It has been a long, interesting month for the Longhorns. On January 17th, Texas was ranked No. 1 in the nation and held a pristine 17-0 mark. Just a day later, the Horns would start a slide in which they lost five out of seven games and plummeted from the upper crust of college basketball. But on Saturday, Texas once again looked like the dominant team that fans watched the first two months of the season. In a 40-point beating of Nebraska, the Longhorns were highly efficient on both ends of the court, and the much-heralded freshmen finally all put it together in the same game.

Texas’ recent performance has made fans hesitant to get excited once again. While the Longhorns certainly looked unstoppable on Saturday, their skittish performances the previous four weeks have planted a seed of doubt in the minds of most. Tonight, the Longhorns will find out whether or not they have turned a corner. In facing a very tough Missouri team in a very intimidating road enviornment, Texas will likely find what their true identity is. Are they a scuttling group that is squandering immeasurable talent? Or are they a team that is finally going to hit their stride, just in time for March?

By the numbers

As fans of college basketball are well aware, Mike Anderson and the Tigers play an up-tempo, pressure style of hoops they have dubbed “The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball.” Anderson was once as assistant under Nolan Richardson at Arkansas, where the “40 Minutes of Hell” led to a national title, and Mike’s re-branding of the time-tested strategy actually led the Tigers to last year’s Elite Eight.

Missouri leads the Big 12 with 20.4 turnovers forced per game. The impact of that pressure defense is magnified by the fact that the Tigers only cough it up about thirteen times per game, so the differential gives the Tigers a bunch of extra possessions. In addition, 11.4 of the turnovers that Mizzou forces each game come in the form of steals, which is tops in the nation. Keeping the ball in play — rather than forcing TOs on passes out of bounds — gives the Tigers more points in transition.

That transition game is a big reason why the Tiger offense is ranked 42nd nationally in efficiency by stat guru Ken Pomeroy. Missouri’s gameplan can often feel like a tiny snowball building into an avalanche, as one turnover leads to an easy bucket, which lets them set up their full-court press, which forces another turnover and a layup, and they get to set up their defense…… You get the picture.

Tonight’s game is likely to be a full-on track meet. The Tigers average 72.1 possessions per game, which is the 20th-fastest tempo in the nation. (As you can see, the “Fastest 40″ moniker is a bit of false advertising.) The Longhorns, meanwhile, average 74.5 possessions, which is 7th-fastest in the NCAAs. Unless Texas decides to make a conscious effort to slow the pace, this game will be played at break-neck speed.

When Missouri isn’t scoring their points off of transition, their half-court sets are very impressive. Good, strong cuts and quick ball movement earn the Tigers quite a few open looks, and strong dribble penetration leads to open three-point shots on the kick-outs. Missouri makes over 38% of their looks from long range, so Texas must make sure they don’t let the Tigers get too hot from behind the arc.

Meet the Tigers

After losing DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons to the NBA draft, Missouri needed to find a way to replace their 31 points and 13 rebounds per game. Fortunately for Coach Anderson, his lineup is filled with players who possess similar skills and body types. While no one has quite filled the frontcourt void left by these two stars, the Tigers are finding that their system and interchangeable personnel allows for quick reloading from year to year.

This year, Missouri’s senior leaders come in the form of J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor. Tiller was the Big 12′s top defensive player last season, and he’s picked up right where he left off. He has 32 steals so far this year, while only fouling out of one game. His offensive skillset is limited mostly to driving the lane for easy looks, so Tiller is fortunately one Tiger that Texas won’t have to watch on the perimeter.

Texas fans should remember Taylor quite well. Last year, he converted an old-fashioned three-point play in the final seconds to defeat the Longhorns, and hit a short jumper against Kansas to win in the Border War just a few days later. Nicknamed “Big Shot” for his heroics in those two games, Taylor is a pretty good outside shooter (39.7% behind the arc), and is averaging eight points per game.

