ESPN.com is reporting that Arizona coach Lute Olson is taking a leave of absence. The announcement comes not as a result of a health scare, but in response to an unspecified personal matter. Assistant coach Kevin O’Neill will take over for Olson during the absence, but the 73-year old coach is expected to return to the bench soon. All the best wishes to Coach Olson from LRT. The Wildcats may have given Longhorn fans fits over the past decade or so, but their head coach has always been a class act.

The regular season kicks off tonight as the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament gets started in Memphis, Tennessee. The Tigers are one of four host schools, and will play in a televised contest against Tennessee-Martin at 6 PM on ESPNU. We’re all familiar with the returning stars who propelled Memphis to the Elite Eight, but the man to watch tonight is freshman phenom Derrick Rose at the point. This kid could be the Tigers’ ticket to a national title come March.

We mentioned that Jerry Rice danced to Soulja Boy at Georgetown’s Midnight Madness celebration (where Greg Monroe committed to the Hoyas.) And most Longhorn fans have seen the football team bouncing to the song during the rain delay of the UCF game in September. But this video comes to us from our friends in the frozen north, where Bo Ryan let loose on the video board during Wisconsin’s own Midnight Madness party. I know we’ll be playing the Badgers at the end of December, but I can’t help but love Bo and the tie-dyed fans of the Greatful Red.

Apparently last weekend’s Midnight 7 P.M. Madness celebration at Michigan State took a page from the frat and sorority playbook. You know what that means……theme party!!! But instead of “Golf Pros and Tennis Hoes” or the racially-insensitive party of the month, the Spartans’ theme kind of made sense. Building upon the wild success of 300, Izzo and Co. were dressed as…well, Spartans. With wireless microphones.

Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo (AP Photo; Al Goldis)

This is one photo that’s simply too funny to go by unnoticed. And with Michigan State on the Horns’ schedule yet again this year, you can be sure it’ll be a recurring joke, possibly to the point that it loses all comedic value. Just call this website “The Soup,” and that picture “Creepy video of demonic kid licking a pickle.”

What? You don’t get the obscure reference? We can fix that.

That sound you just heard? It was a major-conference bubble bursting as the Horizon League Championship came to a close. Wright State upset Butler in front of a raucous home crowd, stealing the auto-bid and sending the Bulldogs to the at-large pool.

Congratulations are also in order for the North Texas Mean Green, who won the Sun Belt Championship just minutes later. For UNT, it is only their second NCAA bid in school history, with the other one coming 19 years ago. In 1988, they were a first-round victim of the mighty North Carolina Tar Heels.

Watching the final seconds of that Butler-Wright State game really epitomized everything that March Madness is about. Throw in the fact that it was on Wright State’s home floor instead of a neutral court, and the chill factor went through the roof.

Sophomore guard Will Graham hit four free throws in the final twelve seconds to ice the game. After he had made the third to put his team up by two possessions, he pounded his chest and pointed into the crowd. Reading his lips was easy. “I love you!” he shouted. His teammates locked arms and jumped with the excitement only a championship can provide.

Just two seconds later, the final buzzer sounded and fans stormed the court. Like UNT, this year will mark only the second time that the Wright State Raiders will be dancing in March. You see that, Michigan State? A championship is truly worthy of a court-rush.

Selection Sunday is still five days away, so there’s a lot of basketball left. But with Butler likely claiming an at-large bid, the pool for bubble teams just got a bit more shallow. Who will miss out thanks to this game? Kansas State? Illinois? West Virginia?

No matter who ends up staying home, the moral of this story remains the same — during Championship Week, the little guys hold all the power.

While this post is appearing on the website at 10 A.M., I’m actually at work pulling the five-to-noon shift before heading up to Waco. Isn’t technology great?

In case you missed it, my Baylor re-preview went up yesterday afternoon, followed by a long-overdue recap of the Phoenix trip.

The Horns take the hardwood tonight at 7 PM Central, but in the meantime, there’s tons of college hoops around the country. In the Big 12, Texas A&M travels to Norman to take on the Sooners at 2:30, while Oklahoma State tries to right the ship at home against Mizzou at 12:30. The Kansas Jayhawks will be waiting for the Aggies to falter again, as they chalk up another pancake win at home against Nebraska at 3 P.M. PhogBlog has your preview of the blowout.

The big game of the day is coming, predictably, in primetime. North Carolina heads to Boston College (8 PM Central, ESPN) in a game that is absolutely huge in the crazy ACC. The Golden Eagles are atop the league, with a half-game edge over the visiting Tar Heels. Winner takes first place, although both VaTech and the Hoos of UVA are tied with North Carolina coming into Saturday.

