The Kentucky Wildcats no longer preside quite so comfortably over the Southeastern Conference, which is harder to do these days.

Kansas’ national title defense ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament when Arkansas’ Ricky Council IV made five free throws in the closing seconds and the eighth-seeded Razorbacks beat the No. 1 seed Jayhawks 72-71.

Alabama has the No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed, one of the best players in college basketball and likely a couple of games in its own backyard.

Alabama star Brandon Miller is being accompanied at the NCAA Tournament by an armed security guard.

Quenton Jackson scored 20 points and eighth-seeded Texas A&M took down a ranked opponent for the second straight day, stunning No. 15 Arkansas 82-64 to reach the championship game of the SEC Tournament.

JD Notae scored 22 points, including a huge 3-pointer with a little more than minute remaining, and No. 18 Arkansas beat Florida 82-74 on Tuesday night for its first win in Gainesville since 1995.

Elijah Harkless scored 21 points and Oklahoma handed No. 12 Arkansas its first loss of the season, frustrating the Razorbacks’ top shooters and their coach in an 88-66 romp.

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)INDIANAPOLIS – Baylor reached the Final Four for the first time in 71 years, getting 22 points from MaCio Teague and a dominating defensive performance from Davion Mitchell to beat Arkansas 81-72 on Monday night. The South Region final was a reunion of former Southwest Conference programs aiming to join another (Houston) in the Final Four. The Bears ran away from there, right into next weekend's Final Four against the Cougars. Mitchell led the stiff-arm charge as Arkansas missed 12 straight shots and Teague hit a pair of 3-pointers to put it out of reach. AdThe expected fast-twitch South Region final was going to be a drought-ender, just a matter of how long.

Davonte Davis hit a short jumper with 2.9 seconds left, and Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in 26 years with a 72-70 win over Oral Roberts in the South Region semifinals Saturday night. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight, Oral Roberts stumbled with a series of turnovers and missed shots. “We gave him a pass option, we gave him a dribble option,” Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills said. Oral Roberts knew it had a chance to top it against the Razorbacks after playing them earlier in the season. Oral Roberts led by 10 at halftime in Fayetteville on Dec. 20 before Arkansas bullied the Golden Eagles in the second half for an 87-76 win.

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)The Latest on the second round of the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern):___7:45 p.m.Florida guard Tyree Appleby has been cleared to play and was in the starting lineup for No. 1 seed in the second round for a third time, joining the 2000 team against Arizona and the 2017 squad against Villanova. Sister Jean Delores Schmidt gave an inspirational pregame prayer to her Loyola Chicago team before the eighth-seeded Ramblers met top-seeded Illinois in Sunday’s second round. UCLA and Abilene Christian face off Monday, assuring that at least one double-digit seed will reach the Sweet 16. This is the first time four teams seeded 13th or worse made it to the second round.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)INDIANAPOLIS – The night before his team's NCAA Tournament opener, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman sat in a hotel room and talked with his son about using full-court pressure against Colgate. Call it “24 Minutes of Hell.”Justin Smith had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Arkansas shut down high-scoring Colgate to open the NCAA Tournament with an 85-68 win on Friday. Arkansas seemed to have met its revved-up match against Colgate, the small liberal arts school from central New York. Colgate reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019 by picking up the scoring pace and are back again this year after scoring 86.3 points per game, second nationally. Arkansas' athleticism, particularly on defense, turned out to be too much for the Raiders to overcome.

Arkansas (22-6) snapped a 12-game SEC winning streak that tied the program record set by the 1993-94 team that also ended in the SEC Tournament in the semifinals. Losing hurts every time regardless, and we really wanted this game.”The Razorbacks came in leading the SEC with 82.8 points a game. LSU took advantage after Arkansas guard Davonte Davis made a pair of free throws with 11:42 left tying it up at 52. The Tigers LSU reeled off 12 straight points to take the lead for good, and Gaines capped the spurt with a layup with 7:25 left. "I thought he played a really, really good floor game.