The backcourt is where all the depth is for Missouri this year, but most of the Tiger guards are much taller than those of the Longhorns. The tallest of them all is 6’6″ Kim English, a sophomore guard who’s best known for sleeping in the gym. He’s leading the team in scoring with nearly 15 points per game, and much of it comes from long range. English has knocked down 53 triples on the year, and is shooting 37.6% from the perimeter.

Another long-range threat in the backcourt is sophomore Marcus Denmon. In his second season, he’s stepped into the spotlight, making more than 44% of his three-point attempts while scoring about eleven points per game. If there is one player that Texas absolutely cannot lose track of tonight, it’s Denmon.

While the Missouri lineup is littered with guys from 6’6″ to 6’8″ who are all quick, athletic, and have great wingpan, the most disruptive has to be Justin Safford. At 6’8″, his wingspan is much longer than it should be, and it makes him great at denial on entry passes and has helped him log 18 blocked shots this year. Safford didn’t see a lot of action down the stretch last season, but he’s averaging 21 minutes per game in his junior campaign and is consistently making solid contributions.

While Safford is long and defensively disruptive, the true shot blocker on the team is Keith Ramsey. He led the team in swats last year, and is second on the squad this year with 29 blocks. He’s not much of a scorer, but he is one of the only real frontcourt presences on a perimeter-oriented team. Ramsey will be relied on tonight to clean the glass and deny the Texas bigs down low.

The other frontcourt presence is sophomore Laurence Bowers. Hailing from Memphis, Bowers has been described by the coaches as the team’s most complete player, and in just his second season, he’s already starting to show why. He leads the team in blocked shots and rebounds, is third in scoring, and even has 27 steals. While Bowers is already making an impact in the Big 12, there’s no doubt that he is going to be an absolute star in the coming years.

Each of the seven players above is averaging more than 20 minutes a game, with none of them playing for more than 26.7 per contest. Anderson loves to constantly change his lineups, running essentially nine deep in an effort to wear down the opponents and keep his own players fresh enough to keep up the pressure. Texas is also a very deep team, but in recent weeks Rick Barnes has been working to pare down his core rotation. It will be interesting to see how Texas uses its personnel in response to Anderson’s substitution style.

The other two players who see significant minutes for the Tigers are freshman Michael Dixon and sophomore guard Miguel Paul. Dixon was Mr. Basketball for the state of Missouri as a high school senior last year, and he’s made a solid impression on the Big 12 so far as a freshman. He’s quick, smart with the basketball, and has a sound grasp of what Anderson’s defense requires from him. Paul is also a quick guard and a serviceable shooter, but doesn’t make that much of an impact on the stat sheet in his twelve minutes per game.

Keys to the game

While it may be painfully obvious already, the number one thing Texas must do tonight is control the basketball. Missouri’s pressure defense is even more effective in front of their rowdy crowd, so the Longhorns can’t afford to fuel the fire by wasting possessions and giving up easy fast break points. A lot of this will come down to the play of J’Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton, who have been two of the biggest turnover culprits in the past. As freshmen, they’ve only seen a handful of road arenas. Hopefully their experience at the electric Octagon of Doom was enough to prepare them for tonight.

Along the same lines, Texas must remain poised. At some point, Missouri will go on a run. With their style of play and the Texas penchant for scoring droughts, it’s practically a certainty. But the Longhorns must respond tonight when they get metaphorically punched in the mouth, or else they will find themselves with a deficit they will be unable to overcome.

In addition, Texas must efficiently use Dexter Pittman. In this type of game, he’s not going to be able to play for very long. But when he is on the court, he will undoubtedly be a tough match-up for the smaller Missouri lineup. If the Longhorns can get a nice chunk of points from Big Pitt, and maybe even pick up some fouls on the thin Tiger frontcourt, it could change the complexion of the game.

Finally, one brief reminder about the perimeter threat from the Tigers. Mizzou’s excellent three-point accuracy was mentioned throughout the player introductions, but Longhorn fans know all-too-well how Texas opponents tend to get ridiculously hot from long range. If Missouri shoots like the Sooners did in Norman or the Red Raiders did in Austin, there’s very little chance Texas leaves Columbia with a win.

