We’re baaaaaack! I’ve completed my very last final — ever — which opens up a huge chunk of extra time to work on the website and continue bringing you Longhorn and national basketball news. Next week we embark on a road trip that may even top the epic journey to Spokane last March, and with a few bonus stops scheduled along the way, it’s going to provide a lot of great post-Christmas content for everybody. I’ll have more details on Monday, but it’s something you’ll definitely want to check back for.

Checking in on meaningless poll movement, Texas slides a spot to #3 in ESPN’s Power 16, while Luke Winn has yet to update his power rankings this week.

If you happened to catch that Vanderbilt game on Wednesday night, you were treated to one of the best second-half comebacks in recent memory. The Commodores clawed back from an 18-point deficit on the road at DePaul, forced overtime, and then iced away another win to remain perfect. DePaul shot a ridiculous percentage coming out of the halftime break to build that huge lead, but Vandy just remained calm and continued to play their game. Watch out, SEC. These guys are definitely not finishing 5th in their division.

Don’t look now, but former Texas assistant coach Frank Haith has the Miami Hurricanes playing some great ball so far. The U is 9-0 on the young season and sport the best RPI ranking in the nation according to Ken Pomeroy’s number-crunching. They still have a couple mid-major threats left on their December schedule, but there is a very distinct possibility that the Hurricanes could start ACC play with a 14-0 mark when they host Georgia Tech on January 12th.

Horns in the League returns tonight with a massive update on how each player has done the last two weeks. Also look for a piece on the big step backwards Bellmont is making with the student ticket situation at the Drum and, of course, the Texas State game preview.

A scary, scary moment in the Raptors game in Atlanta last night when T.J. Ford was fouled hard by Al Horford and fell straight to the court, slamming his head. T.J. was carted off on a stretcher, but has since been released from the hospital and is cleared to play. I’m guessing he won’t be right back out there, but it’s good to know things are looking up after seeing that frightening footage last night.

So much for St. Mary’s being ranked when they come to town. The Gaels ran into Southern Illinois on the wrong night, losing 71-56 to a team that had almost no offense over their first six games. All this really does to Texas is give a slight ding on the RPI later in the season, but it’s better to be playing a tough, one-loss St. Mary’s squad than a 16-loss Prairie View A&M.

Don’t ask me how I missed this in SI’s weekly power rankings last week, but apparently the Penn students brought their A-game for Tyler Hansbrough and UNC. They blew up pictures of his mother, who was a former Miss Missouri, and waved copies of this horrible senior picture collage. I pulled the photo from Tyler50.com, the official website of Mr. Hansbrough. Why, oh why would you put something this hilariously awkward on the internet when you are a college athlete? I half-expect to find Uncle Rico’s glamor shots if I keep clicking around long enough.

Chris Low at ESPN.com has a good feature on A.J. Ogilvy over at Vanderbilt. After seeing the Commodores shock a lot of folks last year, I thought they just needed a good inside presence to help out Shan Foster and get them over the hump. There was some below-the-radar buzz on the Aussie before he hit the college hardwood, but I wasn’t sure he’d be the answer as only a freshman. It turns out that Ogilvy is just as good as advertised, if not better, and has Vandy poised to be one of the top three or four teams in the SEC.

Finally, some more action on the tube for hoopsheads tonight. Cincy takes on Xavier and former OU guard Drew Lavender in the Crosstown Shootout (6 PM, ESPN2). Check out the 7-1 Musketeers if you haven’t had a chance yet, as they should absolutely school the ‘Cats. If you don’t believe me or Chris Low about the Ogilvy kid, watch Vandy hunt for a road win at DePaul (7 PM, ESPN Classic). And if you remember when UMass was solid and the A-10 was a part of the Big Monday package, reminisce as the Minutemen host BC (8 PM, ESPNU).

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.

At times last night, Texas looked very good in their win over the Rice Owls. But there were also some points of concern for Longhorn fans, despite the lopsided outcome. We’ll get to all of that late tonight in a wrap of this week’s games. For now, onward with our look around the country.

A couple of upsets in the middle of the Top 25, starting with Louisville stumbling against the Dayton Flyers, 70-65. The Flyers are quietly building a solid resumé, with a 7-1 record against the current RPI Top 50. In addition to beating Louisville, they’ve challenged themselves with some tough mid-major opponents, which should help after the A-10 sked hurts their SOS. In the other upset of the day, Wright State knocked off Butler, 43-42. It’s the second straight win for Wright State over the Bulldogs, as they also captured the Horizon League tournament in March by beating them in front of a raucous home crowd.

Davidson keeps playing well against good teams, but still doesn’t have any quality wins to show for it. They blew an 18-point lead to UCLA in Anaheim yesterday, falling by a final of 75-63 and dropping their record to a painful 3-5 this year. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute led the way for UCLA with 21 points.

