Arkansas will resemble an NBA team in the warm-up line tonight at Thompson-Boling Arena, four Razorbacks towering at 6-foot-10 or taller.

But it’s not just the Goliaths that Tennessee has to worry about. Watch out for David.

He goes by Patrick Beverley in the scorebook. He’s 6-foot-1, but thinks he’s 7-foot-1.

Beverley is Arkansas’ leading rebounder. Since SEC play began, he’s really grown frog legs. In fact, he leads the league in SEC games with an amazing average of 11.0 rebounds a game.

“It’s getting to the point we’re in uncharted territory,’’ Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said, ‘‘looking at a six-one guard who’s a buck- 75 or whatever (175 pounds) getting double-figure rebounds every night.’’

Beverley is a sophomore from Chicago. He was the SEC’s freshman of the year last season, but not because of glass-cleaning. He averaged 4.5 rebounds, reached double figures only once and collected a solitary rebound in the Hogs’ 83-72 loss to Tennessee.

This year, Beverley has rebounded in double figures seven times, including six SEC games. He had 15 against LSU, 13 three different games.

“He’s hurting some of our frontcourt players’ careers,’’ said Pelphrey. “He won’t let them get any rebounds.’’

How does he do it? Beverley is strong and not only a good jumper but a quick one.

“A lot of times,’’ said Auburn coach Jeff Lebo, “guys have the mentality when a shot goes up, they think of it as a pass to them. He has that mentality.

“He doesn’t just go when he feels like he can get it. He goes all the time. He’s relentless.’’

UT coach Bruce Pearl isn’t sure what to do about Beverley.

“It speaks to what a special athlete he is,’’ Pearl said. “He’s a very tough match-up because of his ability to do things both inside and out.’’

Right. Beverley also is Arkansas’ leading 3-point weapon (41-of-112, 36.6 percent).

That’s what you’d expect of a 6-1 guard. But 11 rebounds a game? That’s like having a cat that will fetch the newspaper or a dog that lays eggs.

“The kid loves to compete,’’ said Pelphrey. “It’s important to him.

“Crack his chest open and take a look at his heart and it may be seven feet.’’

Pelphrey’s Pedigree: Pelphrey took over at Arkansas last April after five years at South Alabama. He replaced Stan Heath, who was canned after two consecutive first-round NCAA-tournament losses.

Arkansas turned to Pelphrey only when Dana Altman reneged after 24 hours and returned to Creighton. If Pelphrey even comes close to the success of his mentors he’ll be at Arkansas (or wherever he wants to be) a long time.

He played for Eddie Sutton and then Rick Pitino at Kentucky. He coached one year under Sutton at Oklahoma State, then eight years with Billy Donovan at Marshall and Florida. Sutton, Pitino and Donovan have collectively won 1,627 games.

Remember the final play of Pelphrey’s collegiate career? Sure you do.

Pelphrey was defending (but backed off to avoid fouling) Christian Laettner on the famous turn-around shot at the buzzer that gave Duke a 104-103 win over Kentucky in the 1992 East Region finals.

Planting Seeds: The Vols are a No. 1 seed in the Feb. 11 edition of Bracketology on espn.com. Author Joe Lunardi includes six SEC teams — UT, Florida, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Mississippi State — in his NCAA tournament projection. No sign of late-charging Kentucky (yet).

A group of 20 media types huddled last week in an NCAA-chaperoned simulation to provide insight on the bracket-selection process. They made UT a No. 2 seed, opening against Belmont, with a Purdue-California winner waiting in the second round. The media bracket left out Mississippi State and included Florida only as the SEC tournament winner.

Rick’s Fix: After 10 years of status quo, Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury changed his team’s practice routine of shooting free throws.

“Whatever we changed to, we couldn’t be any worse,’’ said Stansbury.

The Bulldogs, who are 11th of 12 SEC teams at 62.4 percent, locked in with a 23-of-26 effort in a win over Auburn on Saturday — the same day Tennessee went 4-of-17 at LSU.

So what was the miracle fix?

“Knock on wood,’’ said Stansbury, “I really don’t want to talk about it to tell you the truth.

“You sit around and watch teams and it’s amazing how poorly teams shoot free throws around the country.

“Kids just don’t work on that part of their game from March to October, like they do the dunk shot and the 3-point shot, and it affects them come October to March.’’

Last Word: South Carolina coach Dave Odom on Tennessee matching muscles with Arkansas:

“Arkansas being big really doesn’t bother them. They make you adjust to them more than they worry about adjusting to you. I think they like playing against bigger guys.’’

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.