Luke Winn has more cojones than most, as he already put together a pre-season Top 10 for yesterday morning’s blog entry. He assumes that D.J. Augustin will be going pro, and that stud ’08 recruit Tyreke Evans will be landing with Villanova or Memphis once the late signing period begins next Wednesday.

I’m not even going to attempt to sort through the teams until the insanity of early entries and draft withdrawals end in mid-June. But it’s certainly fun to check out all of these early rankings and start to get jazzed about the next season. Winn slotted the Horns 6th, while Dick Vitale had them 4th — although his rankings are located so far from reality that they don’t deserve a link — so it’s safe to say that the Longhorns will be back. But where exactly they’ll end up depends heavily on the Augustin and Evans decisions this month.

In other early-entry news, sources in L.A. say Kevin Love and Darren Collison are going pro, while Collison himself is telling reporters that he’s yet to make a decision. It seems telling that he did not flatly decline the report, instead just relying on the word yet.

Perhaps most troubling for Bruins fans, though, is the source in that article which claims Russell Westbrook could throw his hat into the ring, too. Freshman combo guard Jrue Holiday will definitely make an immediate impact for UCLA next season, but I wouldn’t expect him to be able to single-handedly carry the backcourt if Coach Howland loses both Collison and Westbrook to the pros.

More early-entry news to come as the MSM reports it.

As mentioned in the Greg Oden Video Spectacular below, I’m quite a bit behind this week. Of course, with only 16 teams left in the country, there’s a lot of coverage of the Longhorns out there that I’ve been missing out on. Mixed into all the burnt-orange love is a little news from elsewhere in the NCAAs, so dive in and get your fill as the first night of the Sweet 16 quickly approaches…

Pat Forde tells a story that many Longhorn fans are familiar with as he explores the winding path D.J. Augustin took to Austin and the tight family bond the Augustins share. This story actually had front-page play on ESPN.com earlier in the week, so it looks like the Burnt Orange Media Conspiracy has stepped from the shadows and into plain sight.

And speaking of the BOMC, how about Donald Sloan openly crying that the Aggies don’t get treated with the respect that the Longhorns get? If you happened to miss Sloan’s post-game interview with radio station KZNE, you’ve definitely got to check out the link. Regardless of what you think about the referees swallowing the whistle in that situation, you’ve really got to wonder why the first place Sloan’s mind jumps is a fantasy construct where he’s D.J. Augustin…

Students at Davidson are getting a free ride to see their team play in Detroit. Oh, and they’ll be getting free lodging and tickets, as well. Trustees at the small, private liberal-arts college decided to pay for the unprecedented trip, which will allow at least 300 students to make the journey. Just imagine what Longhorn Road Trip could be with trustees like these. Hint, hint.

Mike Freeman at CBS Sportsline combines all of the recent stories about Coach Barnes into a quick, enjoyable read. All the themes familiar to Longhorn fans are there — Barnes’ moratorium on cursing, his joking remark that set off Razorback fans, and the North Carolina native’s jocular nature. But most enjoyable are the anecdotes from Coach Haith, particularly one about the Final Four in 2003. Check it out.

The folks over at Gutty Little Bruins have a hilarious post about tournament upsets leading into the game with Western Kentucky. Hats off to the writers for this one, which was not only good for a laugh but also provided a great photographic trip down memory lane.