It’s been a long, slow week with no Texas games to hold my attention. But considering that I’ve worked a 40-hour week in addition to the last week of classes, I don’t know that I’d have had time for any previews or post-games. Hell, I’ve still got LSU/A&M, Oklahoma State/Syracuse and — don’t laugh — even Ohio State/UNC on the Tivo to watch. You might say I’m a bit behind on things.

Tomorrow is a great day for college basketball fans. Instead of football dominating the screen all day, we have hoops from morning to night. Granted, I’ll be working again and have to miss it all. But if my Tivo doesn’t explode from overload, I might have a few more games to record.

In the interest of having content on this “dead” week, here are some of tomorrow’s match-ups, with channels and (central) tip times:

George Mason at Duke (11 AM, ESPN): I’m not sure that George Mason has a snowball’s chance in hell, considering they are being picked behind Hofstra in their own conference. But it’s nice to see GMU getting some national coverage as a result of their miracle run to the Final Four in March. No word on whether or not the Patriots will be sporting their brand new yellow Nike jerseys. Hopefully they look nothing like Oregon’s football uniforms.

Wisconsin at Marquette (1 PM, ESPN): I’ve liked Wisconsin all offseason, as they are returning a lot of experience this season. I’m not sure if they can overtake Oden and the Buckeyes for the Big 10 title, but they will certainly not be a team to take lightly come March. This weekend they get to take on the “other” good basketball team in the state. No Dwayne Wade, but it should still be a fun matchup.

Centenary at Texas Tech (1 PM, no local TV): This isn’t actually going to be worth watching. But it’s two teams that we’ll be playing in the near future, so it’s at least worth reading the box score when all is said and done. One sign that this game going to be a bore? Fox Southwest would rather air a football game between Blinn JuCo and Pearl River.

Texas A&M vs. UCLA (1:30 PM, CBS): As I still haven’t watched the A&M/LSU game, I can only gauge this year’s Aggy squad on what I’ve read about their performance. And based solely on hearsay, I’d have to say UCLA has this in the bag, particularly since this “neutral site” game is being played in Anaheim. Much like the tougher non-conference opponents Texas has scheduled, this contest offers A&M a chance to get some experience before the Big 12 slate rolls around. Which is something that Billy Gillispie’s previous non-conference slates of South Tennessee Technical State and Puerto Rico Beauty College just couldn’t provide.

Washington at Gonzaga (10 PM, Fox Pacific): Is Washington for real? This is the first true test for the Huskies as they head into very hostile territory, playing the Bulldogs in what amounts to an overcrowded high school gym. Gonzaga is looking to bounce back from a loss to Washington State, and Texas is looking for a little help in the RPI with a Zags win. For those who actually get Fox Pacific (channel 433 for TW digital subscribers in Austin), keep your eyes on the Huskies’ beanpole freshman Spencer Hawes.

It’s tough to know where to even begin after Gonzaga manhandled Texas in Phoenix on Saturday, winning by a score of 87-77. The game was much more one-sided than the final margin indicated, as the Zags failed to score in the final 5:32 of play, while the Texas backups hit seemingly every three pointer they took. But for a majority of the other 35 minutes of play, Gonzaga absolutely embarrassed the Longhorns in front of ESPN’s national audience.

Justin Mason and Dexter Pittman provided the few bright spots for Texas on an otherwise dark day. And we’ll give them their due coverage later on. But for now, let’s get all of the negative crap out of the way.

You may be shocked to learn this, but a 2-3 zone is not impossible to beat. In fact, most teams can do it. But for the Texas Longhorns, their attempts certainly seemed like a pre-schooler trying to break down Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. The main “tactic” employed by the Horns involved dribbling around the three-point line, maybe passing it around the arc, and then jacking up a three-pointer. Somehow, this failed to work.

I didn’t have overly high hopes coming in to the game. In fact, I’d mentally conceded the game and hoped to just keep it within ten points. But to see a team struggle so mightily with a freakin 2-3 zone just blows my mind. Dribble penetrate. Get quick ball movement. It’s really not rocket science.

For a brief stretch in the second half, Kevin Durant seemed to get it. He called for the ball and penetrated the zone. Because Durant is a genetic freak amongst mere mortals, he didn’t even need to find the open man once the penetration caused the zone to collapse. He was able to finish shots and draw fouls. But apart from the few minutes where KD’s light bulb flicked on, there was no joy in Mudville on Saturday.

D.J. Augustin had an absolutely abysmal day. And when you can’t seem to break down the zone, having a struggling point guard certainly doesn’t help the situation. Augustin had many more turnovers than usual, giving the ball to the Zags four times, and made stupid fouls that seemed to be a result of frustration. Hopefully he’ll get things straightened out a bit before Sunday’s tilt with LSU.

Perhaps even more frustrating than the stagnant offense, though, was the defense’s inability to contain Derek Raivio. Readers of this column may have even remembered a little nugget of wisdom I shared Saturday morning:

If Gonzaga gets good ball movement or successfully draws defenders into the lane before kicking it out, Raivio should get his share of decent looks from behind the arc. For Texas, it seems that Heytvelt’s success is inevitable. The key is to make sure that they don’t also allow Raivio to go off on them as they are trying to completely shut down Heytvelt.

Please, don’t start calling me a prophet. It might go to my head. But here’s the thing. If Raivio’s outside threat was painfully obvious to someone as dumb as me, why wasn’t the team prepared for it?

The Horns did a pretty good job shutting down Heytvelt. He got some points and rebounds, as was to be expected. But Raivio was able to knock down seven three-pointers in the midst of a 27-point night, shooting 50% from behind the arc.

