The Longhorns open NCAA play in less than eight hours, but this pre-game look at opponent Austin Peay comes to you from a hotel room in a dot on the map known as Mount Pleasant, Texas. In an effort to spend as little time as possible in the God-forsaken state of Arkansas, we made base camp here on the friendly side of the border before our pre-dawn invasion.

The metaphors may seem a tad excessive for a simple trip to a basketball game, but from all reports I’ve received from other Longhorns in Little Rock, it may be more reality than a literary device. Arkansas fans are still fired up over Rick Barnes’ sarcastic remarks to a Statesman reporter earlier in the week, where he demanded Hog fans “be nice.”

Texas fans are well-aware of Barnes’ dry delivery, but the Razorback faithful are taking things incredibly seriously. Of course, there’s so much history to this rivalry that most of the Arkansas faithful are probably just using this story as an excuse to recreate the hostile environment their team faced playing NCAA games in Austin. Regardless, having a huge contingent of temporary Austin Peay fans could certainly make things difficult for the Longhorns. But as D.J. Augustin reminded the media yesterday, this Longhorn team is definitely road-tested.

A look at the Govs

Austin Peay is led by longtime coach and school athletic director Dave Loos, who has 377 career wins heading into today’s contest. Loos is a disciple of defense, and the Governors’ numbers speak to his style. Austin Peay averages nearly 17 forced turnovers per game, and their 14.2% steal rating from Ken Pomeroy is first in the nation.

Last season, the strong APSU defense meant that opponents would need to score at least 70 points to win. Only Eastern Kentucky was able to defeat the Governors with less points, knocking Peay out of the OVC finals by a 62-61 count. This season, the 70-point mark is not quite as magical for Loos’ team, as they’ve dropped games against Valpo, Akron, and Samford when giving up 61, 64, and 63 points respectively.

The 2006-07 team that won the regular-season OVC title eventually lost in the tournament championship, keeping the Govs out of the NCAAs for a fourth-straight season. But that roster had five juniors and nary a senior, meaning that the current APSU squad is incredibly experienced and hungry for more post-season success in their first crack at the NCAAs.

Texas matches up fairly well with the Govs thanks to their undersized roster. Tiny point guard Derek Wright epitomizes the lack of size, checking in at only 5-foot, 9-inches. Their tallest player who grabs significant minutes is 6’6″ Ernest Fields, as both 6’8″ players on the Governor roster are being redshirted this season. Seven-foot Lithuanian Tomas Janusauskas only averages three minutes per game and should not make a difference today.

The flip side of the tiny roster is a team that is incredibly solid from long range. Wright is particularly lethal from behind the arc, hitting 41% of his three-point attempts so far this season. Senior guard Todd Babington is a bit of a ‘tweener at 6’5″, as he is one of the team’s top long-range threats but is also one of the taller guys on the roster. While Texas will have to keep him from making an impact inside, they also can’t afford to let him hang around the perimeter unguarded.

The third and final true three-point shooter is Kyle Duncan, a junior who has taken about half as many long-range attempts as the other two gunners, but is even more efficient. Duncan is hitting nearly 57% of his three-pointers on the season, so the Longhorns will have to keep a very close eye on him.

While we mentioned the Governors’ penchant for swiping the ball from unsuspecting opponents, it should be noted that they turn the ball over nearly 13 times per game themselves. We attended the Belmont/Austin Peay game in December and the thing that stuck out most — beyond their unconscious long-range shooting — was their sloppiness with the basketball. They shot over 60% in the first half and built a huge lead that ballooned to as many as 19 points. But they nearly let Belmont stage a massive comeback with poorly-timed turnovers, including a handful by Duncan.

What to look for

1) Dominate the glass – APSU is going to hit threes today, but Texas needs to turn those misses into one-and-done possessions for the upset-minded Governors. Austin Peay is only being outrebounded by 2.4 boards per game, but Texas is bigger than most OVC teams and they will need to take advantage of their size inside today.

2) Mind the perimeter – Sure, we’ve already conceded that the Govs are going to get a fair share of points from behind the arc. But Texas can’t play head-in-the-sand defense against long-range gunners as they did versus Kansas last weekend. Austin Peay scores 31% of their points on threes, so Texas simply cannot afford to have another lax defensive performance.

3) Win the turnover battle – While the Longhorns don’t pressure on defense nearly as much as APSU, they are one of the best teams in the country when it comes to controlling the ball. Texas can likely count on a few buckets off of Governor miscues, so if they can limit the Austin Peay fast-break points they will severly hamper the chances of upset.

One of the most interesting thing about the first round of the NCAA tournament is usually the intriguing match-ups it creates between teams who hardly — if ever — play each other. Last year, the Longhorns were scheduled to face New Mexico State for the first time in 16 years, so we decided to put out our own scouting report to familiarize fans of the (other) Aggies with their opponents. And considering how big football is in Texas, it’s safe to say that the LRT scouting report might even be useful for Longhorn fans who were a little late joining the basketball party.