The big picture

In terms of the conference standings, this game is huge. With just five games remaining after tonight’s contest, there is very little time to make up ground and practically no room for error. Kansas State, Texas A&M, Baylor, Missouri, and Texas have separated themselves from the pack and are all log-jammed from spots two through six in the standings.

If the Longhorns want a bye in the first round of the conference tournament, they have to win the remaining head-to-head meetings against the Aggies, Bears, and Tigers. Lose tonight, and it’s very likely the Horns will be playing the Big 12′s 11- or 12-seed on the second Wednesday in March.

Texas slid to sixth in both polls this afternoon following back-to-back losses on the road. The Kentucky Wildcats ascended to the top spot as the nation’s lone undefeated team, while Kansas moved up to second in both rankings.

The K-State Wildcats took a slight dip after a home loss to Oklahoma State, even though they were the first team to knock off Texas with a Big Monday victory earlier in the week. KSU is 11th in the media poll and is ranked 13th by coaches. Baylor is the only other Big 12 representative, checking in at 24th in the Associated Press rankings, although Texas A&M, Missouri, and Oklahoma State all received votes in both polls.

The Longhorns also took a dive in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, sliding to the 2-seed line in the Salt Lake City regional. In Lunardi’s mock bracket, Texas is paired with 1-seed Syracuse, an absolute nightmare match-up for a Longhorn team that is paralyzed by zone defenses.

The Jayhawks maintained their hold on a 1-seed, but were moved to the Houston regional that the Longhorns vacated. Lunardi awarded five other bids to the Big 12, putting K-State (3-seed), Baylor (5), Missouri (8), A&M (9), and Oklahoma State (11) in the mix.

Over the final thirteen games of the conference season, the Baylor Bears mustered just three wins while steadily dropping to the bottom of the league standings. But in only three days of the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, those same Bears have reeled off just as many wins and are now a step away from doing the unthinkable — claiming four victories in four days to steal the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

When Coach Scott Drew led last year’s team to the Big Dance, it was the first appearance for the Baptists from the Brazos in 20 years. After an offseason in which the Bears added highly-touted freshmen Quincy Acy and Anthony Jones, the preseason polls had tabbed them as third-best in the conference. But after that brutal 13-game stretch which began in late January, this Baylor team was being mentioned in “biggest disappointment” discussions with the likes of Georgetown and Notre Dame. It wasn’t just the NCAA tournament that was off the radar for this scuttling team. There were doubts as to if they could even to slip into the NIT.

And that’s the beauty of March. With three days of inspired basketball and a storyline that seems like something out of a Disney movie, the embattled Bears are on the brink of something spectacular. But standing in their way are the Missouri Tigers, the other feel-good story of the Big 12 this season. After a year filled with off-court distractions, player dismissals and a disappointing record, they were again picked in the bottom half of the league during preseason polling. But the Tigers defied all odds, upset bitter rival Kansas at home in the Border War, finished a surprising third in the conference, and even ascended to the Top 10 in national polls.

Today’s game will be an interesting case study in which team can impose its will upon the other. Both squads are fantastic ball handlers and turn it over less than 18% of the time, putting them both in the top sixty nationally. But the Tigers are one of the best squads around when it comes to pressuring the basketball and forcing mistakes. Will Mike Anderson‘s team be able to shake up the Bears and gobble up a solid chunk of points off of turnovers? Or will this be a well-controlled game whose winner is the one that plays the smartest, most efficient game?

One huge factor in the outcome could be the fatigue level of the Bears, who have played one more game than the Tigers this week. With Missouri loving to play an up-tempo style, there is a good chance that the Baylor players could get hit with dead legs late in the game. Kevin Rogers, who has averaged 14.7 points per game in the tournament, has also played nearly 37 minutes per game. Curtis Jerrells, the other senior leader in Baylor’s starting five, has played 34 minutes per game over the last three days. While the Missouri starters ate up a lot of minutes last night, the Tigers are a very well-conditioned team that can easily run 10 deep on the bench. If it’s a close game in the final minutes, this could be the deciding factor.

