No movement for the Horns in this week’s USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, which came out prior to the win over UTSA last night. USC and Kentucky both fell out of the poll after their losses to Atlantic Sun opponents, while Kansas State and Syracuse slid into the 24th and 25th slots.

Josh Heytvelt is out 4-6 weeks after having surgery on his painful foot. I know he brought some of his problems on himself with the whole psychedelic ‘shroom issue last season, but you can’t help but feel bad for the kid. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery, both for Heytvelt and our new Spokie friends up in The Pit.

Eric Gordon, welcome to the NCAA. The star of Kelvin Sampson’s freshman class dropped 33 points in his debut, hitting 7-of-11 from three point range. Gordon also chipped in with six rebounds and four assists on the night.

Texas A&M opens their season tonight in the Preseason NIT, taking on Oral Roberts (8 PM, ESPNU). Don’t forget, Oral Roberts is the same team that jumped up and bit Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse early last year, and is the same team that will likely give Texas a challenge on December 18th.

The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll came out for the first time today and, as always, gives us a lot to argue over and bitch about for the last few weeks leading up to the season.

Texas debuts at #19, which sits well with me. Our team is a young, unproven commodity and we honestly won’t know our club very well until mid-December. The Coaches vs. Cancer tournament offers a chance to play some solid talent early at a neutral site, which will test our kids and give them experience with the format of the NCAAs. Games in December against Gonzaga and LSU will acclimate the players to the college game and hopefully show us what we’re dealing with.

Elsewhere in the Big 12, Kansas checks in at #3 and Texas A&M is #13 to start the year. Billy Gillispie’s team played well last season by deflating the ball and playing some rough, low-scoring ballgames. It reminded me a lot of certain Big East teams, and it proved effective. Time will tell if they deserve to be ranked this high, as they play both LSU and UCLA in a one-week span, away from the rowdy home crowds of Reed Arena.

According to the early poll, Coach Barnes has done a solid job of scheduling quality talent to season our club. Outside of conference play, we have the aforementioned game with #7 LSU, and a game in Knoxville over the holidays against #24 Tennessee. Other opponents on the schedule who received votes are Gonzaga, Villanova, Oklahoma State, and — depending on how the Horns play in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament — Michigan State and Maryland.