The big picture

At first blush, the scariest thing about the Longhorns is their high-powered offense, which finished 2nd in the nation in adjusted efficiency. For much of the season, Texas sat atop those rankings, propelled by an absolutely insane performance in the Legends Classic. The Longhorns dismantled New Mexico State and Tennessee by a combined 199-165 tally and logged mind-boggling efficiency ratings of 141.4 and 132.4 in the two games.

But as Texas fell from its perfect 12-0 mark to a troubling 14-3 in the span of only three weeks, defense was the huge culprit. The Longhorns were allowing teams to torch them from anywhere on the court, but particularly from behind the arc. The poor defense came to a head in an embarrassing road loss to Texas A&M on January 30th, where the Aggies ran roughshod over a porous Longhorn D en route to an early 19-3 lead and eventual 80-63 victory.

The loss was a turning point of sorts for Texas, as Rick Barnes’ team ran off eight straight wins in a perfect February. The key in many of the victories wasn’t the highly-efficient offense, but rather a suddenly stiff defense that held three opponents under 54 points during the streak. While that defense was non-existent in last weekend’s shootout with Kansas at the Big 12 Tournament, teams who may face Texas in the big dance can no longer focus on just stopping the Longhorn scorers.

The players

As most fans of college basketball can tell you, it all starts with point guard D.J. Augustin. The All-American can blow by defenders off the dribble, or drill a three-pointer when the defenses sag too far off. Most of the Longhorn offense is based on Augustin testing the opposing D with quick penetration and finding the weak spots for shots or assists. Although D.J. can hit from anywhere on the floor — his ability to stop on a dime and hit a fadeaway is particularly frustrating for coaches — Texas is best when he’s not carrying the offense. As Pat Forde pointed out in his column today, the Longhorns are 20-1 when Augustin takes less than 16 shots, but only 8-5 when he takes more.

A.J. Abrams is a fairly one-dimensional player, but the tiny shooting guard is incredibly good at that one dimension. Abrams has a lightning-quick release and is usually lights-out from long range. The Longhorns love to use bigs to free him up as he cuts across the lane, and often open up enough space for him to shoot with ball screens on the perimeter. The biggest knock on Abrams is his knack for becoming too confident after hitting a few shots and forcing ones that he should not be taking. While he’s improved his running jumpers this year, he is still not a great shooter inside off the dribble, but you will see him jacking those up if he thinks he’s hot.

The most overlooked player on the Texas roster is probably Justin Mason, a glue guy who plays incredible defense and hustles all over the floor. His constant motor gets him a lot more rebounds than fans would expect from a guy his size, and he’s often able to match up with bigger guys. Mason is not a high-scoring threat, but does have three-point range and will pick up quite a few trash buckets inside after those hustle rebounds.

Damion James has become a breakout star in his second season on the Forty Acres, as the departure of Kevin Durant allowed DaMo to move to his more natural position on the wing. While Texas needs his presence on the glass, James is a hell of an outsider shooter that often knocks down the long-range Js without even nicking the iron. Don’t be confused by the fact that Damion hangs out on the perimeter a lot — he still gets his share of rebounds, and is a threat for a double-double every night. His dual-threat game is also key for the Longhorns, as it pulls big defenders out of the paint and opens up the penetration game for Augustin and Mason.

The other starting big for Rick Barnes is Connor Atchley, a skinny white kid who has really grown in his third season. Atchley has gained a lot of confidence this season, and it has resulted in more points and a ton of blocks. Like James, Atchley can knock it down from outside and spends a lot of time on the perimeter setting screens for the guards. He often finds himself open on the pick-and-pop, so opponents can’t always choose to double following the screen. The biggest knock on Atchley is likely his penchant for picking up early fouls, which leads to limited minutes in the first half.

Off the bench, Texas has almost no depth at the guard position. Occasionally Barnes will run a more traditional lineup with only two guards in an effort to get Mason or Abrams some rest, but Augustin is often on the floor for 39 or 40 minutes a night. J.D. Lewis is a senior JuCo transfer who was known for his long-range ability, but hasn’t really shown it yet at Texas. Harrison Smith was a three-star recruit who has languished on the pine for the whole season. Fans shouldn’t expect to see either of these players except in blowout situations or to eat up fouls if the Horns find themselves down late.

In the post, the Longhorns have many more players to choose from. Freshman Gary Johnson missed half the season with a heart condition, but has really grown in Big 12 play to become an inside threat. Although he’s a tad undersized to bang down low, Johnson will often take on the bigger players in the post and fight on the glass. Early in the season, the biggest knock on Johnson was his inability to hit from the line, but his free throw shooting has improved drastically over the last few weeks. Against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Quarterfinals, Gary went down with an injury that has been described as either a muscle strain or an ankle problem. He missed the next two games, but could be available for this weekend’s contests.

