TV: ESPN, 7 PM CT
Radio: KVET (1300 AM)

Just nine months ago, LSU ended Texas’ season in an overtime battle at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Just hours later, I had decided to attend every game in the 2006-07 season. Just a few months later we had said goodbye to LaMarcus Aldridge, P.J. Tucker, Daniel Gibson, and Mike Williams. And that’s why tonight’s game just doesn’t feel like much of a rematch to me.

For #11 LSU (5-1), it’s the second “rematch” in only a week with a team they defeated in their Final Four run, having re-defeated A&M on Tuesday night. But while Texas (5-2) looks like a completely different team this season, the Tigers return three starters from last year’s squad and have Tack Minor back from the injury that limited him to only three games in 2005. The most notable guy coming back is Glen “Big Baby” Davis. But Big Baby isn’t quite so big this time around. He has reportedly shed over 50 pounds and is much more agile under the basket. His free throw shooting is still only in the 70-percent range, but otherwise I fully expect him to absolutely abuse the Horns all night long.

Tasmin Mitchell and Garrett Temple also return to LSU’s starting lineup, following up on their outstanding freshman seasons. While Mitchell primarily plays on the wing, he will occassionally move down low so that Davis can move to small forward. Temple is very good for a sophomore point guard, running the game well and keeping his turnovers low. In fact, he hasn’t even turned the ball over in the last two games. He can also shoot, hitting his threes at a 36% clip.

Senior forward Darnell Lazare missed the A&M game with an injury, but is expected to start tonight against Texas. He is shooting 70% so far this year to follow up on his 49% shooting last season. If Lazare is unable to play due to his injury, we can expect to see a lot more of Magnum Rolle, who started in his place against A&M.

This is going to get old really quickly this season, but my key points are going to seem to be the exact same every time. LSU is a lot bigger than us and brings in a lot more experience. They outrebounded a very physical Aggie team by eleven in Tuesday night’s game. Although A&M’s big men were in foul trouble for much of the game, I don’t really expect the Longhorns to have much more success against LSU’s great front line. LSU will score the bulk of their points against our weak interior defense, particularly when the less-experienced Matt Hill and Connor Atchley are in the game.

Texas can shoot the three much better than LSU, although the Tigers are a hot-and-cold team so far this year from behind the arc. They have hit 42 percent of their threes on the year, but have alternated between great shooting nights (58% against Nicholls State) and abysmal ones (22% in the loss to Wichita State). Taking these last two points to heart, Coach Barnes will likely run a 2-3 zone for most of the night in an attempt to deny the entry pass to LSU’s big men. And if LSU happens to be on one of its “off” nights from behind the arc, the Longhorns should be able to maintain that defensive scheme for most of the game.

If you’re looking for a way to beat the Tigers, the Shockers used a lot of back door cuts to exploit LSU’s weakness. They certainly didn’t make them pay behind the arc, as WSU was even worse than the Tigers in that game, shooting 2-for-14 from three-point range. This isn’t to say that Texas can’t win by doing the exact opposite — that is, hitting threes and not exploiting the back door cut — but I’m not holding out much hope.

Personally, I think this is going to be an important game for our big guys down low. So far they are soft and look like they are going to be picked on all season. Hopefully getting pounded tonight will wake them up and prepare them for what they are going to see from most of the physical Big 12 teams.

Keep an eye on D.J. Augustin, to see how he will bounce back from his really rough game against Gonzaga. It’ll be important for him to keep those turnovers down and to limit the dumb fouls he is very fond of picking up. Our big men are going to be picking up their share of fouls in this contest, so we don’t need our guards adding to the team foul totals and putting LSU in the bonus before the under-sixteen TV timeout.

A.J. Abrams also had an incredibly frustrating game against the Zags, going absolutely cold from the field. I fully expect him to still come out firing tonight. If he’s shooting well and Durant is providing his usual 20-plus point night, Texas should hang in the game for a while before LSU’s inside strength and experience allow them to pull away.

Hopefully I’m wrong. Hopefully the Longhorns don’t get killed on the glass, on second-chance points, and in the paint. But hopefully you can find solace in the many shots that ESPN should show of LSU’s delicious Golden Girls. And if for some reason ESPN lets you down on that front, I leave you with a video of the Golden Girls to ease the pain. God bless you, YouTube.