One way for Baylor to mitigate that disadvantage would be to jump out to a big early lead and get the crowd behind the underdogs. With the way Missouri has played the last two nights, that is a distinct possibility. The Tigers looked to be sleepwalking through their quarterfinal against Texas Tech before pulling away in the second half, and they shot just 25.8% in the first twenty minutes against Oklahoma State. Missouri is a team that will score in bunches, to if the Bears can take advantage of another slow start, it will give them the added cushion they’ll need to withstand those Tiger streaks.

Following Baylor’s historic win over Texas in the first semifinal of the day, fans were looking forward to another great game in the nightcap, a re-match that was expected to be a forty-minute offensive showcase. When Oklahoma State and Missouri first met at Gallagher-Iba Arena earlier this season, the Cowboys rallied back from nearly 20 points down but fell just short in an exhausting 97-95 shootout. Although it had been nearly two months, the game was still fresh on the minds of boosters from both universities. Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as scripted.

[3] Missouri 67, [7] Oklahoma State 59

The Cowboys came into this one shooting nearly 40% from long range on the year, putting them in the top 25 nationally for three-point shooting. The Tigers, meanwhile, boasted the country’s 15th-most efficient offense, and the 17th-fastest tempo of basketball. All signs pointed to another game testing the century mark, bound to keep the capacity Ford Center crowd on its feet. That was before they put lids on the rims.

Oklahoma State didn’t hit a three-pointer for the first 34 minutes of the game, while Missouri mustered only 21 points in the first half. The two teams were still sprinting up and down the court, forcing turnovers and creating havoc. But the two teams combined to shoot only 28% in the first twenty minutes, causing one Tiger fan behind us to wrack his brain trying to remember the last time his team had such a futile start.

The big moment of the night came after halftime, but it had an unfortunate beginning late in the first session. Byron Eaton injured his ankle on a fast break and laid on the court for what seemed like minutes. After being helped off the court by two teammates, he spent the rest of the half with his face buried in a towel as team medical staff tended to his foot. When the Cowboys returned to the court in the second half, their senior leader was nowhere to be found, and the orange-filled Ford Center was abnormally quiet. But moments later, Eaton sprinted out of the tunnel to a roaring ovation and joined his team for the shootaround.

While Eaton was largely ineffective the rest of the game and the upset bid ultimately fell short, his effort was gutsy. Most pundits already had the Cowboys in the NCAA field, so it may have been more prudent to play it safe and shut him down for the rest of the game. But Eaton, always a fierce competitor, wanted to go back out and help his team, and the lift he provided by returning was immeasurable.

For Missouri, the game was strange not only because of their early offensive struggles, but also because of the fact that Coach Mike Anderson stuck with a smaller core of players for a bulk of the minutes. While ten different Tigers average more than 12 minutes a game, the starters ate a huge chunk of the minutes in this one. Every one of the five starters played at least 25 minutes, while only Marcus Denmon cracked the 12-minute plateau from the bench. While it’s true the Tigers have played one less game than Baylor as the teams head into tonight’s championship, it will be interesting to see if there is enough fatigue from this up-tempo semifinal to affect Anderson’s rotation.

It’s the first Monday in March, which means that the power begins to shift from the pollsters and over to the bracketologists. We’ve still got your weekly rundown of both, but you can be certain that fans of teams on the cusp of the polls are just a teeeeensy bit more concerned about the various bubble watches floating around the internet. On to the goodies……

Following Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State, the Longhorns slipped from both major polls this week, falling into the “others receiving votes” category. Oklahoma slid only a few spots after their Griffin-less loss to Kansas on Monday night, checking in at 4th with the AP and 5th with the writers. The Jayhawks benefitted from that victory and their blowout win over Missouri yesterday, jumping to 9th in both polls. The Tigers slid to 12th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll, while the much more vengeful Associated Press shipped them all the way to 15th for their deer-in-the-headlights performance at Allen Fieldhouse. Oklahoma State also grabbed a slight bit of attention from the AP, earning two points in this week’s poll for their five-game winning streak.

