We’re alive and back home, having driven through a pea soup of a fog from about Oklahoma City to Austin. But sleep deprivation and white knuckles are a very cheap price to see the Horns finally pull out the win in Stillwater after witnessing three prior losses there. Game wrap will be coming closer to midnight tonight, but in the meantime here’s your Fast Break around college hoops…

New rankings came out yesterday, with Texas climbing to 12th in both polls. Baylor finally crawled into the AP poll at 25th, their first ranking since the late 1960’s. Unfortunately the coaches stiffed them with only 11 points, good enough for the equivalent of 32nd. K-State is also putting pressure on the Top 25 after its manhandling of A&M on Saturday, landing in the “others receiving votes” category of both rankings. Kansas sits in 2nd in both rankings, while the Aggies slipped to 16th in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 18th in the AP after two blowout losses to unranked opponents.

Joe Lunardi’s newest Bracketology moves Texas up the S-curve to a 3-seed, although at this point the city assignments are relatively meaningless. He’s got the Big 12 with 5 teams at the moment, and Oklahoma is sitting in the first group of eight teams that missed the cut. (NIT, holla!) Kansas is obviously still holding tight to a 1-seed, while A&M has dropped to an 8, Baylor holds a 6, and K-State is the 7-seed in UNC’s bracket.

This week’s blogpoll will be released tonight, so rather than post my own vote today and then the whole thing tomorrow, we’ll throw it all up here at once and open up the discussion. Needless to say, it was a very difficult week with 15 of last week’s 25 ranked teams losing at least once, so I’m sure there will be some head-scratching going on when all is said and done.

Texas needed a second-half comeback to secure its first conference win on Saturday night, and now just two days later they are looking for their first road win in the Big 12. The Longhorns travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma tonight to take on the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in a game televised as a part of ESPN’s Big Monday.

Gallagher-Iba Arena is a tough place for any team to play, and it has been hard for the Horns to find a win there in recent history. Texas has lost on four out of its last five trips to the deafening arena, including losses by the Final Four and Elite Eight squads. Personally, I’ve been to Stillwater three times and have yet to see a win. For purely selfish reasons, a win tonight would be huge.

The Cowboys provide a difficult match-up for the Longhorns, however. Texas has struggled with perimeter defense all season, and the Pokes are addicted to the longball. They are currently on pace to set a school record for three-pointers attempted, as nearly 40% of the shots they take come from behind the arc. If the Longhorns don’t lock down the perimeter, this game could get very ugly in a hurry.

By the numbers

Oklahoma State has had an up-and-down year, coming into this one on a two-game slide. The Pokes play a fairly quick style of basketball with over 70 possessions per game, which is definitely the kind of game that Texas likes. As long as Texas executes and doesn’t give up a ton of open looks, this plays into the favor of the visiting Longhorns.

The Cowboys have been very good defensively, but it is hard to tell if that’s a result of beating up on teams like Rogers State and East Tennessee State, or if they are a genuinely strong team. Again, the bi-polar nature of the club makes it hard to get a definitive read on the Pokes, but they are definitely a speedy team and they love the pressure defense. The only downside to this for Sean Sutton is that sometimes his young, quick players will over-pursue and find themselves out of position on defense.

Offensively, Oklahoma State is a slightly above average team. The thing holding them back is an inability to control the basketball, as they are averaging 17 turnovers a game. Ken Pomeroy’s stats show that the Pokes have turned the ball over on more than 20% of their possessions in all but five of their games this season.

The starters

This team doesn’t look quite like Sean Sutton had expected, as JamesOn Curry left early for the NBA and Jai Lucas decided to go to Florida after initially committing to play in Stillwater. Despite that, this fairly young team still has an exciting bunch of playmakers that should be earning more wins than they are.

Freshman James Anderson is leading all scorers, although he struggled against Iowa State on Saturday. Anderson sprained his ankle late in the loss to Baylor, so one has to wonder if his poor play this weekend was a result of the lingering effects of that injury. He has incredible range and can absolutely fill it up from behind the arc. Even if he’s beyond NBA range, he can knock it down without blinking. At 6’6″, he could have a really good night against the short Texas guards, but even if he’s matched up with a taller Longhorn, he still has a quick enough release to pop one in somebody’s eye.

Terrel Harris is taking a bigger role in the offense this year, and he’s responding quite well. The junior guard can also sink the three and he’s averaging 1.27 points per shot. He’s quick with the ball and is going to require a solid defender to try to neutralize him. Once again, his height creates a problem, though. At 6’5″, he’s pretty tall for Justin Mason to defend, and the Longhorn big men won’t be able to keep up with him. One thing that could level the playing field are his poor handles, as he’s turning the ball over nearly four times a game.

