Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas basketball can now turn its attention to the offseason.

For a fourth consecutive year the Razorbacks did not make the postseason. Arkansas (18-14) was not among the teams announced Sunday as part of the NCAA, NIT or CBI fields.

Arkansas closed out the season with losses in eight of its final 10 games. Mike Anderson’s first season with the Razorbacks ended with a 70-54 loss to LSU in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

"We're going through a process, as I said earlier, it's painful, but that's part of it," Anderson said of rebuilding the program. "I think you got to go through it. But these guys have given me everything they have."

Anderson's first season with the Razorbacks was not without difficulties.

Arkansas had three players transfer in the summer and returned no starters from last year’s team. Preseason all-SEC pick Marshawn Powell suffered a season-ending injury prior to the team’s third game.

Roster turnover left the Razorbacks with eight scholarship players for most of the season. Despite the personnel issues they did start off 16-6, including victories against three teams that mad the NCAA Tournament field: Mississippi Valley State, Michigan and Vanderbilt.

“I think  18  wins  and  the  schedule  we  have was a pretty good schedule,” said Anderson, who should have all but two players from this year's team back.

Eight SEC teams were selected for the postseason. Kentucky (a No. 1 seed), Florida (No. 7), Vanderbilt (No. 5) and Alabama (No. 9) are in the NCAA Tournament.

SEC schools took four of 32 spots in the NIT field. Tennessee (a No. 1 seed), Ole Miss (No. 2), Mississippi State (No. 4) and LSU (No. 6) were selected.

Arkansas' last trip to the postseason was the NCAA Tournament during the 2007-08 season. That was the third consecutive trip for the Razorbacks.

"It's a  process  and  I've  been there  before,  done  that,  and  it  will  take time,” Anderson said. “But I think we're going to have some more pieces to go with what we got and it will happen, trust me, it will.”