The biggest test for the young Texas Longhorns team lies just twelve hours away, in the form of the 21st-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. Many casual observers of college basketball might think that the Zags (7-1) are rebuilding after losing superstar Adam Morrison to the NBA. But as their early-season NIT win over UNC showed, this Gonzaga team is ready for the spotlight right now.

The biggest problem for Texas (5-1) is going to be sophomore big man Josh Heytvelt. After the departure of J.P. Batista, Heytvelt needed to step up for the Zags inside, and he has performed admirably. The complete lack of an inside presence for Texas means that Heytvelt will likely have his way all game long. Hopefully the 2-3 zone that the Horns will likely implement will not lead to foul trouble for Kevin Durant. We are going to need minutes out of Connor Atchley and Dexter Pittman, but the double-edged sword is of course the fact that they are not yet seasoned players.

Point guard Derek Raivio is the leading scorer (18.9 PPG) for Mark Few’s Bulldogs, and has hit 21 of 46 three-point attempts so far this year. If Gonzaga gets good ball movement or successfully draws defenders into the lane before kicking it out, Raivio should get his share of decent looks from behind the arc. For Texas, it seems that Heytvelt’s success is inevitable. The key is to make sure that they don’t also allow Raivio to go off on them as they are trying to completely shut down Heytvelt.

In my opinion, the offensive key to this game for the Horns is going to be A.J. Abrams. Texas can shoot the three, and they are going to need to do so against Gonzaga’s zone. But A.J. is arguably our best three-point threat, and if he goes cold it’s going to be a long day.

The simple threat of Durant should open up the three-pointers for Abrams, and will hopefully allow Damion James some good looks under the basket. I fully expect Durant to get a chance at many assists as he penetrates, looks for a midrange jumper, and finds the zone has collapsed on him. As said earlier, Abrams will need to knock down his threes in those situations. But it’s also important for James to make the easy shots that have confounded him the past few games. Gonzaga seems to be susceptible to back-door cuts and dump-offs in the lane for layups. James has a chance to be huge on offense if he can take advantage of that apparent weakness.

One other glaring problem that I have avoided mentioning to this point is the difficulty Texas has had outrebounding real opponents. Against much smaller teams in Nicholls State and Texas Southern, the Horns were able to control the glass. But against Heytvelt and Sean Mallon, I’m not very confident that Texas will come out with more rebounds. While I’m conceding the overall rebounding edge, Texas can still help itself by limiting Gonzaga’s offensive boards and second-chance points.

For now, it’s time to catch up on a lot of missed sleep and head to the U.S. Airways Center for tomorrow’s doubleheader. Those of you not in Arizona can catch the action on ESPN at 2 PM central. I’ll be back with a breakdown on Saturday or Sunday. In the meantime, you stay classy, Austin.

Many fans may be looking ahead to next week, when Texas faces both Gonzaga and LSU on neutral courts. But first the Longhorns have to beat up on another team that has no business being on the same court with Texas. Tonight it’s Texas Southern (1-4), our second opponent from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Texas won their earlier matchup with the SWAC, knocking off Alcorn State in the season opener.

Most recently, the Tigers had their teeth kicked in 74-44 by Alabama. But this year they’ve also suffered crushing losses to Oklahoma State (86-65) and Baylor (74-50). Evidently the entire Big 12 is going to bully this scrawny kindergartener.

Judging by the team’s minutes, they are going to sub liberally, as only forward Jacques Jones plays more than 30 minutes a game. No one on the Texas Southern roster is listed as a center, and it’s really not hard to see why. Besides 6-11 junior Matt Bell, the team’s tallest players are 6-8 Chris Moore, and the aforementioned Jones at 6-7.

The players to watch for TSU are Jones and freshman guard Nick Walker, a product of Houston’s Northshore High School. Walker rebounds much better than would be expected from a guard, but against the Horns I’m not sure if he’ll keep up that pace. Another freshman to look for is St. Paul Latham. Not because he’s good, but because his parents annointed him a saint. Seriously?

Alabama outrebounded the Tigers by a 56-33 margin. And while I don’t think that Texas will have as easy of a time on the glass as it did last Tuesday, the Horns should still end up winning the rebounding battle again. It should be telling to watch Matt Hill and Connor Atchley against these guys. If they can’t manage to get rebounds against Texas Southern, I’m going to have a hard time watching them try against the Big 12.

