Sorry for the lack of the regular daily posts on Monday, but instead of recovering from the 27 hours of traveling over the weekend, I instead worked ten more and then came home to immediately pass out. Things should be back on track the rest of the week, although Horns in the League will not return until tomorrow.

Monday of course means new polls, and Texas predictably fell in both of them. The Horns slipped to 19th in both the ESPN/USA Today and AP rankings. Besides the Horns, the only other three-loss squads to crack the polls are Xavier (20th in both), Villanova (21st/25th), and Clemson (23rd/24th). The Big 12 still has the same three teams in both polls, although OU, Baylor, Mizzou, and K-State all grabbed a few votes from the coaches.

There was also a new Bracketology from Joe Lunardi, who slid the Horns to a 4-seed playing in Denver for the first two rounds. As far as I’m concerned, that sounds great. It might be selfish, but I’d rather not deal with the nutjob Razorback fans if Texas were to get the “home pod” in Little Rock. The B-12 is the second-most represented conference, with the Jayhawks (1-seed), Aggies (2), Wildcats (8), Sooners (9), and Bears (10) joining the Horns in the mix.

Caught up on some weekend TV thanks to the DVR and absolutely loved Rick Barnes’ appearance on Friday Night Lights. Coach played a recruiter from the fictional Texas Methodist University, which uses the TSU football stadium on the show but has a superimposed Austin skyline behind it. Barnes got the hotshot “Smash” Williams to give a verbal commitment to TMU, but I’ve got to hope his real recruiting calls are a little less wooden. If you missed it, you can check out full episodes at NBC.com. Rick’s in Episode 211, and he appears near the end.

I’ve just joined a pretty big blogpoll hosted by the good folks at March to Madness. There are currently 18 voters and the newest poll will be released tomorrow, covering games through last night’s Big Monday. I’ll show my selections tomorrow along with commentary and invite you readers to chime in with your own thoughts.

All good things come to an end, but typically those good things don’t come to as hideously ugly an end as they did on Saturday in Columbia. The Longhorns were a perfect 9-0 in conference openers under Rick Barnes and had won nine in a row against the Missouri Tigers, but Mike Anderson’s club destroyed both of those streaks with a convincing 97-84 win in front of 13,085 loud fans at Mizzou Arena.

Texas jumped out to an early lead on the road, riding the hot shooting of Damion James to an eight point advantage with a little less than twelve minutes left in the half. But a flurry of points from reserve Keon Lawrence had the Tigers back on top in less than three minutes. The teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the half, with the Longhorns taking a two-point lead into the break.

The second half was all Mizzou, which was immediately evident when the Tigers hit their first six shots coming out of the locker room. Missouri quickly built a ten-point lead which they never relinquished. Texas kept fighting, slowly chipping away at the deficit, but were constantly thwarted by timely threes from the Tigers.

There were almost no positives to be drawn from this game beyond the play of Damion James. His 27 points and 16 boards were good enough for his eighth double-double of the year. In the first half, he was a scorching 6-of-8 from the field and hit two free throws — something which was a huge struggle for the Longhorns for a fifth straight game.

Coach Barnes had to limit Damion’s minues in the first half thanks to foul trouble, but an interesting incident just before half may have cost him even more playing time. With 3:32 left on the clock, a foul was called inside on Clint Chapman. James was next to the play and the scoreboard charged him with his third foul, although the announcer correctly said that Chapman was the one responsible. During the ensuing media timeout, James was replaced by Justin Mason and sat for the rest of the half.

It’s tough to say whether or not the Texas coaching staff thought he had three fouls, and it’s even more difficult to say that the Longhorns could’ve built up enough of a lead in those three-plus minutes to withstand the Missouri barrage in the second half. But it’s definitely valid to say that the one player who the Tigers didn’t have an answer for could’ve changed the complexion of the game had he been left in.

As for the rest of the team, the picture wasn’t pretty. The Longhorns made only fifty percent of their free throws, finishing a nauseating 11-of-22 from the line. Most shocking of all was the fact that D.J. Augustin was a paltry 3-of-8 from the line, while A.J. Abrams made only 2-of-4. This has suddenly become a recurring theme for this team, and it is going to absolutely kill Texas in the post-season if it continues. If I’m Jeff Capel or Mark Turgeon, I’m licking my chops at the thought of my physical defense sending the Longhorns to the line instead of giving up points in the paint.

While Missouri’s hot shooting from behind the arc was the biggest reason they won on Saturday, Texas certainly helped them out. Sure, there were a few contested threes that Missouri made, but a huge percentage of them were wide open thanks to poor rotation on defense. Late in the first half, the Tigers had a ton of open looks that clanged off. The perimeter defense was just as weak in the second half, while the Mizzou shooters weren’t. And that was the difference in the game.

