I finally graduate in about nine hours, which means that I’ll be missing a lot of great hoops action this afternoon. But the good thing about a noon ceremony is that it leaves enough time afterwards to travel to Houston for the Rice game, which tips at 7 P.M. tonight.

And speaking of the Rice game, two people out of the eleven in our group will no longer be able to make the trip. They are really great seats only four rows up from the baseline beside the Texas bench, and I’m being asked to try to resell them at face ($16 each). If you’re interested, leave me a comment with your phone number as they are moderated and will not be made public. I leave town at 3ish, so that will have to be the cut-off.

Not much going on in NCAA hoops last night, but UTA won on a running jumper with 6.3 seconds at Wichita State to move to 8-0 on the season. The Mavs are one of only 17 undefeated teams left in Division I hoops, and are certainly one of the most surprising ones. In the other game of interest to Texas fans, UC-Davis was embarrassed at home by Oregon State, 73-59.

Today the television is full of quality hoops action. Arizona kicks things off at Illinois (11 AM CST, ESPN), while Duke hosts Michigan and new coach John Beilein (1 PM, CBS). Duke will roll, but it’s a chance to see how Beilein’s style translates to a new, troubled team. DePaul faces Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse with Brandon Rush on the court (1 PM, ESPN), with Pitt and Washington tipping just an hour later way out west (2 PM, FSN). Kentucky also faces IU (3 PM, CBS), Purdue travels to Mizzou (3 PM, ESPN2), and Texas A&M hosts Texas State (7 PM, FSN). But perhaps the most interesting televised matchup of the day is the grudge match between Marquette and Wisconsin, airing at 5 PM on ESPN2.

Some more games of note not on TV today: Michigan State faces their last real test before Texas when they travel to BYU (3 PM CST) and Colorado looks for a road win in Wyoming (3 PM). While I mentioned that UTA was one of the most surprising undefeated teams remaining, the other two shockers are Ole Miss and Sam Houston State. Both are in action today, with the Bearkats facing Ian Mooney’s old school, St. Louis (7 PM) and the Rebs traveling to Central Florida (6 PM).

If you’re going to that Texas/Rice tilt and want to catch some high school hoops action, your ticket also gets you into a doubleheader starting at 1 P.M. Fans can get a preview of some future Big 12 action when two class of ’08 recruits face off in the first game. Baylor commit Anthony Jones plays for Yates, who will square off with Texas verbal commit J’Covan Brown and his Port Arthur Memorial team. The second half of the high-school doubleheader features Madison against Duncanville and highly-touted ’09 prospect Shawn Williams.

While it’s not basketball, the fantastic Texas volleyball team will be televised in their Elite Eight match against USC at 3 PM CST on ESPNU. And if talented girls in spandex beating the crap out of the Trojans isn’t enough to entice you, then I’m just not sure what else I can throw out.