Eric Musselman takes subtle shot at selection committee's placement of Arkansas

The NCAA Tournament bracket is out, which means conversations have started about seeding and where teams were placed. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman had some thoughts about his team’s placement this week prior to the big dance.

The Razorbacks are a No. 4 seed in the West Regional, but play their first game in Buffalo, NY. They’ll take on No. 13 seed Vermont with a chance to potentially face No. 5 seed UConn in the next round, which also takes place in Buffalo.

Musselman argued those two teams could have more of an advantage during those game since they’re closer to Buffalo than Arkansas is.

“You know, it’s interesting,” Musselman said. “We play in Buffalo. Vermont’s a seven-hour drive or whatever. UConn’s another team in that. That’s a six-hour and fifteen-minute drive. So [it’s] kind of like a road game for us against Vermont, quite frankly. We’ve got to understand that, as well.

“It’s not often when a four-seed, when you look at your bracket, and [say], ‘Oh, wow. The first team we play is really close to here.’ If you’re fortunate enough to advance, that team’s pretty close, too. Not much of an advantage there at all.”

Arkansas went 25-8 this year and fell to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. They’ll take on Vermont Thursday at 9:20 p.m. ET on TNT.

NCAA committee chairman provides insight to selection process

The NCAA Tournament bracket is set. March Madness has officially begun and NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Committee chair Tom Burnett, who also serves as the Southland Conference commissioner, joined CBS Sports to discuss the selection process on Sunday night.

As always, controversy surrounds the selection process as some teams make the field with sub-par resumes and others miss the cut despite a strong contingency promoting their value. During his on-air appearance immediately following the bracket reveal for the NCAA Tournament, Burnett went in-depth on the decision-making process which led to this year’s 68-team field.

“I’m not sure about smooth,” said Burnett. “But there’s always bumps in the road. A lot of that had to do with – we had great basketball this week – and we were watching all the conference tournaments that were going on late into today. We had all sorts of contingencies in place because we knew these conference tournaments were very important and something we needed to keep an eye on.

“Not really any bumps in the road, just a lot of teams that were always under consideration that were playing deep into their tournaments.”