I finally graduate in about nine hours, which means that I’ll be missing a lot of great hoops action this afternoon. But the good thing about a noon ceremony is that it leaves enough time afterwards to travel to Houston for the Rice game, which tips at 7 P.M. tonight.

And speaking of the Rice game, two people out of the eleven in our group will no longer be able to make the trip. They are really great seats only four rows up from the baseline beside the Texas bench, and I’m being asked to try to resell them at face ($16 each). If you’re interested, leave me a comment with your phone number as they are moderated and will not be made public. I leave town at 3ish, so that will have to be the cut-off.

Not much going on in NCAA hoops last night, but UTA won on a running jumper with 6.3 seconds at Wichita State to move to 8-0 on the season. The Mavs are one of only 17 undefeated teams left in Division I hoops, and are certainly one of the most surprising ones. In the other game of interest to Texas fans, UC-Davis was embarrassed at home by Oregon State, 73-59.

Today the television is full of quality hoops action. Arizona kicks things off at Illinois (11 AM CST, ESPN), while Duke hosts Michigan and new coach John Beilein (1 PM, CBS). Duke will roll, but it’s a chance to see how Beilein’s style translates to a new, troubled team. DePaul faces Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse with Brandon Rush on the court (1 PM, ESPN), with Pitt and Washington tipping just an hour later way out west (2 PM, FSN). Kentucky also faces IU (3 PM, CBS), Purdue travels to Mizzou (3 PM, ESPN2), and Texas A&M hosts Texas State (7 PM, FSN). But perhaps the most interesting televised matchup of the day is the grudge match between Marquette and Wisconsin, airing at 5 PM on ESPN2.

Some more games of note not on TV today: Michigan State faces their last real test before Texas when they travel to BYU (3 PM CST) and Colorado looks for a road win in Wyoming (3 PM). While I mentioned that UTA was one of the most surprising undefeated teams remaining, the other two shockers are Ole Miss and Sam Houston State. Both are in action today, with the Bearkats facing Ian Mooney’s old school, St. Louis (7 PM) and the Rebs traveling to Central Florida (6 PM).

If you’re going to that Texas/Rice tilt and want to catch some high school hoops action, your ticket also gets you into a doubleheader starting at 1 P.M. Fans can get a preview of some future Big 12 action when two class of ’08 recruits face off in the first game. Baylor commit Anthony Jones plays for Yates, who will square off with Texas verbal commit J’Covan Brown and his Port Arthur Memorial team. The second half of the high-school doubleheader features Madison against Duncanville and highly-touted ’09 prospect Shawn Williams.

While it’s not basketball, the fantastic Texas volleyball team will be televised in their Elite Eight match against USC at 3 PM CST on ESPNU. And if talented girls in spandex beating the crap out of the Trojans isn’t enough to entice you, then I’m just not sure what else I can throw out.

There’s disappointing news today coming out of Lawrence, Kansas, where Brandon Rush was arrested yesterday for failing to appear in court. He had two separate traffic incidents in October of this year and December of 2006 which led to charges for speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road, having no proof of insurance, and driving with a suspended license. After posting $500 bond, he was released from custody.

Clearly the kid thinks he is above the law, and maybe this will slap a little bit of sense into him. I highly doubt it, though, and that’s why I’m incredibly disappointed in Bill Self’s decision to not suspend Rush. Do I think this incident is actually worth a full suspension? Probably not. But the alternatives — keeping him out of the starting lineup or sitting him for a half — really won’t make much of an impact with the way his year is going. Rush hasn’t been starting thanks to the injury he suffered this summer and is only averaging 22 minutes per game since he rejoined the team. It’s not like they are going to lose to DePaul without him; the Blue Demons lost to North Carolina AT&T, after all.

If you think back to 2006, you might remember another traffic incident involving a Jayhawk under Self’s watch. Senior guard Jeff Hawkins had the munchies one night, and decided to drive to the McDonald’s for some food. But he just couldn’t wait in that long drive-thru line, so he thought he’d try to cut ahead. After hitting another car, he sped off and was ultimately suspended one game — against Baylor. Personally, I think the four charges against Rush plus failure to appear is a little bit worse than leaving the scene of a car accident. Yet Hawkins was suspended a game while nothing will happen to the future NBA pick. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Hawkins was a reserve guard who only averaged 19 minutes per game that year, while Rush is a star on this loaded Kansas squad?

Brandon Rush is only back in Lawrence because he hurt his knee. Without that poorly timed injury, he’s playing on an NBA team right now. I’m sure he feels that college and even NCAA basketball are beneath him, and that he’s just wasting some time until he hears his name called next June and starts cashing the checks. The apology he made today smacks of half-heartedness as he blames a mix-up in dates. Could his license have been suspended because he never cleared up the charges from his traffic stop twelve months ago? That oversight takes a little more than a mix-up in dates, don’t you think?

