The holidays are over, which means that basketball is slowly ramping back up. Tonight features #1 North Carolina hosting Nevada (6 PM CST, ESPN2) and NC State heading to Seton Hall (6:30 PM, ESPNU). Most Texas fans will probably be busy watching Duane Akina’s porous defense getting lit up by Arizona State, but we’ve got to cover all the bases for those non-Horn fans who read the site.

Eddie Sutton is back? Unfortunately, he didn’t end up at Colorado, where we could’ve sworn we saw him watching the CU/Texas game last January. Instead, he’s going to step in for the San Francisco Dons and try to get that 800th win. He’ll likely get two more in his last 17 games, but I kind of hope he doesn’t. He left his Oklahoma State program reeling and is now returning to the game for a very self-serving reason. That doesn’t seem like the coach I had come to begrudgingly respect over his years with the Pokes.

Checking in with the polls this week, Texas is sitting at 9th in both the AP and Coaches. The sportswriters around the country are all over the map, with Luke Winn leaving the Horns in 5th and ESPN writers putting Texas ninth. Jay Bilas still had the Horns in 5th and “Bracketologist” Joe Lunardi slotted them 7th, but the rest of the writers were pretty much split between 9th and 11th for Rick Barnes’ club.

Bob Knight’s in trouble again with the Big 12 after questioning a call in the Tech loss to New Mexico. I’m not sure what purpose these “reprimands” really serve, but you can be sure it’s no skin off of ol’ Bob’s back. It’s incredibly stupid that such a minor comment is worth this much attention. After all, it’s not like Knight was saying the refs cost his team the game — they lost by 17 — but rather was responding to a simple question posed by a reporter.

Not a lot of action around the country yesterday as most of the sports world was focused on NFL action. North Carolina crushed Rutgers 93-71, but the real story was Tyler Hansbrough leaving the game after suffering a mild concussion. The Aggies whipped Arkansas-Pine Bluff by a 64-37 count, although hook-nosed Mark Turgeon was irritated by his team’s inability to close out the patsies when they should’ve.

New polls are due out today, but there won’t be much action near the top. In the bottom half, Oregon, Xavier, Lousville, and Saint Mary’s all suffered losses and should slide down the rankings — if not completely disappear from them. With everybody staying put in the top of the ranks, it sets up three huge top-ten match-ups this week, with Duke and Pitt meeting on Thursday and the Michigan State/Texas and Georgetown/Memphis games slated for Saturday.

Chatter on the court at Saturday’s game with Texas State revealed that the new hardwood in the Frank Erwin Center is a little slippery, particularly down in the blocks. It’s also kind of ugly to be honest, with the orange more “bright” than “burnt,” and the Big 12 logo in the lane being replaced by a new one that reads as “Texas 12” rather than the conference name. Interesting.

With Monday Night Football on the “family of networks,” tonight’s TV slate is again a little weak. Duke hosts Albany at 6 PM CST (ESPN2), with a handful of games on the ESPN Full Court package. Big 12 fans who ponied up for ESPNFC can check out Bethune-Cookman at Iowa State (7 PM) and North Carolina A&T at Mizzou (7 PM).

College hoops was back in full swing yesterday, although most of the top teams had cupcakes on the menu. Texas improved to 10-0 on the year, holding off Texas State in a barnburner. Post-game breakdown on that one is due after a long day looking for Christmas gifts. Only nine shopping days left…

Louisville lost to Purdue in Indianapolis, going down by a 67-59 final. At this point I’m hesitant to call it an upset, as the Cardinals’ ship is sinking faster than Star Jones in the deep end. Three losses in their last five games and an indefinite suspension of Derrick Caracter leave me wondering where exactly Louisville will fit into the murky Big East picture. After Georgetown, Pitt, and Marquette the league is wide open — can the Cards right the ship in time to take advantage?

Nebraska fans stormed the court at the Qwest Center in Omaha after Big Red knocked off #16 Oregon, 88-79 in overtime. It’s only the second year for Doc Sadler, and while I don’t think anyone is considering the Huskers for an NCAA bid quite yet, the work he is doing in Lincoln is certainly great for the league.