Without Johnson for those two games, Barnes turned to his other young post reserves, tapping Alexis Wangmene for a bunch of minutes. Wangmene has a ridiculous wingspan and occasionally showcases some really nice post moves, but is still pretty raw. He plays really solid defense when he remembers to hold his position, but if he finds himself behind the play will often pick up unnecessary fouls.

Freshman Clint Chapman hails from Oregon and is another unpolished freshman. He’s still got stone hands, but hustles his tail off and has shown some improvement in his defense over the last few weeks. If Texas is relying on Chapman for significant minutes during the tournament, they will likely be in trouble. But to give the key bigs a quick breather, Clint is a serviceable option.

The biggest guy on the Longhorn roster is Dexter Pittman, who was once about 100 pounds bigger. If he ever sees the court, you’ll hear the story ad nauseum from the announcers, but the Cliff Notes version is that Strength and Conditioning Coach Todd Wright put Dex on a strict diet and exercise regimen to get him down to his svelte playing weight. Pittman is a solid rebounder and is an absolute force in the paint on the offensive end, but his poor defensive play means that he often doesn’t earn many minutes.

The weaknesses

As mentioned earlier, Atchley has a problem with picking up early fouls. But that disease sometimes spreads to James, as well, and it cripples the interior game for Texas. In response, Barnes often goes to a zone defense to protect his bigs from foul trouble, and last week’s Kansas game shows how poorly that can turn out for Texas. The Longhorn guards are very short and already give up a few inches to most opposing backcourts, but the zone defense really exposes Texas on the perimeter.

The Longhorns have also shown some trouble from the free throw line this season, particularly late in games. Missed free throws played a huge role in the loss to Wisconsin back in December, and late-game misses allowed Baylor to nearly rally in the final few minutes against Texas in Waco. Augustin and Abrams are usually safe bets from the line for the Longhorns, but even they have sometimes struggled late in the game. If a game is close in the end — and when doesn’t that happen in the tournament? — this could be Texas’ undoing.

Teams with solid bigs are going to present a problem for the Longhorns as well, which is why I’m crossing my fingers for Marquette to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The Longhorns did well against UCLA by packing the lane with a zone that controlled Kevin Love. Fortunately, the Bruins were content to shoot over it and were unable to hit their long-range shots. But an opponent with quality inside play and one or two sharpshooters could be an absolute nightmare for Texas.

Finally, Selection Sunday is here. And with it comes the game that we’ve all been waiting for since February 11th, when the Longhorns held off the Jayhawks in Austin for a huge win and the tiebreaker that afforded them the 1-seed in this conference tournament.

There’s a ton of history between these two teams, despite the short life of the conference they dominate. This marks the third-straight year that Texas and Kansas will meet in the finals of the conference tournament, where Kansas has won two straight. In fact, the Longhorns are an imperfect 0-4 in Big 12 title games heading into this one.

Following Tennessee’s loss to Arkansas in the SEC semifinals, many pundits are claiming this game could decide the fourth 1-seed that will be handed out in the NCAA tournament. Personally, I’m not sure I buy it, as the Vols have an incredibly strong computer profile and a handful of excellent victories. But if Texas were to win today, it would be hard to argue against a team that has the 5th-best RPI and SOS in addition to 12 wins against the RPI Top 50, which would include four wins against the Top 5 alone.

So if that’s not enough at stake for Texas today, they also are all too aware of the fact that they blew a double-digit lead in the conference championship to Kansas last season, just a week after doing the same thing in Allen Fieldhouse. There’s not just pride and seeds on the line, but perhaps a little bit of revenge, too. And if you include the 19,000 Jayhawk fans that will be filling the Sprint Center today in hopes of seeing their own revenge for the February 11th loss, this one should be incredibly intense.

If you’re interested in who the Jayhawk players are, you can check out the game preview from the February 11th contest in Austin. The only player that KU used in last season’s two wins that won’t be on the floor today is Julian Wright, so the ‘Hawks bring plenty of experience into this one. The addition of freshman Cole Aldrich gives them some depth inside, while Darnell Jackson has made huge strides in his senior year and is now an absolute stud in the paint for the Jayhakws.

What to look for

1) Ball control – Texas has led the country in controlling the ball for much of the season, and they’ll need to do that today. Kansas loves to play pressure defense extended well past the perimeter, and will throw a variety of full-court looks at random times just to throw teams off. If the Longhorns can keep the Jayhawks from amassing a nice chunk of points off of turnovers, they should be in good shape today.

