While Horns in the League will be a daily feature during the NBA’s regular season, the simple fact of the matter is that the preseason doesn’t matter. In a league where the playoffs are nearly as long as the interminable regular season, a few extra weeks of exhibitions seems a little excessive. But, hey. It means basketball starts a month earlier, and we certainly can’t complain about that. So between now and October 30th, HitL will only be updated on a weekly basis.

Last week

T.J. Ford took Europe by storm, averaging 25.3 minutes in the Raptors’ three exhibitions overseas. His highest scoring output came on Thursday, when he dropped 18 on Real Madrid. He also dished out eight assists in his 27 minutes of play that night, although Toronto fell short, 104-103. His 13.7 PPG average over the first three preseason games puts T.J. behind only Chris Bosh and big man Andrea Bargnani on the squad. Take that, Jose Calderon!

Royal Ivey has played in all three games with his new squad, the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s averaging 20 minutes per contest, which is a good sign as he fights for a spot on the 12-man roster. He is shooting a team-best 58.3% so far this preseason, and is also tied for the team lead with one steal per game.

Daniel Gibson leads the Eastern Conference Champion Cavaliers with his 27 MPG this preseason, and trails only LeBron with his three assists per game. D-Gib is scoring 9.7 points per contest during the exhibition games, but is only hitting his threes at a 40% clip, noticeably lower than the 99.9999999999999% he was shooting in last year’s playoffs.

LaMarcus Aldridge seems to be fully recuperated following his heart problems at the end of last season. He is playing 25 minutes per game so far for the Trailblazers, and his 15.5 PPG is second only to youngster Martell Webster, who is having an absolute breakout preseason in his third year. L.A. is also averaging seven boards per game so far, but has yet to record a block.

Kevin Durant has picked up where he left off at Texas, once again emerging as the star of a young team. K-Smoove’s Sonics are only 1-2 in preseason play, but he is averaging 16 PPG along with five rebounds. He is playing 27 minutes per game for Seattle so far, but will be counted on for many more minutes once the regular season kicks off.

The offseason was good for Maurice Evans, who struggled down the stretch in 2006-07 with injuries. He joined the Lakers on their recent Hawaiian exhibition tour, appearing off the bench in all five contests. Mo is only logging 16.4 MPG for the Lakers, but that is good enough for second among their reserves, while his five points per game leads all bench players.

Tuesday
Royal Ivey and the Bucks host Denver at 7 PM Central.

Wednesday
Orlando takes on Boobie Gibson and the Cavs live from China at 7 A.M. Central on ESPN2.

T.J. Ford and the Raptors host Zalgiris Kaunas, defending champions of the Lithuanian League, at 6 P.M. Central.

Thursday
Kevin Durant and Maurice Evans could potentially play head-to-head on national TV, making Aggie heads explode. Sonics at Lakers, 9 P.M. Central on TNT.

Friday
Da Bulls head north of the border to experience the domination of T.J. Ford first-hand. Tipoff in Toronto is at 6 P.M. Central, and the game will be televised locally by Comcast SportsNet in Chicago.

Out west, LaMarcus Aldridge and the Trailblazers host Sacramento at 9 P.M. This one is also televised locally, on Comcast SportsNet-West.

Rivals.com is reporting that Greg Monroe, the top-ranked prospect in the 2008 class, has committed to Georgetown.

PF Greg Monroe (Photo credit: AJ Mast)

Just two weeks ago, Monroe had narrowed his list of schools down to five, including UConn, Duke, LSU, and Texas. Although it had long been believed that Georgetown was leading the hunt, most observers thought Monroe was going to take all five visits. Sources say that Monroe was originally scheduled to visit Texas this upcoming weekend.

Monroe apparently saw all that he needed to on Friday night at the Hoyas’ midnight madness. Fans lined up around the Washington, D.C. campus all day in order to secure the best seats. Once inside, they were treated to an unveiling of the newest Final Four banner and the hanging of recent alumnus Jeff Green’s Seattle SuperSonics jersey alongside other Hoya greats. Even Jerry Rice was in attendance, and danced to Soulja Boy at midcourt with Patrick Ewing, Jr.

