FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas men's basketball team is ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press preseason poll for the first time since returning every starter from the 1994 national championship team.
Arkansas will open this season ranked No. 10 in the AP poll released Monday.
The Razorbacks were No. 1 in the 1994-95 preseason poll when they returned the lineup intact of Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman, Corey Beck, Dwight Stewart and Clint McDaniel from a 31-3 team that beat Duke in the national championship game the previous season.
Arkansas made it back to the NCAA Tournament title game in 1995 before losing to UCLA.
Eric Musselman, going into his fourth season as Arkansas' coach with a 73-28 record, was asked Sunday before the poll was released about the significance of a high preseason ranking.
"Doesn't really mean anything, I don't think," Musselman said. "It's good for the fans, it's good for the media, but I don't know."
Musselman said the Razorbacks already are wearing a target based on their success the past two seasons.
"That's something that we haven't talked to our team much about, but we will start to as we creep closer and closer to games," he said. "Although we only have two guys [junior guard Davonte Davis and senior forward Kamani Johnson] that were off-and-on starters, just having 'Arkansas' across the front of our jerseys adds a little bit different dynamic right now when we play against people.
"I think our guys have to understand the responsibility that comes with that, because when you're on the other end, a lot of teams sometimes overlook people and then you can sneak some wins. We're not going to be able to do that at all."
Arkansas is ranked in the top 10 despite losing all five starters who were in the lineup the latter part of last season with All-American guard JD Notae, All-SEC forward Jaylin Williams, guards Au'Diese Toney and Stanley Umude and forward Trey Wade.
"My last two years, I've just been trying to touch the top 25," said Arkansas junior guard Ricky Council, a transfer from Wichita State who is one of 11 newcomers for the Razorbacks. "It's really exciting to just be on a team where we're ranked high.
"But I also know how it is on the opposite team, because playing on a team like Wichita State, we were always trying to play our hardest when we played a team in the top 25."
Council's Wichita State teams were 1-3 against ranked Houston teams the previous two seasons, including a 68-63 victory in 2021 and a 76-74 overtime loss last season. The Shockers also had an overtime loss last season to Arizona, which was No. 2 in the final AP poll.
"I know on the opposite end everybody's going to bring us their best, no matter who we play," Council said. "So we're just going to have to be ready to play."
Being on a ranked team also is new for Arkansas sophomore forward Trevon Brazile, a transfer from Missouri.
"Preseason, you can never tell because nobody's really shown anything yet," Brazile said. "We've still got to go out there and prove ourselves.
"There's no doubt in my mind I wouldn't take anybody over us."
Brazile said where the Razorbacks are in the AP poll shouldn't be their focus.
"Going into this season, we shouldn't even be really thinking about where we're ranked," he said. "We just go in and play every game and it will show."
The Razorbacks are ranked in AP's preseason poll in back-to-back seasons for the first time since a four-year run from the 1993-94 through 1996-97 seasons.
Last season Arkansas opened at No. 16, rose as high as No. 10 after an 8-0 start, then fell out of the AP poll after consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Hofstra.
The Razorbacks then recovered from a 1-3 SEC start to be No. 17 in the final AP poll before the NCAA Tournament.
"I would say our goal is to really be a top-5 team," Arkansas freshman guard Anthony Black said. "I think 10, that's a pretty good starting point for us, considering we've got a whole lot of new players."
Black is one of three McDonald's All-Americans who are freshmen for the Razorbacks along with guard Nick Smith and forward Jordan Walsh.
The star power of the signing class is a big reason for Arkansas' preseason ranking.
"I think that's a good position for us, and it keeps us kind of neutral where we have a lot to work for," Black said. "It's not too high where we're on the top, and it's not too low where we're on the bottom. So we have a lot to work for."
Five SEC teams are in the AP poll with No. 4 Kentucky, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 13 Auburn and No. 20 Alabama joining Arkansas.
Texas A&M just missed giving the SEC six ranked teams. The Aggies are the top team in the "others receiving votes" category.
The Razorbacks play a combined six conference games against the SEC's other ranked teams -- including home-and-home against Kentucky for the first time since 2011 -- as well as two games against Texas A&M.
Arkansas will play at No. 5 Baylor in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and the Razorbacks' opponent in their second game at the Maui Invitational will be either No. 9 Creighton or No. 25 Texas Tech.
Other ranked teams Arkansas could play in Maui are No. 17 Arizona and No. 19 San Diego State.
The Razorbacks play an exhibition game at No. 12 Texas on Oct. 29. Their exhibition opener will be Monday night against Rogers State, an NCAA Division II school in Claremore, Okla.
Along with having at least eight regular-season games against ranked teams, Arkansas has matchups with Louisville in Maui and Oklahoma in Tulsa.
"I think it's one of the hardest schedules that we've been a part of, if not the hardest," said Musselman, who also had a 110-34 record in four seasons at Nevada with three NCAA Tournament appearances. "Obviously, the Maui field is really challenging.
"We're really young and not only are we really young, we have a lot of new pieces. And so we're continuing to try to improve.
"Some of the simple concepts that we've had in the past with our close-out techniques, we still haven't grasped that the way that we need to.
"If we had five more months of training camp, we probably still would need more. But the schedule is upon us."