For once, the resident bracketologists at Sports Illustrated and ESPN agree on the Longhorns…sort of. Andy Glockner seeds the Longhorns 9th, facing off against Utah, while Joe Lunardi pegs Texas an 8, taking on UNLV. The common ground for the two men? A trip to Dayton for this first weekend, which sits just fine with this basketball traveler, who is strongly pulling for a Friday/Sunday pod that doesn’t involve the fabulous March weather of Minneapolis. For a complete list of the tournament sites this year, click on over to my favorite Wiki.

The folks assigned to watching the bubble are also in agreement that the Longhorns really just need to win tonight to seal up their tournament bid. Both Andy Glockner of SI.com and Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com think Texas should be in. But like any good college basketball fans would know, Andy and Mark are fully aware that this schizophrenic Longhorn team could just as easily lose their last two regular season games, lay a turd in the Big 12 Tournament, and be sweating things out on Selection Sunday. For the sake of my heart and currently-forming ulcers, this doomsday scenario would be best left on the table.

This week’s consensus blogpoll at CBS Sportsline follows the lead of the major polls, with UConn ascending to the top spot. For the second straight week, our ballot was dubbed “Mr. Numb Existence” for being the one amongst the 42 submitted which most closely approximated the consensus poll. We’re not sure if that’s some sort of sign that we watch too much basketball, but we’ll take it as a compliment. Be sure to check out the link in this paragraph to not only see the rankings, but to get all of the great analysis by Jerry Hinnen of the Auburn blog The Joe Cribbs Car Wash.

#4 Pittsburgh Panthers 70, West Virginia Mountaineers 59
DeJuan Blair played only 16 minutes thanks to foul trouble, but Pitt was still able to cruise to victory behind Sam Young’s 20 point performance. Pitt had yet another dominating night on the glass, outrebounding West Virginia by a 39-23 count. The loss dropped the ‘Neers below the .500 mark in conference play, and was their third defeat in the four games. Pitt, meanwhile, moved to 9-2 in the Big East and stayed within striking distance of the three-way log jam of one-loss teams atop the league.

#17 Missouri Tigers 62, #16 Kansas Jayhawks 60
In a game that is destined to be replayed on ESPN Classic for years to come, Zaire Taylor hit the game-winning jumper with just 1.3 seconds left to give Mizzou a narrow win in the heated Border War rivalry. Down by fourteen and having scored only 16 points at the half, the Tigers looked to be dead in the water against their hated conference foes. But 26 Jayhawk turnovers kept Missouri in the contest and allowed a frantic comeback that was capped by Taylor’s second game-winning shot in just six days.

The win does more than just stir the pot for the rivalry re-match scheduled for March 1st in Lawrence. It also loudly announces Missouri’s intentions of making the Big 12 race a three-team affair, and even sets them up to control their own destiny should the undefeated Sooners stumble in any of their five games prior to visiting Columbia on March 4th. The league may be incredibly stratified this season, but it’s certainly going to be an exciting battle for the championship.

In the midst of a three-game losing skid, Texas dropped from both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time since February 19, 2007. The sudden plummet ended a streak of 37 consecutive weeks ranked in the Coaches Poll and 39 straight weeks in the Associated Press rankings. The Longhorns still received votes in both tallies, which put them at 27th in the Coaches Poll and 28th according to the media.

Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri are still the only three ranked representatives from the Big 12 conference, with the Sooners holding firm to their grasp on second place in both polls. The Jayhawks are slotted 16th by both groups, while the Tigers were placed 15th and 17th by the media and coaches, respectively.

The losing skid is hurting Texas in more important ways, as their NCAA outlook is getting cloudier by the day. Fortunately, many other teams across the country are stumbling at the same time, but it still hasn’t stopped the Longhorns from sliding another line in today’s Bracketology, where Lunardi slots the Horns as a 7-seed in Dayton. Andy Glockner still believes the Longhorns should be in the field of 65, but he echoes Lunardi’s sentiments and tabs Texas as a 7-seed.

