Eric Musselman shares excitement for Arkansas hosting College GameDay

Arkansas, at 10-9 and 1-5 in the SEC, doesn’t have the record that they anticipated heading into their 20th game. Even so, it hasn’t changed the overall spotlight on the program this season, especially with College GameDay coming on the road to Fayetteville this weekend for the Razorbacks’ matchup with No. 6 Kentucky.

Eric Musselman spoke on the meaning of having the show at the school and Bud Walton Arena for the first time ever during his press conference on Friday. He said it represents a ton to their program and to their university because of the notoriety that it will bring to all of them.

“It’s awesome,” said Musselman. “Obviously, you’re talking about the A+, A+ crew. You’re talking about incredible exposure for the men’s basketball program. Incredible exposure for the university, incredible for the university. For one day, the University of Arkansas? And leading up to it? I mean all you’ve got to do is turn on ESPN. There’s commercials running over and over and over about GameDay coming here.”

“What that monetary value is for the school, for the program? I don’t know. I’m sure somebody out there can come up with some type of one. But it’s great exposure,” Musselman said. “It’s awesome.”

This will be the first on-site broadcast for College GameDay of this basketball season. That makes it even more noteworthy that Arkansas earned it for their game with the Top-10 Wildcats.

It’ll be a primetime opportunity for the ‘Hogs to make a statement and attempt to save their season. They had been playing fine throughout the non-conference with a few hiccups along the way. However, since the turn of the year, they’ve come apart with five losses in their last six. All of them have come by double-digits and three of them came by 20-plus points.

Still, even with that being the case, that’s not the full focus for Musselman. They’ll eventually play the game and look to bounce back with a second ranked win at home over a blue blood this season. For now, though, Musselman wants to showcase their program and school while also honoring the teams that have come before them on The Worldwide Leader. That’s especially so since he believes their recent success in the NCAA Tournament is why the show is finally coming to air inside Bud Walton.

After that is then when they’ll turn their attention to UK in hopes of pulling the second upset against them this week.

“GameDay is coming based on what has happened here the last three years and even in year one,” said Musselman.”

“I’m assuming when the decision was made to come here? It was based on what has happened here over the body of work with the past teams,” Musselman said. “All of that stuff has Arkansas on a platform that’s a really good spot, even when we’re having a year where we would like to have more wins than what we currently have.”