In an oddly-timed out-of-conference matchup, Memphis heads west to play a reeling Gonzaga team. You know, the one that embarrassed Texas on national TV just two months ago. Unfortunately, the Horns don’t get another shot at them this late in the season, because it looks like anybody has a chance against the Zags as of late. Their seemingly infinite home-win streak was snapped at 50 on Monday night by Santa Clara, and Loyola-Marymount even knocked off the Bulldogs only a week earlier. Memphis looks like the heavy favorite in this one, even on the road. But if Gonzaga can defend their home court, it will help the Texas RPI and SOS, if only ever-so-slightly.

Baylor post-game and maybe a Houston trip wrap-up will be coming your way on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, enjoy all the hoops and the laugher up in Waco.

Last night, Kansas easily handled Colorado at the Coors Event Center, the only arena in the Big 12 I’ve been to that completely lacks a home court advantage. Hell, for Texas it even skewed neutral if not in favor of the Horns. I would not be surprised to hear that there was more blue and red in the stands last night as the Jayhawks steamrolled the Buffs by 29. It keeps KU right in the hunt for the conference title, as they await a stumble from Texas A&M.

There’s not a whole lot going on in the world of basketball today, besides some games out west in the Pac 10. USC heads to Arizona at 9:30 PM (Central) in a game that is absolutely huge for the up-and-down Wildcats. After losing five of six, including that embarrassment at home to UNC, Arizona has won their last three. They are tied for fifth in the stacked Pac 10, but a visit from UCLA is just two days away. A win tonight is necessary to stop another momentum-killing losing streak.

In Austin, we don’t get this game, but instead UCLA at Arizona State followed by Oregon State at Stanford. Good choice on that one, FSN. Perhaps Austin viewers will find the A-10 clash between UMass and Fordham (8 PM, ESPN2) a bit more thrilling. If not, there’s always the 2004 Powerade Jam Fest at 10 on the Duece. I might just have to clear my calendar for this lineup.

At 6 PM (Central), there’s a generally useless game back east, as St. Francis takes on St. Francis. The two schools — one located in Loretto, PA, and the other in Brooklyn — are in the midst of abysmal seasons. The loser gets the glory of having a 21-loss season, while they both will still be slumming it in the bottom of the Northeastern Conference. If I haven’t sold you on watching this painful display of mediocrity, I’m just not sure what else I can do.

I’ve been toying around with the GoogleMaps API to create a clickable map of the places I’ve visited that will hopefully organize things a little nicer and spruce the place up. Tomorrow I’m dedicating the entire afternoon to the site, so look for some new content and a Baylor re-preview.

My preseason pick for Big 10 champs took one step closer to that title with a huge 72-69 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes last night. That team is, of course, the Wisconsin Badgers, an experienced squad that has flown below the radar for much of the season. But after making a massive second-half run and then holding on in the final seconds against the preseason Big 10 favorite, there may finally be some national media attention heading Madison’s way.

When I worked in Belmont, I had a co-worker who was a Wisconsin grad and a huge fan of their coach, Bo Ryan. I saw a couple of games last season and was impressed. But last night I saw a perfect display of what made him so excited about having Ryan at the head of the bench. The Badgers moved the ball around with speed and precision, oftentimes finding open layups in the half-court set with only a dribble or two. Of course, as I watched I couldn’t help but think about great the Horns would look with a crsip offense instead of constant ball screens on the perimeter. But I digress.

The game also allowed me my first collegiate look at Greg Oden. His offensive performance left a lot to be desired, but who’s to say how much of that was a result of his wrist injury? Of course, it doesn’t help that for the first twenty minutes the Buckeyes were jacking up threes faster than A.J. Abrams and Kevin Durant in the final seconds of the Tennessee game. But defensively, Oden is an absolute monster. His presence inside alters shots so easily and disrupts the offense, although Wisconsin’s ball movement and Oden’s foul trouble essentially negated that for much of the second half.

Wicsonsin and Ohio State will meet again in Columbus on February 25th in a game I believe will be televised on CBS. If you missed last night’s great finish, be sure to tune in for the rematch.

If you’ve seen this man, please call authorities immediately. He is deranged, criminally underdressed, and apparently out of his medication. Police think he may be trying to push his trailer home down a dirt road in the direction of Austin. If you see him trying to enter the Frank Erwin Center on December 20th, please give him a sweatshirt. Or some tranquilizers.

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.