I’ve been one of the biggest believers in Connor Atchley since last season, perhaps often overlooking flaws and choosing only to point at the flashes of brilliance and potential that occasionally shone through. And early in the year, Connor was validating that faith, scoring 20-plus points in some games, setting great screens, and even playing great defense inside. But since then, he has completely disappeared from the offense and started biting on any head fake thrown his way. If you trace it back, the sudden drop in Atch’s play coincides with the Longhorns’ struggles. Just like the free throw issues, Texas needs Connor to step it up if they want to get back to the level of play they were at in early December.

Gary Johnson was almost a non-factor, aside from a heads-up play setting a (moving) screen for Abrams on a fast break layup. His stat sheet was appropriately bare, as he missed two free throws to go with a rebound and a foul in nineteen minutes of play.

Although he only saw the floor for five minutes, it was five more than I thought I would see Dexter Pittman against the up-tempo Tigers. He actually looked good inside, snagging three offensive rebounds and scoring on a pair of put-backs. He even made both of his free throws, so perhaps he should lead a team meeting on the subject.

Texas has a long week off to prepare for a very weak Colorado team, and they should coast to a home victory against the Buffaloes. But while coaches and players always spout the axiom “one game at a time,” here the matter at hand is much larger than just winning the next one. Texas has some huge issues to address, and the Big 12 is going to be a very bumpy road to travel if they can’t figure things out quickly.

After a long week off following a convincing victory over a strong St. Mary’s team, Rick Barnes and the Horns finally kick off conference play with a road game in Columbia, Missouri. There are eight of us driving up there in just a few hours and the game has an awkward tip time of 12:45 tomorrow, so as a result you get the bonus of an early game preview.

The Longhorns have never lost a Big 12 opener in the nine years that Coach Barnes has led the team and Texas has a nine-game winning streak over the Tigers, but this one isn’t going to be easy. Mike Anderson has an experienced team now in their second year under his high-pressure system, and they can rattle teams into costly mistakes.

By the numbers

If you had one word to describe Mizzou, it would be pressure. But if you broke the rules and used a second word, it would be inconsistent. They’ve yet to put together 40 minutes of solid basketball yet, and as a result have fallen short in games against big competitors. The Tigers fell short against Michigan State in a virtual home game in Kansas City, and lost to Arkansas and California on the road. Their signature win on the year came against a Purdue team that is nothing better than a mid-pack Big 10 squad.

The high-pressure style that Mizzou plays has them pushing the tempo up to 75 possessions per game, the 12th-fastest rate in the country. But even at such a breakneck speed, the Tigers are still incredibly effective, with a +23.9 margin in Ken Pomeroy’s numbers.

They have the best three-point defense in the nation, but the ugly underbelly to that statistic is just how poor the Tigers are at defending the interior. When teams get past the perimeter pressure, they often find themselves with easy layups and bunnies.

The defense

It all starts with the defense for Mizzou. They love to put on full-court pressure following made baskets and free throws, so limiting their scoring serves another purpose beyond the obvious. Teams who attack the middle of the court with quick guards can often break the pressure and find themselves in a good transition situation with numbers. Texas has shown itself capable against pressing teams this season, but none have been as good at it as Missouri, save for perhaps Tennessee.

When the Longhorns manage to get it into the half-court set, more trouble awaits. Mike Anderson loves an extended 2-3 zone that is a really fun thing to watch. The pressure comes out nearly to midcourt, while players try to jump passing routes and unnerve shooters on the wings. Teams with quick ball movement can do really well against this look because of how far out the Tigers play, and Texas did a good job with that against the Mizzou zone last season.

When Mizzou shows a man look, their players oftentimes over-pursue in an effort to make the steal or anticipate a pass. This can lead to a lot of easy drives to the bucket or open jumpers, and you can be sure that Texas will take advantage of this if Mike Anderson tries it.

It’s also important for the younger guys to avoid the sidelines and corners, as the Tigers are great at immediately reacting and throwing a trap at an unlucky player who finds himself next to the out-of-bounds lines. I have complete faith in D.J. Augustin against this pressure, but if he happens to find himself in foul trouble, things could get dicey for A.J. Abrams or Justin Mason.

The players

Because of the frenetic pace at which they play, the Tigers can go nine deep without any problems.

Big man DeMarre Carroll was named Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after transferring from Vanderbilt, and he’s making an immediate impact for the tigers. Carroll leads the team with 14.8 points per game and 6.7 rebounds and is the key to getting the Missouri offense going in half-court sets. When the Tigers attack the paint with Carroll, they have tremendous success not only inside, but also with their freed-up guards on the perimeter. When they get frustrated against defenses who deny the entry pass or dribble penetration, they tend to settle for forced threes and waste a ton of possessions.

