Arkansas is getting its Boogie back just in time for the Big Dance.

When 6-foot-2 freshman guard Boogie Fland had hand surgery Jan. 22, the expectation was that he would miss the rest of the season. But Razorbacks coach John Calipari confirmed Sunday night that Fland will play in the 10th-seeded Razorbacks’ NCAA tournament opener Thursday against Kansas in Providence, Rhode Island.

Just what that will look like is unknown.

“If you ask me, ‘Will he play more than 15 minutes?’, I don’t know. Maybe less,” Calipari said during a media availability after the selections were announced. “But I know he’s talented, and for our team, (he can) come in and rebound, defend, make easy plays, fly up and down the court, make the plays. … And that will help us.”

The school officially announced Fland’s return Saturday, a move potentially timed to influence the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Arkansas was considered a bubble team, but it got the No. 10 seed in the West Region.

Calipari said it’s doubtful the Razorbacks’ other injured star – 6-foot-8 junior forward Adou Thiero, who has missed the past six games with a knee injury – would play in the tournament’s opening weekend.

Calipari dismissed the idea that announcing Fland’s return was designed to help the Razorbacks make the tournament or improve their seeding.

“I thought we were in,” Calipari said when asked about the timing of the Fland news. “They weren’t going to change our seed because Boogie’s going to play. But let ’em know. Let the country know.”

Fland hurt his right thumb Jan. 11 in a home loss to Florida; he attempted to play through the injury, starting the next two games against LSU and Missouri.

Before being injured, Fland was living up to the considerable hype that accompanied his decision to follow Calipari to Arkansas. Fland, a four-star prospect out of New York City, originally committed to play for the coach at Kentucky, then decommitted when Calipari left the Wildcats for the Razorbacks.

He was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game before the surgery.

With Fland, Arkansas opened SEC play 1-6, including dropping its first five. Since then, it has gone 9-4, a turnaround that began with an emotional 89-79 win at Kentucky in Calpari’s return to Rupp Arena.

The team has been playing so well without Fland that he talked to Calipari about his desire not to upset the Razorbacks’ chemistry.

“The greatest piece of it was Boogie saying to me, ‘I don’t want to screw them up. I just want to help,’” Calipari said. “I said, ‘Well, you may play 10-15 minutes. But so what?’ He said, ‘I’d be good.’ And I said, ‘We may need you more. I don’t know.’”

Calipari said he also talked to the team about Fland’s return, promising them that nobody would be losing their role. Instead, Calipari told them Fland would give them an eighth man in case of foul trouble or someone having an off night.

“Now, you have a little bit of breathing room,” Calipari said.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of Fland’s return is that Calipari claimed Sunday he didn’t see it coming, acknowledging he doesn’t spend much time with injured players during the season. Calipari said team trainers approached him this weekend and told him Fland would be cleared to return to action.

“When you get hurt and I’m coaching you, I basically forget your name,” Calipari said. “So, if you’re not part of the group playing, like, I would say, ‘Hey, Boogie. Good to see you.’ I never asked him a question. Never talked to him. The trainer came up (Saturday) and said, ‘He’s going through these workouts. He’s gonna practice.’”

Arkansas is the fourth team Calipari has taken to the tournament, joining UMass, Memphis and Kentucky.

The Razorbacks finished 12th in the SEC, in large part because of injuries and the early-season struggles, but also posted five Quad 1 victories.

Calipari seemed to oscillate between proclaiming he expected to see the Razorbacks in the field and having no idea what the outcome would be Sunday. Ultimately, he said this season’s appearance was reminiscent of his earlier trips to the tournament, not like the Kentucky powerhouses that entered March Madness with lofty expectations.

“The whole point was, ‘Get in,’” Calipari said. “It’s the first year. Getting things established. … To be able to say, ‘All right, we’re in the tournament.’ Hard road. It may be the hardest. But so what? We’re in.”

And they’ll have Fland on the road with them.