2) Smart defense – In the first half of the February 11th game, Kansas used lightning-fast ball movement to attack the Texas defense for good looks inside and open attempts from behind the arc. Fortunately, the Jayhawks scaled back their attacks the inside in the second half, which was a big reason why the Horns were able to win the game. Texas will need to rotate quickly and communicate well on D to ensure that the incredibly talented Jayhawk offense doesn’t slice them up.

3) The role players – Who will step up today for Texas? It can’t simply be D.J. Augustin and Damion James. A second-straight big game from A.J. Abrams could put the Horns over the top, but key contributions could also come from Connor Atchley or even one of the big men on the bench. This looks to be a very close game again today, so even the smallest contribution from an unsung player could spell the difference.

Just a day after dispatching the OSU Cowboys for the third time this season, Texas looks to finish off a six-game sweep of the state of Oklahoma when they face the Sooners in the Big 12 semifinals. While OU holds a 4-1 advantage in games against Texas that are played in the league tournament, the Longhorns have won five straight overall against their rivals.

The first two match-ups

When the teams first met in early February up in Norman, the Longhorns started out cold as ice. They shot only 25% in the first half and trailed by double-digits before turning up the defensive intensity in the second half and cruising to a 64-54 win. That game was played without Longar Longar down low for Oklahoma, which was a surprise for a Texas team that had game-planned to face him.

The second game was all about defense for Texas, as they absolutely shut down the Sooners en route to a 62-45 victory. Even with poor shooting crippling the usually efficient Longhorn offense, the excellent play on D kept Texas in control the entire way. The post defense was particularly solid, which is key against an OU team that excels down low. Alexis Wangemene played incredibly well against Longar Longar in that one, and Texas fans can expect to see quite a few minutes out of him again today if Gary Johnson isn’t playing.

What to look for

Fans who want to a refresher course on the Sooner players can revisit the game preview from the first match-up. The biggest difference today will be the availability and effectiveness of big man Blake Griffin, who is fighting through yet another injury.

The younger Griffin brother did not start in yesterday’s game — Cade Davis took his slot in the starting five — but he did play 15 minutes in the game. He struggled against a solid Colorado defense that would immediately swarm him with a double or triple-team as soon as he touched the ball, and he finished with only four points. He was still an absolute beast on the glass though, grabbing nine boards in his limited minutes.

If Griffin is playing that poorly today, it could be a very long afternoon for Oklahoma. Texas has a huge advantage at the guard position, so Coach Jeff Capel will have to hope that they can abuse the Longhorns inside. If they are relying mostly on Longar, Taylor Griffin, and Davis, they will find that much more difficult.

Yesterday’s post-game interviews on Kansas City sports radio revealed the Sooners to be resigned to the scoring threat of D.J. Augustin. Griffin said that they cannot stop him, only hope to contain him. He also added that the key for Oklahoma will be to ensure that Damion James, A.J. Abrams, and Connor Atchley don’t have big games while they are trying to limit Augustin.

A word for TV viewers

If you’re in a “Big 12 market,” finding today’s game could be confusing for you. The ESPN2 telecast is only being shown in the rest of the country, while those of us in the Big 12 area will have to find the game on ESPN Plus. While this is usually just the same channel you’ve watched when the Longhorns play teams like Iowa State and Colorado, you’ll want to check your local listings to make sure you’ve got the right one set on the DVR. For the rest of you burnt-orange faithful elsewhere in the nation, you can enjoy Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla, and Holly Rowe on the ESPN2 telecast.

Not a ton of time to preview this morning’s game, but considering this is the third time that Oklahoma State and Texas have tangled this season, that’s probably not a big deal. If you need a refresher on the Cowboy roster or the style of hoops that they employ, you can take a look back at the game preview from the first match-up.

As we pointed out in the preview of the second game just five days ago, the biggest cause for the resurgence of Sean Sutton’s team is the play of chubster point guard Byron Eaton. As he goes, so go the Cowboys, so the Longhorns must shut him down this morning.

I’m incredibly worried about this game, but not because it has any real implications on the tournament. It appears that Texas is pretty well locked into a 2-seed for the Big Dance, as it would be nearly impossible to work their way up to the 1-seed line, and their résumé is too good to drop to a 3-seed with one loss in the tournament.

But we’ve all heard the tired refrain of how hard it is to beat the same team three times in a year, and last season’s insane comeback against Baylor was proof enough of the validity of that aphorism. OSU has taken Texas to the wire twice this year, and today’s game will likely mimic a road atmosphere as everyone in the arena will be rooting for the top seed to fall. Add to that the fact that the Horns haven’t played very well in early games (see: Wisconsin Dec ’07, Baylor Jan ’07) and there’s cause for concern.

We’re going to prep the next buzzer-beater for the countdown so that it will post between the morning and evening sessions, but we’ll be in downtown KC until late tonight. So, post-game and notes from the tourney won’t come until the wee hours. In the meantime, enjoy the wall-to-wall hoops action.