I realize Texas fans don’t have much room to talk thanks to the moronic football players who decided to get arrested 793 times this offseason. But the Longhorn basketball program has always run things the right way, while Bill Self doesn’t really seem to care. I’m not asking the guy to suspend a star player for a post-season game or even a conference one. But the message that he’s sending to Brandon Rush is just reinforcing the kid’s warped worldview — he’s already a big star, and Lawrence is just small potatoes.

John Brady and the LSU Tigers held a 20-point lead with 8:51 to play last night…and still ended up losing to Villanova, 68-67. After seeing Brady’s talented teams come up short again and again the last two years, I still wonder how they overcame his ineptitude to beat Texas in the 2006 Elite Eight.

No Pete Campbell, no problem for Butler. The Bulldogs stayed perfect and grabbed their first conference win last night, taking out Detroit on the road, 53-46.

Some of you may have already discovered this (or have even come to this website thanks to the coverage), but I was featured in a Q&A by San Antonio Express-News sports columnist Lorne Chan. You can check out the article in his appropriately titled Chanifesto.

Lute Olson announced today that he won’t be returning to the Arizona bench this season. Olson does plan to patrol the sidelines again next year, and Kevin O’Neill will continue his duties as interim coach. Later in the day, news outlets began announcing that Coach Olson had filed for divorce from his second wife. The two stories may be connected or his “personal issues” could turn out to be something completely different, but in all honesty, it’s nobody’s business but Lute Olson’s. We wish him the best in the meantime and look forward to seeing him in action again soon.

There’s pretty much nothing on TV tonight, even for those with the ESPN Full Court package. Despite that, there are still a couple of games of local interest which will be worth score-checking in the morning. UC-Davis hosts Oregon State in a matchup that will have a slight impact on the Texas RPI, while undefeated UT-Arlington faces their biggest test yet in a road game against Wichita State.

Texas moved up to 3rd in the latest Ken Pomeroy RPI approximations after thumping North Texas last night, just one slot behind St. Mary’s, who the Longhorns face on January 5th. With Michigan State (19th) still looming and the Big 12 sporting the third-best conference RPI, that final SOS should be looking mighty solid for Texas.

In meaningless polling news, Texas also ascended to 2nd in this week’s Power 16 at ESPN.com. These rankings are so pointless, I don’t even have a follow-up sentence.

The Big 12 had fun with some creampuffs last night. Oklahoma State handled a fiesty Texas A&M Corpus Christi squad 60-46, while their rivals from Norman crushed Tulsa by 26. Kansas got in some worthwhile practice against Eastern Washington, cruising to an easy 85-47 win. The most lopsided win of the night came from Texas Tech, however, who demolished Lousiana Tech by an 86-31 count. Iowa State fell on the road to Drake, 79-44, while Nebraska lost in overtime to a solid Western Kentucky team, 69-62.

Tonight’s TV lineup leaves a bit to be desired, with LSU/Villanova being the “highlight” at 8:30 PM CST (ESPN). South Carolina and Providence play a little earlier on the Deuce, tipping at 6 PM CST. And on ESPNU, there’s a mind-numbing matchup between Jacksonville State and Samford, two teams with a combined 4-9 record. It’s faaaaantastic!

The lack of good hoops on the tube gives you all the more reason to tune in to Longhorn Sportsline with Coach Barnes at 7 PM CT tonight. It broadcasts live from the brand new Pluckers location in West Campus, so if you’re in the Austin area and haven’t been by the new digs, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Thursdays are usually Mexican night at Pluckers, meaning specials on Tecate, margaritas and other booze that I’m forgetting. So swing on by, have a few drinks, and chat hoops with Rick. And if you’re elsewhere in Texas but want to tune in, take a gander at the affiliate list from TexasSports.com.

The Texas Longhorns return home following a monumental victory over UCLA on Sunday, now sitting at fourth in the AP Poll and fifth in the Coaches Poll. Beginning tonight, they settle into an easier two-week stretch of the schedule, although this crop of non-conference opponents isn’t filled with as many patsies as in years past.

North Texas is one of those stronger mid-major teams that Coach Barnes scheduled this year, and they comes to town just a few months after earning their second NCAA berth in school history. The Mean Green has an experienced roster with five seniors and four juniors, all who are looking to go dancing again this March. When you couple that seasoned squad with the fact that Texas historically comes out flat following big games, this is the recipe for a dangerous game. Let’s hope Rick has them fired up.

