If you had a chance to watch the Davidson/Oklahoma NIT regional final last night, you may have been watching the two best players in the country go back and forth. Perhaps it’s a bit of hyperbole, but it’s tough to not gush when watching Blake Griffin dominate with a sick line of 25/20 against a Davidson team led by Stephen Curry’s 44 points. As a Texas fan, I’m certainly not looking forward to the combo of Little Griffin, Big Griffin, and Willie Warren twice this year, but am looking forward to seeing Curry and the Wildcats take on West Virginia in person just before the Horns play Villanova.

The Texas cities making bids for the Final Four went two for three earlier today, when the NCAA named Arlington and Houston future Final Four sites. The 2014 event will be held at the new Cowboys space station out in Arlington, while Reliant in Houston will follow up their 2011 Final Four with another in 2016. San Antonio was one of five cities whose bids were not selected.

It seemed that perhaps Ole Miss could make a run as a darkhorse NCAA candidate with the SEC having a bit of a down year. But after losing Trevor Gaskins at the start of the year, the Rebels took another huge blow when junior guard and leader Eniel Polynice had season-ending knee surgery. It’s a tough break for Andy Kennedy and the Rebs, who were bringing in a serviceable freshman class to compliment the nucleus of a team that started 13-0 last year.

Hoops is certainly back in full swing, with ESPN broadcasting college basketball all damned day. Unfortunately, we’re not quite in full swing here at LRT with insanity at the McJob and cramming to get everything ready for Maui by Friday. We’ll try to get back to the daily content sometime this week, and look for some cosmetic changes around the site before December arrives. You can thank the 20-plus hours on airplanes to and from Hawaii.

The Big 12 is off to a hot start, with its members logging a perfect 19-0 record through last night’s games. The conference probably won’t match its solid RPI numbers from last year, when it spent most of the season slotted as the second-toughest league in the nation. But the Big 12 teams are taking care of patsies so far, something that couldn’t be said even during last season’s strong start — yes, we’re looking at you, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

Oklahoma faces the league’s stiffest test yet when it hosts Davidson tonight in the NIT Season Tip Off. It’d be great to watch this Top 25 match-up on TV, but the “Worldwide Leader” has better things to show. Like Kansas hosting the mighty Florida Gulf Coast (ESPNU, 8 PM CT). Or maybe Billy Wrong Way Gillispie getting demolished by The Anointed Ones better suits your fancy (ESPN, 8 PM CT)? If you thought VMI was bad, Billy Clyde, just try not to clench the muscles…

Tulane preview will be headed your way this afternoon. In the meantime, you can find us in a basketball coma with remote in hand.

Edit (3 P.M. CT): ESPN2 will now be broadcasting the Davidson/Oklahoma game at 8 P.M. You’ll definitely want to check that one out once the Horns are finished discarding the Green Wave.

Luke Winn has a great Q&A with Ian Mooney in his tourney blog. Amongst the highlights are the locker room pranks, Dexter Pittman’s poor sense of geography, and Mooney’s future as the Texas point guard. Check, check, check it out.

Lute Olson is now back as the Arizona coach in a full-time capacity, and he gave an exclusive telephone interview to ESPN’s Andy Katz. If Coach Olson is correct about how many of his players will return next season, the state of Arizona is going to be a basketball powerhouse. The ASU/’Zona series could quickly gain traction as a top-flight rivalry with national implications.

In coaching news a little closer to home, on Thursday Jeff Capel signed a three-year extension with Oklahoma. Capel — whose name had been floated in the South Carolina coaching search — will also enjoy a $300,000 raise per season, bringing his total compensation above the one-million dollar mark. It looks like fans in Norman will get to enjoy angry stares and pouting sessions for years to come.

And you thought the Aggies hated the Longhorns? I’m sure that anyone reading this page has seen the Sheraton commercial where fans from nasty rivalries share elevators, computers, and even chicken wings. But you may have been confused by the juxtaposition of Lousville and Memphis, rather than the Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats. But according to UK assistant athletic director Jason Schlafer, the Wildcats were asked first, but declined citing no prior relationship with Sheraton hotels. Or perhaps just an unquenchable fire of hate for the school just down the road?

If you just can’t wait for this evening’s Elite 8 games to start, the tubes of the interweb have more than enough content to hold you over. Luke Winn previews and predicts the Elite 8 games, while the folks at Rush the Court take a more detailed look at today’s doubleheader. But March Madness All Season breaks it down the most, with in-depth looks at both Carolina/Louisville in the East and UCLA/Xavier from the West region.

By the time you’re reading this, the Longhorns and Sooners will have wrapped up their semifinal. I’ll either be enjoying the Kansas/A&M tilt, or slouched in my chair wishing I were anywhere but the Sprint Center. But since I’m writing this before we head to the arena, the mood for today’s news wrap will be still be upbeat.