While Carroll gets most of the pub down low, Leo Lyons is the big who impresses me most on this team. He’s in the mold of a Damion James in that he can hit the mid-range jumper, he can rebound, and he can usually score inside. Those points in the paint are sometimes hard to come by for Lyons, which just so happens to sound a lot like James at times, too. The great thing about Leo’s nice J is that it allows him to blow by people from the triple threat position, resulting in a lot of easy buckets at the rack.

Stefhon Hannah is still around and even better than before. He’s the team’s second-leading scorer with 13.9 points, but is also doing a great job at distributing the ball from both the point and off-guard positions. He’s an incredibly quick guard who loves to attack defenses off the dribble and then react quickly to find the open men when they collapse. And did I mention he can hit the three? Hannah is the team’s leading man with 41% success from behind the arc.

After a really great start shooting the three last year, guard Matt Lawrence came down to Earth a bit in the second half of the year. This season, he’s still a solid threat behind the arc, but is hitting at a much more mortal rate of 37%. Lawrence is probably the worst on-the-ball defender that Mike Anderson plays, so whoever he is matched up with should get by him with ease.

Not at all blood related, but also a guard is Keon Lawrence who can also occasionally hit the three, but is a fairly streaky shooter from behind the arc. Like Hannah, this Lawrence is a really quick guard who is constantly in the face of his man and loves to penetrate off the dribble and react to what the defense gives him.

Although he doesn’t even start, Austin native Marshall Brown is still the captain and a strong voice in the huddle and locker room. He was the starting power forward last year for Mike Anderson, but now is doing well in his role as an energy guy off the bench. When the going gets tough, he likely won’t be the one taking the big shot, but he’s still the one the team looks to for leadership.

What to look for

Besides the obvious key of controlling the ball in this one, it is also going to be interesting to see how fatigue plays into things with Missouri able to dip much further into their bench for significant minutes. Dexter Pittman will be nearly useless in this high-tempo affair, but look for some more minutes from Alexis Wangmene, who Coach Barnes said has been showing some solid progress in practices the last week.

As always, it’s important to not fall behind early on the road and allow the crowd to fuel the home team. But for a Texas team that loves to sprint out of the gates in roadies and then wither in the second half, it’s going to be important to keep up that intensity for all forty minutes. The Tigers look to exhaust teams both physically and mentally, so it will take a lot of composure from what is still a pretty young Texas team. Luckily for Longhorn fans, these guys stared down much worse in Pauley Pavilion and came out on top.

This one is available to anybody who has the ESPN Full Court package, and it will air on KNVA for those folks in Austin. There are tons of affiliates carrying the game across the country, though, so be sure to check out the local affiliate list from TexasSports.com to find where it’s on in your area.

For now, we bid you adieu and hit the road for Columbia, Missouri. There may or may not be time (or internet access) to do a TV listing tomorrow morning, but we’ll try to at least get in a few short updates from the road on the iPhone.

Tomorrow is wall-to-wall hoops action, which means the Friday pickings are slim as usual. If you happen to be staying in tonight, you’d be better off with the NBA doubleheader than with this pair of duds. But just in case you’re into the whole masochism thing, here are the pair of games from the Worldwide Leader…

Navy (7-8 overall, 0-0 Patriot) at Bucknell (5-9, 0-0) – 6 PM CST, ESPNU – The Bison are just two years removed from back-to-back appearances in the 2nd round of the NCAAs, including that famous upset of Kansas. But this season is more nightmare than fairy tale, as Bucknell has a sickening RPI of 236th and a record that promises their only NCAA hopes lie in the Patriot League tourney.

Siena (8-6 overall, 3-1 MAAC) at Niagara (10-3, 4-0) – 8 PM CST, ESPNU – Unlike the first half of the doubleheader, this one is a pretty big game in the world of the mid-majors. Niagara is the lone perfect team in the MAAC, but faces a tough test at home from a Siena team that upset Stanford back in November.

Conference play in the Big 12 finally begins tomorrow, and despite the fact that there seem to be only three clear-cut contenders, this season promises to be an exciting one as new teams will likely emerge in the middle of the pack and a handful of sensational freshmen will get a chance to shine.

Everybody runs their conference previews this time of year, and LRT is no exception. While we won’t get into a detailed player breakdown — those are saved for the actual game previews when the Horns face each team — this brief look at the league should give fans an idea of what’s to come.

Without any further blustering, here’s a rundown of the league, in our predicted order of finish:

1) Kansas Jayhawks – This is by far the deepest team in the league, and is without a doubt on the short list of national title contenders this year. When Texas played the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse for the regular-season finale last March, the usual Senior Night ceremonies seemed to be missing. But the sickening fact of the matter is that the Jayhawks return every single piece of their Elite Eight team, including Brandon Rush who was ohsoclose to going pro. The only question now is how many wins KU can rack up on their way to a 51st conference championship.