The Big 12 looked pretty good on Saturday, if you can overlook OU losing at home to Stephen F. Austin, 66-62. The Lumberjacks are now 7-1 on the year, but have done so against the 279th-toughest schedule. Things aren’t going to get any easier for Oklahoma after this one, as their next three games are against Arkansas, Gonzaga, and West Virginia. Quality loss there, Sooners.

Elsewhere in the conference, Iowa State topped Iowa, Kansas pounded DePaul, Oklahoma State pulled away from East Tennessee State, Mizzou pressured Purdue for the win, and Texas A&M face-raped Texas State. (Thanks, Dave Lapham.) Colorado was the second Big 12 loser on the day, dropping one in Wyoming, but they are playing respectably for one of the worst teams in the conference.

FSN has a doubleheader in HD today, but otherwise not a lot on tap as many schools lighten their schedule in the midst of final exams. George Washington heads southwest to take on Virginia Tech (4:30 PM CST), followed by an early ACC matchup between BC and Maryland (6:30 PM). Over on ESPNU, Villanova and Temple renew their Big Five rivalry (6 PM). In action happening without TV coverage, Kansas State is currently facing off with Cal.

The Texas Longhorns head to Houston tonight for another game in the Toyota Center, this time with the reeling Rice Owls. The last time these two teams met was in the same building back in 2005, when the Longhorns won by an 85-58 count. All-time, Texas leads the series by a lopsided 130-59 margin.

Rice comes into this one without their top two point guards and their top three-point threat. Jasen Williams was the team’s leading scorer, but is not playing this week so that he can focus on finals. It’s unclear whether Williams is dangerously close to an eligibility situation, but his absence certainly won’t make things any easier on the Owls. Chris Hagan was the backup at the point, but ruptured his patella tendon and is out for the season. Behind the arc, Cory Pflieger was the biggest threat, but is currently out until January with an ankle injury.

The rash of injuries and study breaks leaves Rice with only eight scholarship players for tonight’s game. And for a team that was already struggling to replace the huge hole left by Morris Almond and Lorenzo Williams — both who now play in the NBDL — this bad luck makes the mountain even tougher to climb.

By the numbers

Texas is still holding strong to the 3rd-highest RPI in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy. This game with Rice won’t help that ranking, as the Owls check in all the way at 256th. They also run one of the slowest offenses in the country, and that will certainly be the case with such a short bench tonight. Rice cannot afford to get into an up-and-down contest with a more athletic and more talented Texas team.

The starters

Without the top two point guards, the job at the one falls to Bryan Beasley, a former Aggie who was allowed to transfer and immediately play for Rice during the Billy Gillispie/Mark Turgeon changeover. With an inexperienced, third-string guard at the point, the Longhorns could force a good share of turnovers and earn some easy fast break points. Beasley is a pretty quick guard, however, so on defense he might be able to stick with Augustin a little better than most third-stringers would. We all know it’s impossible to hold D.J. down all game, but Beasley could make things a little more difficult.

Sophomore Rodney Foster will likely start at shooting guard, although he is having a rough start from the floor this year. While he is averaging nine points per game, his three-point percentage is an abysmal 21% after sitting above 35% last season. While the Owls have a solid inside game, their offense is not nearly as effective as that of the Longhorns. If they want to stay in this game, they will need some three-point buckets, and that means Foster will need to break out of his slump.

Aleks Perka will probably be slotted at the three tonight, and he is going to be a bit of an oversized one. If he matches up with Justin Mason, he should try using his five-inch height advantage to post up and earn some buckets. Jay Mase is a much quicker player, so Perka won’t be slashing from the wings for any layups.

In the paint, Patrick Britton comes in riding high after a career-best 24 point game against Texas State on Wednesday. While he’s not the biggest threat on the glass, he could definitely create a problem inside for the Horns. Damion James is a much more athletic player and can match up well with him, but Britton might get a few extra baskets when the Longhorn freshmen forwards are in the game.

Paulius Packevicius is a double-double machine for Rice, having reached that plateau in four of his games so far. Last season, he didn’t achieve that statistical feat even once, so it’s quite clear that the kid has made some huge strides in the offseason. He is averaging 11.3 PPG and 10.1 RPG so far this year and should provide another good challenge for Connor Atchley inside. Much like Atchley, Packevicius is not a flashy player, but is fundamentally sound and is easy to coach.

Key reserves

With the bench so thin for Rice, their options are incredibly slim. Lawrence Ghoram is a solid defender in the backcourt and will likely be called upon to stick Augustin and A.J. Abrams when Beasley and Foster need a breather. Freshman big men Suleiman Braimoh and Scott Saunders may also see an increase in minutes if Rice is unable to control the tempo.

What to look for

The deck is extraordinarily stacked against Rice in this one. With the short bench, their only true hope is to slow this one down into an ugly slopfest and limit the potent Texas offense. The Owls will be forced to run a lot of zone to keep their team from getting too fatigued, so this will likely open Rick Barnes’ dangerous three-point shooters. If by chance Rice is still able to frustrate the Texas offense, they will also need a few timely threes to threaten a much better Longhorn squad.