Dave Van Horn questions importance of SEC Tournament after Arkansas snubbed from hosting NCAA Tournament Regional
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Dave Van Horn said his Arkansas team was led to believe it was in a good position to host an NCAA Tournament Regional, but the Razorbacks found themselves outside the top-16 seeds in the final bracket.
Arkansas learned Sunday that it wouldn’t be hosting when it was left out of Sunday’s reveal of host sites. On Monday, the full NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket was revealed, with the Razorbacks landing as the 2-seed in the Lawrence Regional, hosted by No. 15 overall seed Kansas.
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Van Horn had a few things to say on the matter when speaking to media members on Monday.
“Everyone I had spoke with before the game and then after the game that associated with the tournament and Southeastern Conference said we were in good shape and yeah, so that kind of threw a little, you know, maybe a little confidence in there,” Van Horn said. “
“And then we were on the bus, you know, we all showered and got on the bus and we’re heading to the airport when I think the, you know, they posted the 16 sites, we were a little taken back, we thought we’re going to get one.”
The Arkansas head coach noted how his SEC Tournament decisions were driven by the hopes of landing a top-16 seed.
“We had heard after we won the first two we were in good shape, but we felt like we needed to win that third one to make sure,” Van Horn said.
“We used (Ethan) McElvain for like four innings. So it makes you wonder about the tournament a little bit. What’s it all about? So maybe rethink it in the future on how we handle it and how we pitch it, how we play it. But I did enjoy the (SEC) Tournament and enjoy being around the guys all that time and I felt like we got better.”
“It makes you wonder about the [SEC] Tournament a little bit, what’s it all about? Maybe rethink it in the future on how we handle it and how we pitch it.”
— Courtney Mims (@MimsCourtney) May 25, 2026
Dave Van Horn and the team were surprised they weren’t picked as a host site, considering they spoke to people at the… pic.twitter.com/NMTwuWxJzW
The Hogs went 17-13 in conference play during the regular season. They added 3 more SEC wins in Hoover, defeating Tennessee, Texas and Auburn. In the 2-1 win over Auburn, McElvain threw 4.1 scoreless innings over 48 pitches, the most work of the 4 Arkansas pitchers who pitched in the game.
The Lawrence Regional draw has Arkansas facing Missouri State, the Regional’s 3-seed, on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. After playing 4 games in Hoover, Van Horn said Monday is a rest day for the Hogs, who fell 11-1 in the championship game against Georgia.
We were a little out of gas, and some of the things yesterday didn’t go great, obviously, but excited about the Regional,” Van Horn said. “Looking forward to getting these guys a little bit of rest next day or so, and get our itinerary ready and head up to Lawrence.”
Is this an OmaHogs year for Arkansas? Predict College World Series qualifiers today on Kalshi!
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