2) Texas Longhorns – If you’re reading this, you’re likely already a Longhorn fan and know all about this club. But just in case you don’t, I can sum it up in two words — balanced attack. All five of the Texas starters average double-digits in scoring, including freshman Gary Johnson, who was just cleared to play last week and will beef up an inside game that badly needed his presence. While Texas might run into problems against bigger, more physical teams in league play, defenses will still have their hands full trying to decide which threat to focus their attention on.

3) Texas A&M Aggies – If you thought lock-down defense was going to leave College Station with Billy Gillispie, you would be sorely mistaken. The Aggies boast the sixth-most effective defense in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy, and their inside-out attack is a pick-your-poision conundrum for opposing coaches. Inside, freshman big man DeAndre Jordan is an incredible threat, although the best defense so far seems to be simply fouling him — Jordan is an atrocious 33.9% from the line this year.

4) Oklahoma Sooners – Just a few weeks ago, it seemed like this team was headed for a tailspin after a perplexing home loss to Stephen F. Austin. But OU has since put together impressive wins over Arkansas and West Virginia (on the road) that has the Sooners hitting their stride at exactly the right time. Not to be outdone by Turgeon or Martin, Capel has his own excellent freshman in Blake Griffin, the Oklahoma City kid who is leading the Sooners in scoring this year.

5) Kansas State Wildcats – This slot could easily have gone to the team just below the Wildcats in our rankings, but K-State has the luxury of playing bottom-feeding Iowa State and Colorado twice each this season. While KSU is struggling to get an offense going with stars Michael Beasley and Bill “Towel Pisser” Walker, there is enough talent on this team to make some noise in the Big 12 if they can ever figure it out. And with mafia enforcer Frank Martin as coach, the Wildcats should get their fair share of calls from refs who don’t want to swim with the fishes.

6) Baylor Bears – The Bears challenging for an NCAA bid? It could be true, and quite frankly their fans deserve it. Just years after the Dave Bliss/Carlton Dotson disaster and the NCAA’s interesting sanctions, Scott Drew has finally gotten his great talent to jell. The Bears were seconds away from knocking off Washington State, currently the fourth-ranked team in the country, and had Arkansas on the ropes before making some stupid decisions to waste possessions late in the game. If Baylor can learn how to finish games, the Bears can be the surprise team of the year.

7) Nebraska Cornhuskers – Doc Sadler’s Nebraska team is leading the league in interior defense, and they already have a pair of quality wins over Arizona State and Oregon. They’re hoping to grab a few more upsets in the Big 12 and somehow sneak on to the bubble, but I feel a mid-conference finish is a bit more likely. Aleks Maric is still the big man on campus, running the show down low for an up-and-coming team in the northern half of the conference.

8) Missouri Tigers – Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year DeMarre Caroll is already making an impact after transferring from Vandy, while guards Stefhon Hannah and Keon Lawrence anchor a quick backcourt. Mike Anderson’s squad still plays exciting basketball, but they are still too sloppy to completely pull off his style of play. Give Mizzou another season or two and they will be fighting for a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

9) Texas Tech Red Raiders – This is the most bi-polar of the conference teams this year, one which has losses to Sam Houston State and Centenary, but also a win over Gonzaga and a great showing against Stanford. Just having Bob Knight on the bench means that this projection is likely too low for the Red Raiders, but until they show any semblance of consistency, it’s tough to have faith that this team can survive without last year’s leading scorer, Jarrius Jackson.

10) Iowa State Cyclones – Greg McDermott is in his second year on the Ames campus, but it’s still too early to expect results. He’s taking the Gillispie approach in building the ‘Clones confidence against an easier non-conference slate, but the seven wins against teams with RPIs of 200+ isn’t going to help too much against the likes of Kansas, Texas, or A&M. Jiri Hubalek is still fun to watch, but he won’t be playing in any postseason tournaments to finish off his senior year.

11) Oklahoma State Cowboys – For the same reason that K-State earned the nod over Baylor, Oklahoma State slides below the Cyclones. OSU is a better ballclub — although inept coaching certainly nullifies that advantage — but a murderous schedule with a pair of games against Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, and even Baylor means that the Pokes are going to be slogging their way to the finish line. You feel bad for the talent amassed on this roster, but Baby Sutton is in way over his head.

12) Colorado Buffaloes – There’s rebuilding, and then there’s complete demolition followed by a new structure. The latter is what new coach Jeff Bzdelik needs to do with a Colorado program that has not seemed dedicated to winning in many years. He’s definitely got talent on the team in Richard Roby and Austin product Xavier Silas, but any success to be had in Boulder is still a few years off.