Elsewhere in the conference, Pitt pounded Oklahoma State 85-68, giving the Pokes their 14th-consecutive road loss. In a battle of two teams with multiple personality disorder, OU took out Arkansas, 83-72. I’ve yet to watch the DVR on this one, so I’m not sure if the solid Arkansas team or the turnover-prone one showed up in this contest. Tech stumbled yet again, falling in New Mexico by a nasty 80-63 count. Missouri and Baylor both notched easy wins, while Kansas finally got their starting five back together and routed Ohio, 88-51.

On national television today, UNC faces Rutgers (7 PM CST, ESPN), while Texas-area fans can watch the Aggies face McNeese State on FSN Southwest (1 PM). ESPNU also has replays of yesterday’s games running all day starting at 10:30 A.M.

We’re baaaaaack! I’ve completed my very last final — ever — which opens up a huge chunk of extra time to work on the website and continue bringing you Longhorn and national basketball news. Next week we embark on a road trip that may even top the epic journey to Spokane last March, and with a few bonus stops scheduled along the way, it’s going to provide a lot of great post-Christmas content for everybody. I’ll have more details on Monday, but it’s something you’ll definitely want to check back for.

Checking in on meaningless poll movement, Texas slides a spot to #3 in ESPN’s Power 16, while Luke Winn has yet to update his power rankings this week.

If you happened to catch that Vanderbilt game on Wednesday night, you were treated to one of the best second-half comebacks in recent memory. The Commodores clawed back from an 18-point deficit on the road at DePaul, forced overtime, and then iced away another win to remain perfect. DePaul shot a ridiculous percentage coming out of the halftime break to build that huge lead, but Vandy just remained calm and continued to play their game. Watch out, SEC. These guys are definitely not finishing 5th in their division.

Don’t look now, but former Texas assistant coach Frank Haith has the Miami Hurricanes playing some great ball so far. The U is 9-0 on the young season and sport the best RPI ranking in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy’s number-crunching. They still have a couple mid-major threats left on their December schedule, but there is a very distinct possibility that the Hurricanes could start ACC play with a 14-0 mark when they host Georgia Tech on January 12th.

Horns in the League returns tonight with a massive update on how each player has done the last two weeks. Also look for a piece on the big step backwards Bellmont is making with the student ticket situation at the Drum and, of course, the Texas State game preview.

A scary, scary moment in the Raptors game in Atlanta last night when T.J. Ford was fouled hard by Al Horford and fell straight to the court, slamming his head. T.J. was carted off on a stretcher, but has since been released from the hospital and is cleared to play. I’m guessing he won’t be right back out there, but it’s good to know things are looking up after seeing that frightening footage last night.

So much for St. Mary’s being ranked when they come to town. The Gaels ran into Southern Illinois on the wrong night, losing 71-56 to a team that had almost no offense over their first six games. All this really does to Texas is give a slight ding on the RPI later in the season, but it’s better to be playing a tough, one-loss St. Mary’s squad than a 16-loss Prairie View A&M.

Don’t ask me how I missed this in SI’s weekly power rankings last week, but apparently the Penn students brought their A-game for Tyler Hansbrough and UNC. They blew up pictures of his mother, who was a former Miss Missouri, and waved copies of this horrible senior picture collage. I pulled the photo from Tyler50.com, the official website of Mr. Hansbrough. Why, oh why would you put something this hilariously awkward on the internet when you are a college athlete? I half-expect to find Uncle Rico’s glamor shots if I keep clicking around long enough.

Chris Low at ESPN.com has a good feature on A.J. Ogilvy over at Vanderbilt. After seeing the Commodores shock a lot of folks last year, I thought they just needed a good inside presence to help out Shan Foster and get them over the hump. There was some below-the-radar buzz on the Aussie before he hit the college hardwood, but I wasn’t sure he’d be the answer as only a freshman. It turns out that Ogilvy is just as good as advertised, if not better, and has Vandy poised to be one of the top three or four teams in the SEC.

Finally, some more action on the tube for hoopsheads tonight. Cincy takes on Xavier and former OU guard Drew Lavender in the Crosstown Shootout (6 PM, ESPN2). Check out the 7-1 Musketeers if you haven’t had a chance yet, as they should absolutely school the ‘Cats. If you don’t believe me or Chris Low about the Ogilvy kid, watch Vandy hunt for a road win at DePaul (7 PM, ESPN Classic). And if you remember when UMass was solid and the A-10 was a part of the Big Monday package, reminisce as the Minutemen host BC (8 PM, ESPNU).