This leaves Texas with a decidedly thin list of prospects for the current recruiting class. J’Covan Brown — who was in attendance at last season’s Texas A&M game — has yet to commit, although sources feel he is the closest thing the Horns have to a lock at this point. Jeff Taylor, Jr., who visited two weeks ago, is also still considering Texas.

But the biggest prize still on the table is Tyreke Evans, the Pennsylvania point guard who sources say will visit the Forty Acres the weekend of November 2nd. At 6-foot, 5-inches, Evans would add some much needed height to the Texas backcourt, and would also fill the vacancy at the 1 if D.J. Augustin declares for next summer’s draft. Early news claimed that Villanova and Louisville were leading the charge for Evans, but family members have denied those reports.

For now, the loss of Monroe is not a huge blow, as many felt his signing with Texas was nothing but a pipe dream. However, big commits are being scored every day across the country, and the Longhorns have yet to land one.

It’s 7 o’clock on the east coast, which means that college basketball is officially upon us. At campuses from Chapel Hill to Storrs, passionate fans have filled arenas just to see the first practice of the season. Texas has not taken part in the “Midnight Madness” in many years — although that temporal name is really no longer appropriate considering the new rules — but the Horns will still be hitting the court in Denton Cooley Pavillion for a team workout. However, the Aggies will be embracing the festivities just one hour from now. And Soulja Boy will be in the house, reminding all the white-bred Ags of College Station to “Crank That.” Ought to be interesting.

Get ready, hoop-heads. Basketball is back.

While tickets are already on sale for the Michigan State and Rice games in Detroit and Houston, fans have still been in the dark about when they can secure their seats for the Legends Classic and UCLA game. But thanks to LRT, Longhorn fans will wait no longer. That’s right, folks. We’ve got your info……sort of.

Tickets for the two Legends Classic games in Newark will go on sale this Thursday, October 11th. The games will be played at the brand new Prudential Center, which means it’s been difficult to find anything resembling a reliable seating diagram. A call to the box office has confirmed that there will be three price levels per ticket, allowing fans to buy them at 53, 23, and 12 dollars. No confirmation as to whether or not there’s a service charge for that new-arena smell.

The UCLA game being played in December at Pauley Pavilion is a little more dicey. Bruins season tickets have been on sale for months, and recently “holiday packs” were put on sale to get fans into the upper-deck seats for games later in December. Now we learn that all non-conference single game tickets will go on sale October 17th — except for the Texas game.

Box office reps couldn’t give me a sale date for the December 2nd game (or the Pac-10 Conference games for the Bruins), but they were fairly certain that the only seats available would be upstairs. So, if you’re planning on sitting in the lower levels for the UCLA game, you may want to start scouring the web. And if you’d like to buy through LRT-sponsor Ticket City, leave us a comment or shoot an email if you would like to help us get a cut. I have no shame in my internet whoring.

More info to come later this month on those UCLA tickets through the school, but in the meantime snap up your seats for Rice, Michigan State, and the Legends Classic. And if you want to hook up with the LRT crew anywhere on the road this season, just let us know.

While the eyes of Texas are locked on Dallas this weekend, the NBA is firing up its pre-season slate with a trio of games in Europe.

T.J. Ford and the Toronto Raptors open play against the new-look Boston Celtics in Rome on Saturday night. Tip-off is 1:30 PM Central, and will offer fans their first glimpse of the C’s with big man Kevin Garnett. Fans in the States who want to catch a little roundball instead of pigskin can tune in on NBA TV.

The Raps follow their NBA pre-season opener with an international clash against Lottomatica Roma on Sunday. The host Italian team includes former Villanova guard Allan Ray, who spent some time with the Austin Toros of the NBDL. While this match-up won’t be televised in the US, fans can check stats on NBA.com when the contest tips at 11:30 AM Central.