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.

Apologies for the lack of a daily update on Monday, but this week finds me mired in a couple of finals and a lot of writing. It’s a cruel set-up to have students walk before they finish their exams, but by this time Friday I will at least enjoy a sudden spike in free time. Content on the site might be a bit on the lighter side between now and then, but with most teams taking it easy during their own final exams, it works out pretty well.

New polls came out yesterday, and Texas stayed in the 4th and 5th slots of the AP and Coaches Polls. Not much movement near the top, as most teams took care of business last week. Texas fans will take note of St. Mary’s, who cracked both polls at #24 this week. If the Gaels can get past Southern Illinois on the road tonight, it looks like there will be a Top 25 match-up in Austin on January 5th.

Another week, another honor from the Big 12 Conference. This time, D.J. Augustin was named Player of the Week, while Kansas State’s freshman Towel Pisser was named Rookie of the Week. After both Damion James and A.J. Abrams have claimed the award this season, this thing might just be renamed Big 12 Player of the Week Presented by The University of Texas.

Want to watch some basketball on TV tonight? Good luck, buddy. While folks would likely enjoy that great mid-major match-up between St. Mary’s and Southern Illinois, fans will instead be treated to a scintillating game between Prairie View A&M and New Mexico State…on ESPN Full Court. Hope that new episode of Nip/Tuck captures your fancy.

Leave town for a weekend to watch the biggest regular-season upset in your school’s history, and you miss all sorts of shit. It was a fun couple of days though, and I’ll eventually get over the fact that the DVR fried sometime on Saturday, leaving me with part of a Gonzaga/UConn game and none of the Big 12/Pac-10 games. Ouch.

We lead with the best news of all, which would be that Bill Walker pissed in a towel on the sidelines last Thursday. Yes, that’s right. Stuck a towel down his pants, drained the snake, and then soiled a second towel just for good measure. And all of this occurred in front of a sold-out arena and a rightfully disgusted equipment manager. Oh, did we mention that the Wildcats still lost?

Friday night, Baylor jumped out to a big halftime lead against #6 Washington State, but ultimately couldn’t hang on. The Cougars fought back behind a suddenly-hot Derrick Low, escaping Waco with a 67-64 win. Meanwhile, I was drinking alone in a DFW airport bar while waiting for a 10 P.M. flight to Los Angeles. Still want to do what I do?

Bob Knight continues to baffle with his scheduling, as the Red Raiders dropped another road game to a horrible team. This time, Tech lost to Centenary, 70-66. Knight left the game at halftime, returning to the team hotel because he was feeling ill. But that didn’t stop him from lecturing some students who made a joke about his recent hunting accident as he left the court. I can’t help but feel that these road games against Sam Houston State and Centenary were nothing but a cheap way to earn a little more RPI credit while beating the bottom-feeders, but it’s certainly not working out that way for the Techsters.

With the last Big 12/Pac-10 game coming on December 22nd, the current standings are 6-5 in favor of the Pac-10. That doesn’t include the Kansas win on Sunday over USC, which was scheduled separately from the challenge. Of course, this is for nothing more than bragging rights, as there are no official tallies for this showcase and no trophies awarded. It’s really a shame that Baylor and A&M let their games get away from them, as this was certainly a chance for the conference to change some perceptions. Regardless, the Big 12 is currently ranked 2nd in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximations, which is a nice change of pace from the top-heavy league of years past.

Class of ’09 recruit John Henson was spotted enjoying himself at the UCLA/Texas game on Sunday night. And considering he was also seen at the Texas/Arkansas-Monticello game a few weeks back, I can’t help but think the talk of him not reciprocating Texas’ interest is nothing but white noise. The kid’s still looking at a lot of schools and he’s only a junior, but here’s to hoping that exciting upset win and the hometown draw keeps Texas high on the Round Rock Dragon’s list.

Beat #1 and #7, and people start to take notice. The Longhorns have climbed yet again in the polls, this time moving to #4 in the AP and fifth in the Coaches Poll. Texas actually snagged two first-place votes from the writers, as did Kansas. And if #9/10 Michigan State can get past tough games with Bradley and BYU this week, we’ll be looking at another top-ten battle when the Spartans and Horns face off on December 22nd.