If you were here back in the infancy of Longhorn Road Trip — or perhaps just attended the first two rounds of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic back in 2006 — you might remember tiny Chicago State guard David Holston lighting up St. Bonaventure for 43 points at The Drum. Now just two years later, Holston is the NCAA’s third-leading scorer, averaging 25.6 points per contest. Sports Illustrated’s Bill Trocchi shed some extra light on the “little package of dynamite” in a piece on their website a few weeks ago. Be sure to check it out.

Texas slid in this week’s polls as a result of its meltdown in Norman last Monday night, dropping to 14th in the AP and 15th in the ESPN/USA Today rankings. The Sooners and Longhorns are the only Big 12 teams in the AP poll, while Baylor clings to 23rd in ESPN’s rankings after their road loss to A&M last Wednesday. Kansas and Missouri also received votes in both polls.

Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology has the Horns dipping to a 4-seed and playing their first two games in Portland. After a nice trip to Spokane two years ago for the NCAA tournament, we’d love another roadie to the Pacific Northwest. But, of course, the selections are still two months away, and absolutely anything can happen.

We’ve had our share of interesting moments in the O-Zone over the years, including the time former OU guard Bobby Maze had to be held back by a teammate during pre-game warm-ups. Even more intense was the incident with a Colorado forward (who will remain unnamed) that exchanged shoves with a Texas student during the 2003-04 season. But nothing that’s happened in the Erwin Center can hold a candle to the video below, where a Clemson student tackles Chas McFarland. Good thing it wasn’t Ron Artest…

Although slots four through ten are no longer separated by just a game as they were this time last week, the league is still a complete mess in the middle as the season winds to a close. Thanks to a complete tanking by Kansas State — losers of four straight and five out of six — the Baylor Bears actually control their own destiny in regards to the 3-seed in Kansas City. And with a late-season push, even the Oklahoma State Cowboys are within striking distance of that fourth and final bye in the conference tournament.

Texas Longhorns (11-3)
Remaining games: vs. Nebraska (Tuesday), vs. Oklahoma State (Sunday)
Outlook: The loss to Tech puts the Longhorns in a tie with Kansas once again, but they hold the tiebreaker for the #1 seed in Kansas City thanks to the victory over the Jayhawks last month. The crowds for this week’s games could be abysmal, with the Nebraska tip at 6:30 P.M. and the Oklahoma State game being played during Spring Break.

Kansas Jayhawks (11-3)
Remaining games: vs. Texas Tech (Tonight), at Texas A&M (Saturday)
Outlook: Unless the Longhorns stumble, the best that Kansas can hope for is a split title and the 2-seed in the post-season tournament. But Kansas must match Texas stride-for-stride down the homestretch, and their schedule is admittedly more difficult. Tech has a very slim shot at the NCAAs, but a road win in Lawrence would propel them to the top of the bubble discussion. And with A&M fading fast, their backs will be against the wall when Kansas comes to town on Sunday. KU cannot afford to overlook either one of these two teams.

Baylor Bears (8-6)
Remaining games: vs. Texas A&M (Wednesday), at Texas Tech (Saturday)
Outlook: Thanks to the head-to-head win over K-State, the Bears would claim the 3-seed if they win their remaining two games. But a stumble against A&M or Tech opens the door for the four teams sitting just a game back at 7-7, so Scott Drew’s guard-tastic team has to stay on top of its game this final week.

Kansas State Wildcats (8-6)
Remaining games: vs. Colorado (Tuesday), at Iowa State (Saturday)
Outlook: While Baylor does hold the tiebreaker, the Wildcats have the more manageable schedule this week. The home game against Colorado should finally snap the KSU slide, but this team has struggled all season long on the road and Hilton Coliseum will be a tough place to win on Senior Night. A split this week could drop the ‘Cats all the way from first place at the beginning of February to an opening-round game next Thursday in KC.

Texas A&M Aggies (7-7)
Remaining games: at Baylor (Wednesday), vs. Kansas (Saturday)
Outlook: While the K-State slide might seem monumental, the Aggies are the only team in the country this year who have fallen from the Top 10 to sweating things out on the bubble. A&M managed less than a point a minute in Norman on Saturday, and that simply won’t get the job done against the high-powered offenses of Baylor and Kansas. If Texas A&M wants to feel secure about its place in the NCAAs, they really have to steal that road game in Waco on Wednesday night, one that Longhorn Road Trip will be watching live from the Ferrell Center.