“We weren’t aware of where he was sometimes,” Durant said after the game. “They just made an extra pass, and he was wide open.” And that’s how you get your ass handed to you by a guy who looks like he idolizes Eminem.

A.J. Abrams had one of his toughest games as a Longhorn, and certainly his worst of the season. Gonzaga, although playing in a zone defense, was aware of his threat and compensated, shading towards him. He was unable to get clean, open looks, but that didn’t stop him from shooting. A.J. finished 1-for-11 from behind the arc, and 3-for-17 overall.

I said in my pre-game post that if Abrams went cold, it’d be a long day. But now we have to wonder if A.J.’s scoring is going to be key to every game. Much like the Raivio-Heytvelt combo of Gonzaga, I feel that teams will not be able to shut down both Abrams and Durant. Perhaps Gonzaga has shown that it’s best for teams to take their lumps with Durant and key on A.J.

The rebounding was not nearly as one-sided as I’d anticipated. The Zags only outrebounded the Horns by a 38-34 margin. And most importantly for Texas, they limited Gonzaga to very few second-chance points. I can’t find the exact stat anywhere on the web, but near the end of the game I believe that the scoreboard in the U.S. Airways Center said Gonzaga had only eight second-chance points.

Justin Mason had a breakout game offensively on Saturday. We’ve all known that he is a quality defender, and he continues to provide for Texas in that role. But against Gonzaga, Justin played almost the entire game (35 minutes) and scored 17 points, taking advantage of his speed by cutting to the hoop for easy baskets. He also was hot from behind the arc, hitting 3-of-5.

Dexter Pittman did not see much action, but looked good while he was in the game. He grabbed two rebounds and scored four points in only four minutes of play. Unfortunately, he wasn’t really cut out for the game that Barnes knew Gonzaga was going to give them, and it limited Big Dex’s time. Gonzaga likes to run the floor, and the Horns tried to match that speed for most of the first half. With the intense workout regimen Pittman is on, coupled with the fact that he’s still a big, big guy, he won’t be able to play very long in these up-and-down type contests. I do think, however, that he will be useful against teams like A&M who tend to slow things down and make it a physical battle inside.

The great thing to keep in mind is that it’s a long season and this is a young team. In fact, that’s why I’m so excited about the journey I’m undertaking this year. Without a doubt, the team that we saw against Michigan State is going to be miles away from the team we see in Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament. Hell, the team we saw against Michigan State was even different from the team we saw against Gonzaga. And while some things were exploited by Gonzaga, there were other aspects of our game that have improved, and players that have stepped up in the two weeks since New York City.

It’s going to be a frustrating season. But I still feel this is a tournament-caliber team and we’ll have to see how the cards fall come March. In the meantime, the team just needs to try to earn a few important non-conference wins this month, and then move on to Big 12 play. And as fans, we just need to have a little patience.

The biggest test for the young Texas Longhorns team lies just twelve hours away, in the form of the 21st-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. Many casual observers of college basketball might think that the Zags (7-1) are rebuilding after losing superstar Adam Morrison to the NBA. But as their early-season NIT win over UNC showed, this Gonzaga team is ready for the spotlight right now.

The biggest problem for Texas (5-1) is going to be sophomore big man Josh Heytvelt. After the departure of J.P. Batista, Heytvelt needed to step up for the Zags inside, and he has performed admirably. The complete lack of an inside presence for Texas means that Heytvelt will likely have his way all game long. Hopefully the 2-3 zone that the Horns will likely implement will not lead to foul trouble for Kevin Durant. We are going to need minutes out of Connor Atchley and Dexter Pittman, but the double-edged sword is of course the fact that they are not yet seasoned players.

Point guard Derek Raivio is the leading scorer (18.9 PPG) for Mark Few’s Bulldogs, and has hit 21 of 46 three-point attempts so far this year. If Gonzaga gets good ball movement or successfully draws defenders into the lane before kicking it out, Raivio should get his share of decent looks from behind the arc. For Texas, it seems that Heytvelt’s success is inevitable. The key is to make sure that they don’t also allow Raivio to go off on them as they are trying to completely shut down Heytvelt.

In my opinion, the offensive key to this game for the Horns is going to be A.J. Abrams. Texas can shoot the three, and they are going to need to do so against Gonzaga’s zone. But A.J. is arguably our best three-point threat, and if he goes cold it’s going to be a long day.

The simple threat of Durant should open up the three-pointers for Abrams, and will hopefully allow Damion James some good looks under the basket. I fully expect Durant to get a chance at many assists as he penetrates, looks for a midrange jumper, and finds the zone has collapsed on him. As said earlier, Abrams will need to knock down his threes in those situations. But it’s also important for James to make the easy shots that have confounded him the past few games. Gonzaga seems to be susceptible to back-door cuts and dump-offs in the lane for layups. James has a chance to be huge on offense if he can take advantage of that apparent weakness.

One other glaring problem that I have avoided mentioning to this point is the difficulty Texas has had outrebounding real opponents. Against much smaller teams in Nicholls State and Texas Southern, the Horns were able to control the glass. But against Heytvelt and Sean Mallon, I’m not very confident that Texas will come out with more rebounds. While I’m conceding the overall rebounding edge, Texas can still help itself by limiting Gonzaga’s offensive boards and second-chance points.

For now, it’s time to catch up on a lot of missed sleep and head to the U.S. Airways Center for tomorrow’s doubleheader. Those of you not in Arizona can catch the action on ESPN at 2 PM central. I’ll be back with a breakdown on Saturday or Sunday. In the meantime, you stay classy, Austin.