What to watch tonight? Bill Walker brings his Depends to New York City when Kansas State and Notre Dame face off in the Jimmy V Classic (6 PM CST, ESPN). Later, the senior-laden Butler Bulldogs host Drew Neitzel and Michigan State (8 PM, ESPNU) while Memphis shows USC frosh O.J. Mayo how its done (8:30 PM, ESPN).

I survived the crush of annoying families at the airports and am back in Austin, running on fumes, so let’s get to the daily look around the NCAA…

It’s only November, but the game at Allen Fieldhouse last night sure as hell felt like a late February matchup. In reality, it wasn’t a conference game, but rather the opening round of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. And after a Brandon Rush half-court shot nearly won the game in regulation, the Jayhawks finally downed Arizona, 76-72, in overtime. Rush looked incredibly good in his first game back after an ACL implosion, and the Jayhawks are still my team to beat come March. But between now and then, they’ll have to play a lot smarter than they did in allowing the Wildcats to nearly win a game despite turning it over 25 times.

Out west, the Trojans decimated the Salukis, 70-45 in the championship of the Anaheim Classic. (As an aside, can we stop naming tournaments “classics” when they are brand new? It’s a bit contrived, no?) The real story here wasn’t the fact that USC shot 60% while holding SIU to 33% from the field. Instead, it was that Tim Floyd kept Taj Gibson and O.J. Mayo on the bench for the first six-plus minutes of the game, with the USC SID giving out an excuse about “matchups.” Steve “the Roach” Lavin didn’t buy it on-air for ESPN last night, and I’m not buying it either. Here’s to hoping we hear more info leaked later this week…

New polls are due out today, and there’s bound to be some movement for the Horns and Aggies. Both were impressive in winning their tournaments last weekend, and quite a few teams ahead of them slipped over the past seven days. With Louisville, Tennessee, Indiana, and Oregon all losing to unranked opponents, plus Michigan State and Marquette dropping games to ranked ones, there’s going to be some seismic-level shifting in the middle of the poll.

Speaking of the Horns and Aggies, Andy Katz was spotted in New York and then again in Newark over the weekend. And as a result, we get a pair of nice articles from the Katzmeister on the two teams. Mark Turgeon is picking up where Billy Gillispie left off, Katz writes, while also wondering if Texas is actually better without Durant.

NBA updates at midday, plus more Texas basketball coverage later tonight.

Baylor won a championship!! It may have only been the Paradise Jam down in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but the Bears won three straight games, culminating with a 62-54 win over Winthrop in the finals. After knocking off Wichita State and Notre Dame in the first two rounds, one has to wonder if the Bears are going to be making some noise in the Big 12 this year. Let’s be honest — there’s Kansas, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Texas, and then a huge drop off. (And without Gary Johnson, Texas is not even in the conversation with the other three.) Baylor still has home games against Washington State and Arkansas and a shot to emerge from the pack of the Big 12, so perhaps we’ll be discussing their resumé come February and March.

The Longhorns flip-flopped with A&M in this week’s AP poll, moving up to 15th while staying put at 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. At the bottom, Davidson cracked the Coaches at #25 after nearly upsetting #1 North Carolina last week. The Wildcats still have a road game against #10 Duke left on the schedule…I’m just saying.

Okie State won their opening-round game in Maui, taking out LSU 83-77. Mizzou looked incredibly impressive in the CBE Classic semis, but fell just short against a quality Michigan State team, 86-83. They refused to quit despite falling significantly behind a couple of times, and Stefhon Hannah almost singlehandedly willed them to victory in the final few minutes. That January road game in Columbia might not be too much fun for the Horns.

Romeo Miller signed his LOI to attend USC yesterday with future teammate DeMar DeRozan beside him at a press conference in the ritzy Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. That’s right, folks. Lil Romeo is going to play for the Trojans. The LA Times article raises a very good question, namely whether or not the USC staff offered Lil Romeo a scholarship in order to earn points with DeRozan, the much more talented of the two friends.

Big, big game on tap tonight featuring two Texas opponents, when #1 UCLA takes on #11 Michigan State in the championship of the CBE Classic out in Kansas City (9 PM CST, ESPN2). The consolation game should also be good, with Maryland and Mizzou meeting at 6:45 CST on ESPNU. Second-round action out of Maui includes LSU/Chaminade (12:30, ESPNU), Princeton/Arizona State (3:00 CST, ESPNU), Marquette/Oklahoma State (6:00 CST, ESPN), and Duke/Illinois (8:30 CST, ESPN).