By the numbers

North Texas will provide another boost to the strong Longhorn SOS, as they come into this one ranked 19th in Ken Pomeroy’s RPI approximations. After defeating UCLA, the Longhorns moved up to 5th in those same rankings, with their schedule slotted as 34th-toughest in the nation.

UNT has two wins over D-2 schools that won’t be on their resumé come Selection Sunday. They did beat Oklahoma State at home early in the season, and defeated New Mexico State last week on the road in Las Cruces. That victory over the Aggies was the largest comeback win in school history, as the Mean Green overcame a 21-point deficit.

North Texas plays an up-tempo style of ball, as indicated by their 20th-ranked possession numbers. They average 76.1 possessions per game, which is much faster than nearly every team the Longhorns have played this year. Only Tennessee is in the same neighborhood, with 76.6 per game.

The starters

The Mean Green are led in scoring by Josh White, a guard who has started all six games as only a freshman. On a team that generally shoots very poorly from behind the arc, White is one of the few weapons from long range. He is hitting at over 52% from three-point range and gets to the line an average of six times per game.

At only 5’10”, White won’t have the height advantage that most guards do against the Horns, so he will likely have to try to use his speed to beat Abrams, Mason, or Augustin off the dribble. And when you consider that he has 18 turnovers compared to only four assists, the Texas backcourt could certainly force some errors from this guy.

Big man Keith Wooden is already making an impact after transferring from Arizona State. He is third on the team in scoring with twelve points per game and is second on the glass with five boards per contest. Checking in at 6’9″ and 245 pounds, he’s a bit thicker than most of the Longhorn post players, but on Sunday they proved themselves as adept rebounders against bigger, stronger opponents.

Quincy Williams is the other senior forward for Coach Johnny Jones. He leads the team in rebounding, including a 19-board night against the Indiana State Sycamores. He is especially strong on the offensive glass, but is prone to turnovers and has been absolutely abysmal from the line so far this year. Judging from his numbers and size, one would expect him to be matched up with Damion James, who is really hitting his stride lately. This should be an excellent battle on the glass.

At the point, senior Ben Bell is a calm and collected leader. He holds a 2.75:1 assist-to-turnover ratio so far, but is struggling from the floor. He is averaging only six points per game on 28% shooting, including an awful 1-for-12 start from behind the arc. It will be interesting to see how the experienced guard handles the Texas pressure.

The third starting guard for the Mean Green is Tristan Thompson. A teammate of Dogus Balbay at Brewster Academy, Thompson is averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG. For a guard, it is troubling that he has more turnovers (7) than assists (5), but those numbers certainly look good for the transition-minded Longhorns. If they can rattle this guy into a fair number of turnovers, the fast break points should follow.

Key reserves

Collin Dennis is the second-leading scorer on the team, despite not starting a single game. The junior guard transferred to UNT from South Florida after his freshman season, and has immediately made an impact in Denton. He is hitting at a 53% clip from behind the arc and is averaging just shy of 15 points per game.

Another transfer for Coach Jones is guard Dez Willingham, who came to the Mean Green from SMU. Willingham is generally a poor shooter, but is often relied upon to relieve Bell at the point. At only 6’0″, he will be a good matchup for the short Texas backcourt.

What to look for

Expect an exciting track meet where the Texas transition game gets a chance to shine. The Mean Green are a better defensive team than most up-tempo squads, so the Longhorns will need to make their possessions count. Of course, if Texas returns to its lights-out shooting from three-point range, they could put this one away early.

After proving themselves against a much larger UCLA team, the Longhorns look to maintain their presence on the glass in this game. North Texas is outrebounding their opponents by roughly nine boards per contest, so this won’t be a walk in the park for the Longhorn frontcourt. Will they take a step backwards or win another war on the glass?

Keep an eye on the minutes for freshmen Clint Chapman and Alexis Wangmene. Both played a good chunk on Sunday, and Chapman had a particularly gutsy performance. Dexter Pittman will not likely see much time in this high-tempo game, so look to see what the freshman forwards can do in their time on the floor.

The big finish

Tonight’s game is on FSN only in the state of Texas, and not in the Dallas or Houston markets. Elsewhere, the game can be seen on the ESPN Full Court package.

For those folks in Austin, free admission can be gained simply by donating a new, unwrapped toy to the Orange Santa program. The free seats are in the general admission section, but since this is the last week of classes and many students are busy with tests and papers, those GA seats could get you into the upper reaches of the sections behind the baskets.

So grab a Cabbage Patch Doll or whatever the kids are playing with these days and come on out to the Erwin Center. We’ll save you a seat.