Inside, the big man for the Cowboys is Marcus Dove. Yes, you read that correctly. Marcus Dove is now being relied upon as the inside scorer. But unlike the last three seasons, he’s not a complete stiff with the ball this year. Dove has added some post moves — he loves to try to spin off the dribble — and is averaging nearly eleven points per game. His shot still needs some work though, so he’s taking a lot of shots each game to get his points. Oh, and he’s still a kickass defender. Damion James will have a long night if Sutton matches these two up.

Little fat boy Byron Eaton still runs the point for Oklahoma State, and he’s still doing a serviceable job. Eaton is averaging just shy of ten points per game and gets the transition game going for the Pokes with his quick hands. The guard leads the team in steals, so D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams need to take care of the ball up top.

Ibrahima Thomas is a lanky forward for the Pokes and although he’s still a bit raw, he’s an exciting guy to watch. He’s a 6’11” beanpole from Senegal that plays with a ton of energy, but it often gets him into trouble. He’s picking up fouls at a pace of about one every five minutes, and oftentimes he misses easy shots that he shouldn’t because he’s rushing things. If he adds some weight and keeps working at it, I think Thomas is going to be a pretty solid forward by the time his four years are through.

The bench

Much like Colorado, Oklahoma State sticks with a core group of seven or eight players and their bench doesn’t provide much help beyond Obi Muonelo. The lanky guard can score from just about anywhere on the floor, but he prefers the mid- and long-range jumpers. Like the other Oklahoma State guards, Muonelo’s height is going to cause match-up problems for Texas.

Further down the bench, freshman Martavius Adams gives some minutes down low, but he really struggles to post up and hardly ever scores. Guard Nick Sidorakis can run the point when Eaton needs a breather, but he lacks the scoring threat that Little Fat Boy provides. Tyler Hatch is still on the team for some reason, still sucks, and still looks like Mr. Peepers.

What to look for

Obviously the number one concern for Texas in this one is to lock down the perimeter. Although the 10-7 record can be misleading, the Pokes have a ton of talent and can light it up from long range. The Horns also need to force turnovers and get transition buckets. Nothing will take the rowdy Gallagher-Iba crowd out of it faster than Damion James throwing down a monster dunk on the break.

This is definitely a game that Texas can lose, but hopefully the Horns can build some momentum in conference play by grabbing a win on the road. And for my own peace of mind, I hope they finally get over the hump in this nightmare of a gym.

It’s a new week, which means new polls debut this afternoon. And after the rash of upsets this past week, there is sure to be a ton of movement through the rankings. Twelve of the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 lost, including the unlucky folks at Texas A&M, Marquette, and Miami who all lost both of their games this week. A lot of the carnage happened just in front of the Longhorns, who will probably move up six slots to #13 this week. Of course, if voters decide to punish Vandy for their loss (despite the fact it came to the hottest one-loss team in the country) that could edge the Horns up even as far as 12th in this week’s ranking.

Bad news this weekend for K-State senior David Hoskins. The AP reports that his injury will now force him to miss the whole season, although he might apply for another year of eligibility according to Coach Frank Martin. I hope that Hoskins goes forward with the medical redshirt and gets his fifth year, but I also hope that Michael Beast-ly and Bill Walker are long gone by then, because I’m tired of losing to the ‘Cats at home.

I never linked up Luke Winn’s newest power rankings on Friday morning, so take a gander. Texas slipped out of the Top 16, although I have a feeling they’ll be crawling their way back in on Thursday. Butler finally cracked the Top 10, although they lost to Cleveland State the night that this was published. Oops.

My own blogpoll vote is due tonight, and the crazy weekend has certainly muddied the picture. I’m sticking with Kansas at #1 with Memphis a close second, and at the moment I like the red-hot Volunteers in third followed by Carolina, Duke, and UCLA. I’ve got fourteen hours in a car today to think about it all, and of course the Big Monday contests could make things even more confusing if Georgetown or Texas goes down. I’ll be posting my full ballot tomorrow and will try to justify any head-scratching selections, so be sure to come back and rip me to shreds if I Prothro the vote.

For the better part of 21 minutes last night, it seemed that the Texas team which has struggled through its last four-plus games was going to continue down the same path. Colorado found itself wide open for a ton of shots — many of them coming from behind the arc — while Damion James picked up two fouls in less than five minutes and sat for the rest of the first half.

But with the Buffaloes holding a 41-28 lead with only 19 minutes left in the game, the Longhorns were suddenly awakened. A.J. Abrams sparked a 24-2 run over the following eight minutes, and although Colorado slowly clawed back the rest of the way, Texas was able to coast to a 69-67 victory in front of a sold out Frank Erwin Center.