Joe Lunardi’s Saturday Bracketology has the Aggies climbing to an 8-seed after dispatching K-State last night. Baylor is still clinging to life as an 11-seed after their quarterfinal exit to the cellar-dwelling Buffaloes. A&M fans will be delighted to notice that their opponent in Lunardi’s projected 8/9 game is lovable Coach Billy Gillispie and his Kentucky Wildcats. Guess they’d better beat Kansas and play up to a higher seed, eh?

An email hit my inbox this morning from Baylor, where they are planning a Selection Sunday watch party at the Ferrell Center. CBS television crews are expected to be in the house to get the reactions of the Bears after they earn their first NCAA bid in 20 years. Of course, if they fail to make the field of 65, that could be some of the most depressing television since Emily’s Reasons Why Not.

Happen to miss the insane final five seconds of the Indiana/Minnesota game last night? Well, it’s not just you, because the game was on the Big 10 Network, one of the worst inventions in the history of mankind. But thanks to YouTube, you can check out the highlights right now.

Nothing of concern for bubblers last night, as the auto bids handed out to Portland State and Mount St. Mary’s both came from one-bid conferences. There were a few games of note involving teams on the bubble, so things may be starting to come into focus. Villanova took out Syracuse in the Big East, which likely knocked the Orange out of contention. The win won’t make the ‘Cats breathe any easier yet, but if they happen to pull off the upset today against Georgetown (11 AM CDT, ESPN), then they would be looking quite safe.

The Pac-10 is also setting up nicely for some bubble games, with both Cal and Arizona advancing to the quarterfinals. USC takes on Arizona State (2 PM CDT), while Washington State faces Oregon (8 PM CDT) and Arizona looks to boost its résumé against Stanford (10:30 PM CDT). And although the second quarterfinal of the day has no bubble implications, Cal will be looking for revenge against UCLA after last week’s controversial game in Pauley Pavilion (4:30 PM CDT).

Closer to home, Big 12 tournament play kicks off in Kansas City this morning. We sold our first-round tickets, so we will miss at least the first three games as we drive up today. Personally, we’re pulling for Tech in the first quarterfinal, as Oklahoma State seems to be a more threatening opponent. Sure, the Red Raiders beat Texas just a few weeks ago, but that game was in Lubbock and the Horns had one of their worst defensive performances in months. Oklahoma State took Texas to the wire twice, and we all know the axiom about how hard it is to beat a team three times in one season…

As we’ll be leaving shortly to hit the road, we won’t be around much to discuss the first-round games. You can start your day off with an opening round preview at Burnt Orange Nation or the mini-preview of the conference tourney from Rush the Court.

Luke Winn is back with his four-week Tourney Blog at SI.com. Dude gets to travel the country for March Madness, write about it, and gets paid. Meanwhile, I’m self-financing this gig. I wonder if he needs an intern…

Texas remained a 2-seed in Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, although he shifted them out West to Phoenix. There’s still a week to go, but it’s pretty safe to say that Texas is a solid 2-seed — barring back-to-back losses to Oklahoma State and in the Big 12 Quarterfinals — but now the question is where. Personally, my only concern is to not draw the Detroit site. One trip to that city per season is enough for me.

Fans who want to check out the Kansas/Texas A&M game can still buy tickets, thanks to a majority of the Aggie students heading home for Spring Break. Unsold student tickets can now be bought at this link, so if you’re in the area and want to catch the 3 P.M. showdown, you’ve still got a shot.

Big 12 hoopsheads or fans of teams seeded five through twelve can buy my Big 12 Tourney tickets for Session 1 and 2 off of eBay. All games are on Thursday in the Sprint Center, and you can bid using these links for Session 1 and Session 2.

Apparently there are some technical difficulties with the Flash video player, as it will only work for one video per page. That means if you try to watch the Baylor video while the Tech one is still on the main page, you get the Tech video. Yet if you click over to the Baylor write-up by itself, the video plays just fine. All of the technobabble that makes this stuff work is just Greek to me, so I’ve passed it along to some more knowledgeable folks to see what they can do. For now, if you want to watch the Baylor video, you can view it on the single-entry page.

We’re just hours from the last Big Monday of the year, which means that conference tournaments are right around the corner. Cornell already punched their NCAA ticket in the tournament-less Ivy League, while the Big South, Ohio Valley, and Horizon all kick off their conference knockouts tomorrow.

The road loss to Tech didn’t hurt the Horns too much, as Texas slid four spots to #9 in both rankings. North Carolina was the benefactor of Tennessee’s loss in Nashville, with the Heels taking over first in both polls. Kansas was the only other Big 12 team to be ranked (5th by the AP and 6th by the coaches), while Baylor received votes in both polls and A&M earned three points in the AP despite losing four of their last five.

The loss also knocked Texas to a 2-seed in Lunardi’s latest projection, although it put the Horns back in Houston for the second weekend. Kansas also earned a 2-seed in this projection, with Kansas State (8), Baylor (9), Oklahoma (9), and Texas A&M (10) also making the field.

