FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Bobby Portis insists he doesn't think about reaching the NCAA Tournament, not during early February.
The Arkansas forward and Southeastern Conference's leading scorer would love nothing more, however, than to revisit the topic in a few weeks.
"Hopefully at the start of March, we'll be stating our case," Portis said.
Whether Arkansas can reach its goal of returning to the tournament for the first time since 2008 will be decided during the next month. What is certain is the importance of every opportunity for the Razorbacks (16-5, 5-3 SEC), who lost 57-56 Saturday at Florida.
Following the last-second loss to the Gators, Arkansas hosts South Carolina (11-9, 2-6) tonight. The game is the first of two straight at home for the Razorbacks, who have 10 regular-season games left to impress the selection committee - and a visit to No. 1 Kentucky on Feb. 28 is their lone remaining game against a ranked opponent.
Arkansas did reach the postseason last year in coach Mike Anderson's third season, an NIT appearance that came in large part thanks to a seven-game SEC winning streak in February and March.
With Portis' 17.7 points per game leading the way, Anderson is confident the Razorbacks can repeat their late-season improvement this year. The junior has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, and he's finished with 10 or more rebounds in six of his last seven games - averaging 8.5 rebounds for the season.
"I think just some things are really starting to shape up with this basketball team," Anderson said. "This is the time of the year that the teams I've been associated with, they start putting a lot of things together."
Anderson was upset following the Florida game with a foul call on forward Alandise Harris, one that gave Michael Frazier II the chance to make the winning free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining. He even went so far as to name the subject of his ire, referee John Hampton, in the postgame news conference.
Craig Pinkerton, an SEC spokesman, said SEC commissioner Mike Slive spoke with Anderson, with the Arkansas coach apparently avoiding any kind of reprimand after Pinkerton said the league considers "the matter to be resolved."
Even resolved, the incident showed the level of emotional investment for Anderson - an Arkansas assistant coach for 17 years under Nolan Richardson who would love nothing more than to return the Razorbacks to the national stage. And even if his players are focused only on the Gamecocks, there's little doubt the possibility of an NCAA Tournament berth is hovering squarely over Arkansas as it prepares for its stretch run.
"Yeah, it's every kid's dream. I've been watching it my whole life, just the upsets and craziness of the tournament," Arkansas sophomore Manuale Watkins said. "Everybody wants to be in it. ... At the end of the regular season, if we take care of business and our body of work is good enough, then we should be there."