Oklahoma Sooners (7-7)
Remaining games: at Oklahoma State (Wednesday), vs. Missouri (Saturday)
Outlook: Of the four southern teams knotted at 7-7, Oklahoma has the easiest schedule left. The road game against Bedlam rival OSU won’t be easy, but a 9-7 finish and a potential 4-seed is within the grasp of the Sooners.

Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-7)
Remaining games: vs. Oklahoma (Wednesday), at Texas (Sunday)
Outlook: Raise your hand if you thought OSU would be earning fringe bubble talk with a week left to go in the season. Anyone? Fry? Bueller? The Pokes have a bitch of a finish in Austin on Sunday, but home court in the Bedlam series could put them above .500 in league play for what feels like the first time since Grover Cleveland was in office.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-7)
Remaining games: at Kansas (Tonight), vs. Baylor (Saturday)
Outlook: Pat Knight already has two Top 25 upsets on his nine-game bio, but both of those came in the friendly confines of the United Spirit Arena. This difficult final stretch will test the Red Raiders, and they could easily drop both games and find themselves playing in the dreaded 8-9 game next week.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-8)
Remaining games: at Texas (Tuesday), vs. Colorado (Sunday)
Outlook: After a promising non-conference start, Nebraska fizzled in Big 12 play. Winning three of their last four has them in the mix, but a tough road date with the Longhorns could quickly kill that momentum. The home game against Colorado on Sunday should provide an easy win, setting the Huskers up for potential home games in the NIT.

Missouri Tigers (5-9)
Remaining games: vs. Iowa State (Wednesday), at Oklahoma (Saturday)
Outlook: A possible split to finish the season for the Tigers, who have to be happy with even five conference wins after their entire team decided to have a brawl in a nightclub. If only they’d decided to have their Ultimate Fighting Championship prior to the game with Texas…

Iowa State Cyclones (4-10)
Remaining games: at Missouri (Wednesday), vs. Kansas State (Saturday)
Outlook: With K-State struggling on the road, the Cyclones could put a nice capper on a disappointing season by pulling off the home upset on Jiri Hubalek’s senior day. While the season has generally been a wash, the young talent that Coach McDermott has on-board could mean that great things will be happening in Ames in the near future.

Colorado Buffaloes (3-11)
Remaining games: at Kansas State (Tuesday), at Nebraska (Sunday)
Outlook: Richard Roby will finally exhaust his eligibility. It’s about damned time.

Texas moved up two spots in each of the polls this week, sliding into the #10 slot in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today rankings, while Kansas holds steady at #2. The Big 12 has five teams in the AP poll with Kansas State (22nd), Texas A&M (23rd) and Baylor (25th) all hanging around on the lower rungs.

Stefhon Hannah could miss the rest of the season after a brawl outside a Columbia nightclub late on Saturday night. The Tigers still have to tackle a rematch with Kansas, a pair of showdowns with K-State, and roadies in Waco and Norman. Without their leading scorer, Mizzou could be a lot closer to the cellar than anticipated.

This afternoon, Luke Winn introduces us to twin brothers and UNC commits Travis Wear and David Wear, Jr. The 2009 class for Roy Williams is looking absolutely ridiculous when you add in Dexter Strickland and Round Rock product John Henson, who had Texas in the mix before committing to the Heels earlier this month.

Joe Lunardi is high on the Big 12 this week, putting six of the conference’s teams in today’s Bracketology. Kansas still leads the way with a 1-seed, while Texas is slotted as a 3 in Little Rock. K-State (6 seed), Baylor (7), Texas A&M (9), and Oklahoma (9) make up the rest of the conference’s dance card.

Missed Scott Drew’s interview on Sportscenter after the 5-OT thriller on Wednesday night? Thanks to the technical know-how of an LRT co-traveler, you can watch the video through the interweb tubes. Check it out below, and be sure to check out the rest of his Longhorn videos on his website.