Texas 2008 target Tyreke Evans testified Thursday in his cousin’s murder trial, repeating the same story he told police back in December. Regardless of whether or not Evans ever ends up in burnt orange, I hope this situation can be resolved soon so that Tyreke can move on and focus on finishing his senior year.

Lundardi’s newest Bracketology still has the Horns #1 in the Phoenix regional. UCLA still holds the corresponding 2-seed in this projection, so hopefully the Bruins will drop enough down the stretch to make a “home” region out of the question. Perhaps Sunday’s roadie at Arizona and the home tilt with Stanford can cause some stumbles.

Clark Kellogg tells us why he doesn’t project brackets, but the only real reason to read this is to check out his use of “LOL” in the middle of what is allegedly legitimate journalism. IDK Clark, R U nutz?

I’ve been wanting to post the Russell Westbrook dunk from last weekend’s game against Oregon, but all of the videos on YouTube were of poor quality. Finally I’ve found one that is pretty solid, which you can check out below. The dunk in question happens around the 20-second mark, but be careful while watching — the Oregon uniforms were sponsored by the Bedazzler that day, so some viewers may be blinded.

There’s somebody laughing at me over in the Big 12 offices, as having two road games in a week played in far-off locales is really doing a number on my hours of sleep and amount of writing on the website. Trying to cram 40 hours of work into a week that also includes trips to and from Manhattan, Kansas and Lubbock, Texas leaves me with little time to get caught up around here. So, apologies for the lack of content beyond Fast Breaks this week, and a promise to hit you guys with this week’s blogpoll and some notes from the K-State game tonight and/or tomorrow night. For now, on to the news from around the interwebs.

The losses by Memphis and then Tennessee left the power rankings in disarray this week, and Luke Winn took the opportunity to revisit his top seven teams. When all was said and done, he shot Texas all the way to the #1 slot. Hope there’s not an SI.com curse, too…

Texas climbed to fifth in ESPN’s Power 16 this week, grabbing first-place votes from Hubert Davis and Doug Gottlieb. Dick Vitale continued his irrational voting, slotting the Longhorns in 11th behind the likes of Stanford, who has the same number of losses as Texas. Of course, the Cardinal has faced the 97th-toughest schedule in the country, while Texas has played the 3rd-toughest. Sure, polls are meaningless. But the fact that this guy actually has a vote in the AP poll is re-god-damned-diculous.

Grant Wahl has an article today exposing some truly despicable fan behavior, including death threats towards Kevin Love and bottles of water thrown at the family of Eric Gordon. I’ve heard some bad things yelled in the O-Zone at the Frank Erwin Center, but nothing like this. I suppose I’m fortunate that I haven’t run into any truly dicey situations on the road, but I’m also not related to a big-time recruit who “betrayed” a fan base. I have no problem with the student sections yelling things at the players on the court, because that’s a part of the game — but assault and homophobia need to be left in the backwoods.

There’s not enough time to do a full TV listing post tonight, but you definitely want to fire up the Tivo for a lot of great match-ups. Notre Dame and Louisville kick things off (6 PM CST, ESPN) followed by a key battle between Michigan State and Wisconsin in the Big 10 (8 PM CST, ESPN2). Thursday night also means Pac-10, so fans can check out USC/Arizona (8 PM CST, ESPN) or Washington State/Cal (10 PM CST, FSN).

Tons of great pub following the Texas win in Bramlage last night. ESPN’s Around the Rim takes a look at Connor Atchley’s success against Kansas teams, while Jason Whitlock rubs it in the face of Wildcat fans…not that it’s anything new from the Star’s salaried Jayhawk fanboy. Over at CBS Sportsline, Dennis Dodd praises the Horns and takes digs at Kansas. What’s not to love? A little closer to home, Mark Rosner at the Statesman gives us the Longhorn angle from press row.

I missed Stewart Mandel’s new bracket projections in yesterday’s Fast Break, but with $2 “Madcow Monday” pints waiting at Manhattan’s Little Apple Brewing Company, you can see why I may have been distracted. Mandel is also slotting Texas a 1-seed, putting them out west in Phoenix. He’s also got our friends at Belmont playing their way up to a 14-seed, which makes this traveler feel much better. Elsewhere in the muddled Big 12, Stewart likes Kansas (2-seed), Kansas State (7), Oklahoma (8), Baylor (9), and Texas A&M (9).

Joe Lunardi breaks down the odds for 1-seeds in today’s column (ESPN Insider required). He’s got Texas with a 40% chance to grab a spot on the top line, citing the head-to-head win in Pauley as his reasoning. But when he projects things out to the actual bracket we’ll see in three weeks, he thinks the Horns could be headed to Phoenix as a 2-seed, where they could eventually rematch with a top-seeded UCLA team. Oh, the humanity.