Tonight will be a good opportunity to get more minutes for our role players. I’m looking forward to seeing more time out of Dexter Pittman, and I’m going to make it a point to actually focus on Harrison Smith when he’s in the game. I’ve overlooked the poor kid all year, so I’d like to finally have something to say about him after the game.

If you’re in town, swing by the Frank Erwin Center for a 7 P.M. tip. It’s your last chance to see the team at home until they play Texas State on December 16th, so come on out. We’ll see you at the Drum.

I’m wary of predicting another beatdown after the near disaster on Friday night. But even a 13th-place-in-the-Big-East St. John’s team is infinitely better than Nicholls State.

Hailing from Thibodaux, Louisiana, the Colonels of Nicholls State (0-5) make it a school tradition to be everybody else’s bitch. In a 2005-06 season where they went 9-18, the Colonels even found themselves on the losing end of 73-71 score against Lipscomb. Fortunately for Nicholls State, our friends from Texas State were even more futile in the Southland Conference, finishing a full four games behind the Colonels.

Looking at Texas’ weaknesses — rebounding and man-to-man defense — it would seem at first blush that Nicholls State may find some success. But oddly enough, the two senior forwards listed on the roster have yet to play in any of the first five contests. And quite frankly, I don’t care enough about Nicholls State to spend any more time finding out why.

The Colonels do have a beast of a freshman at center in 6-11 Aussie Mitch Boyce. Boyce only averages eighteen minutes a game, but will likely cause problems for Texas on the glass when he’s in the game.

The chunk of their minutes are eaten up by combo guard-forwards, juniors Adonis Gray and Aaron Scott, and sophomore Ryan Bathie. Otherwise, the Colonels seem to have a pretty deep rotation. Of course, with Southland Conference talent, depth may not be a blessing.

Tip is 7 P.M. at the Drum. I have this odd hunch that there will be plenty of seats available, so bring the family and the visiting in-laws out for a beatdown of epic proportions. For those of you in-state who are unable to make it to the Frank Erwin Center, the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest.

Texas faces St. John’s in the consolation game of the College Hoops Classic tonight at Madison Square Garden, marking the fourth of five straight games that the Longhorns (2-1) will face an opponent with the abbreviation “St.” in their name.

Having watched the Red Storm (2-1) get absolutely dismantled by Maryland, I’m about as concerned over this game as I was Chicago State or Alcorn State. To put it simply, St. John’s handled the press as well as an under-14 rec league team and ran an offense that was seemingly focused on racking up more illegal screen fouls than points.

When not getting whistled every time down the court for clothes-lining someone on a screen, the Red Storm likes to stand around, fail to penetrate, and then feebly attempt to jack up a three-pointer. And while the Texas shooting in the second half last night was certainly a painful thing to watch, I am going to stand in my glass house and throw boulders. The St. John’s offense is so anemic, their shooting is colder than Mark Foley’s wife after reading his instant messages. And following the final twenty minutes of our game last night, that makes my insides happy.

St. John’s also apparently didn’t have time in practice to cover the topic of ball control, which bodes well for a team with the transition game that Texas boasts. Although St. John’s only lost 92-60 to Maryland, the box score won’t show that they actually gave up 183 points off turnovers. Luckily for the Red Storm, Terps coach Gary Williams had decided by halftime to donate the rest of their points to the Oakland Raiders and asked for a running clock.

Most importantly, our pom squad is at least 87 times hotter than the St. John’s football team dance team. Unfortunately for those of us in New York, there is no UT pom, cheer, or band representation here in the city. And a lack of chaps is really quite criminal.

The powers-that-be did, however, rent out a band from Ridgefield Memorial High School in New Jersey. And honestly, thanks kids for all your hard work. But when you can’t play March Grandioso — yet still try to do so four times — I’d really prefer it if you just bring some homework to do. The Ridgefield fight song was a nice touch, though.

Oh yeah, St. John’s. If you’re into exhibition games, tune in tonight at 6 P.M. on ESPN2. But if you had your fill with Lenoir-Rhyne, Xavier University, Alcorn State, and Chicago State, go out and enjoy happy hour at Trudy’s. I’ll recap the mudhole stomping for you tomorrow.