this group being so young," Calipari said. "That and the fact, what league are we in? This league. What's that mean? Last year we played, I think, eight of the Elite Eight teams we played last year. So this year, when you start talking all those teams, talking 12, 14 NCAA tournament teams that you're going to end up playing in this league. Some of 'em twice."
That five-game stretch would be tough regardless, but will be made even more difficult by the fact that none of those games will be played in the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena. In fact, of the 14 marquee non-conference games that have either been played or scheduled during Calipari's tenure, only one, Arkansas' victory over Louisville last December, was played in Fayetteville.
Arkansas will, however, host Arizona in Bud Walton next season. Calipari also said in April that the Hogs were working towards getting Michigan State, led by another legendary head coach in Tom Izzo, to make the trek to Fayetteville.
Calipari's young squad will be battle hardened by the time SEC play begins for Arkansas on Jan. 2 against Missouri in Fayetteville.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/arkansas as Calipari: 'I Must've Been On Crack' When Putting Together Hogs' Non-Conference Slate .