D.J. Augustin led all scorers with 25 points on the night, but struggled a bit in the final minutes of the game as Colorado turned up the defensive pressure. Levi Knutson and Richard Roby were especially stingy defenders against Augustin as Colorado submitted a last-minute comeback bid, but it was not enough.

Augustin’s counterpart in the backcourt also had a solid game, although the first half was a bit rough. Abrams had a quiet first 20 minutes, but kick-started the giant run that put Texas ahead for good. A.J. hit a three and followed it with an old-fashioned three-point play on the ensuing possession to trim the Colorado lead to five points, and the rest of the Horns followed suit. Abrams finished the night with 17 points and had a few key steals in the second half.

One of the biggest issues in the recent Texas slide was the absence of Connor Atchley from the stat sheet, but last night he made a reappearance at key moments. Atch had 15 points and five boards against Colorado, but most importantly didn’t seem afraid to shoot the three and stayed on the ground when the Buffs threw head fakes at him. If Texas is going to find success in the Big 12 and beyond, Connor will have to continue to play at this level.

The other missing Horn has been Justin Mason, and while his offense still looked shaky, his defense and all-around hustle were on display against Colorado. In the middle of the big second-half run, Jay Mase had a great rebound and putback, plus a block and deflected shot on two straight defensive possessions. In the post-game presser, Coach Barnes said that Justin’s solid play had earned him his starting spot again for Monday night’s game with Oklahoma State.

The man who now finds himself on the bench courtesy of that lineup move is Gary Johnson, who is still struggling in his adjustment to the college game. His conditioning may also be an issue, as just four minutes into last night’s game, GJ waved to the bench to ask for a breather. He did come back into the game later, so I’m certain it was not a scare with his heart.

The unfortunate truth is that Gary still looks a little lost out there. It’s tough for freshmen to make the leap, and for a fish coming right into the rigors of Big 12 play, it’s got to be even harder. Hopefully he’ll continue to develop into his role with the team, otherwise I see him as simply another guy being rotated inside along with Alexis Wangmene, Clint Chapman, and Dexter Pittman.

As previously mentioned, James sat for more than 15 minutes in the first half, and the Longhorns suffered. Against a much smaller Colorado team, the Horns found themselves out-hustled and out-boarded by a 17-12 count. In the second half, Texas controlled the boards by a 23-17 count, especially on the offensive glass. Without a doubt, the presence of DaMo inside was a huge reason why the Longhorns were able to come back.

Another key to the comeback was the stifling defense, which held Colorado without a field goal during that stretch. The only points the Buffs managed over the eight minutes came courtesy of two free throws, while they missed four more. The sellout crowd certainly helped things, as Colorado usually plays in front of less than 5,000 folks at home, and their only wins on the road came against Denver, Air Force, and Colorado State. Increased pressure from the Texas D plus 16,000 screaming orangebloods meant disaster for the Buffs, who burned through their timeouts with more than eleven minutes left in the game.

Although a home win is certainly a nice boost, and fighting through the huge deficit speaks volumes about the character of this team, there are still always negatives to pick out. Free throw shooting was still an adventure for the Horns, with a few of the misses coming late in the game and on the front end of one-and-ones. Perhaps fatigue is a factor in the late-game misses, but those types of hiccups in the tourney could spell the end of the season.

There is also the lingering concern about the finishing punch from Texas. In this one, the Horns were up ten points with a little less than five minutes to go and did not score again. We’ve seen the lack of focus in the second half many times throughout the season, including games against teams like North Texas, Rice, Oral Roberts, and TCU, and played poorly for long stretches in the second twenty of the Mizzou and Wisconsin losses. The Horns have really only put together one complete game since UCLA, and they will surely be tested for the full 40 minutes by a handful of teams the rest of the way. If they don’t bear down in the second half the rest of the season, a few more wins will slip away in the final minutes.

But rather than end this post-game with a doom-and-gloom feeling, I’ll direct your attention to Ian Mooney as we close. Although Mooney played only five minutes in this one, his time on the court was solid. His hustle kept alive a couple of rebounds during the run, and he had a great feed from the low post to set up Atchley for a jumper. Ian is clearly not the key to success for Texas, but if he plays like he did in his short stint last night, that’s a great sign for the Longhorn bench.

The next game is less than 24 hours away against Oklahoma State in the dangerous Gallagher-Iba Arena. Game preview will be up before we hit the road in the morning.

Just a quick hit early this morning to let you know that the Colorado post-game and a look at this crazy, upset-filled weekend will be coming later tonight. Until then, enjoy the football, and be sure to check out the Pac-10 match-up between Oregon and Washington State at 7 PM CST on FSN.