Today I am really excited to finally unveil a new feature here on the site. I’ve mentioned in some previous posts that I have been fooling around with the Google Maps API in order to give you an easier way to navigate the content from all of my trips. I think I have finally gotten the finished product to a point that I am comfortable with showing the public. That finished product is, of course, the map you see below.

Each city I have visited is represented by a basketball, which you can click to open an info bubble for each trip. There you will find links to the previews and wrap-ups from each game, along with the photos and blogs from each city. As I continue to add more pictures and blog entries from past trips, I will update the links in the map.

There is a slight delay between clicking a link in an info bubble and the new page replacing the current one. I’m not sure if there’s any way around that, since I am forced to use IFRAMEs in order to work around the way WordPress sets up directories. If any of you out there are more technologically inclined than yours truly, feel free to leave ideas in the comments section or shoot me an email.

While this map will slide further down the main page as I write more entries, you can still easily find it every time you visit by clicking on the brand new “Map” link in the grey navigation bar up top.

Jayhawk preview coming at you either later this morning from Austin or late, late, late tonight from the outskirts of Kansas City.

Edit: Apparently there is only one basketball showing up for users who have Internet Explorer. I’m not sure what is causing this and I likely won’t fix it before I leave for Kansas. But hey, isn’t this a great opportunity to finally download Firefox like you’ve been meaning to?

Damion James had his best game of the year, scoring 22 points

Three weeks ago, the Longhorns lost in College Station to a red-hot Texas A&M team who had just defeated Kansas on the road only two days prior. In the locker room, Coach Rick Barnes told his team that they could still win the league — but they’d have to play defense. Since then, they have run off six straight wins and find themselves playing for a share of the league crown on Saturday night in Lawrence.

The sixth of those consecutive wins came last night in Austin against those same Aggies. The Longhorns (22-7 overall, 12-3 Big 12) fed off of a raucous, capacity crowd to hold off repeated comeback bids by Texas A&M and secure a double-overtime victory, 98-96.

The game was back-and-forth for much of the first half until Kevin Durant hit a three to put the Horns up 28-27. Texas was able to extend the lead before the break, although the Aggies kept themselves within arm’s reach at all times. Although the Longhorns couldn’t hit free throws and were brutally outrebounded in the first half — at one point, Texas A&M held a 21-9 advantage — they did hold Acie Law to only one field goal in the first twenty minutes.

Coming out of the locker room, the Longhorns were able to push their advantage to 11 points before Texas A&M mounted a massive comeback. Over the next eight minutes, the Aggies outscored the Horns 23-5 to go ahead by seven. But despite their youth, the Longhorns showed resiliency and resolve in quickly fighting back and reclaiming the lead with six minutes to play.

The homestretch was again a back-and-forth affair, but the game looked to be over after Kevin Durant hit an NBA-range three-pointer for a 76-72 lead with only 16 seconds left. But after a Dominique Kirk three and a pair of free throws from D.J. Augustin, it was Mr. Clutch, Acie Law IV, who hit the three to send it to overtime.

It wasn’t his only heroic act on the night, as Law again knocked down a game-tying three at the end of the first overtime to force another five minutes of basketball. And just as in regulation and the first overtime, it looked like the Aggies might mount another incredible comeback in the second OT. But with the Horns up three and only eleven seconds remaining, Antanas Kavaliauskas elected to take the layup instead of kick it to Law behind the arc. Kevin Durant knocked down both free throws on the ensuing foul, leaving the Aggies with five seconds and a three-point deficit.

At the end of regulation, Rick Barnes had told the team to foul Law before he could get a three off. Durant refused to do so, and Law hit the game-tying shot. But in double overtime, Texas finally listened. D.J. Augustin practically tackled Law at the top of the key, leaving the Ags with a one-and-one and only a second remaining. Law sunk the first, but was forced to miss the second. Bench-warmer Chinemelu Elonu grabbed the rebound, but was unable to tip it in for another tie, and the Longhorns escaped with a hard-fought, emotional victory.

Damion James had the game of his life, scoring 22 points, knocking down clutch free throws, grabbing nine boards, and coming up with a huge block at the end of regulation. He did have a lane violation in overtime that negated what would’ve been the game-winning point, but without him the Longhorns wouldn’t have even been in that position. With or without Kevin Durant, next year James is going to be a breakout star.

Durant turned in yet another superstar performance while making it look like just another day on the job. He played 49 of the game’s 50 minutes, dropping in 30 and grabbing 16 rebounds on a night where the Horns needed every board they could get. Defensively, he even added three blocks and a steal to help the cause.

Although he was the second-best point guard on the floor last night, D.J. Augustin still gave another all-conference performance. He earned 25 points and seven assists, and turned in a ton of flashy layups against a defense that is among the best in the country. He knew when to attack the rim and when to pull it back out, as his miniscule turnover total of two attests. Shit, that was all kinds of alliteration.

It was an electric, emotional night in the Drum. I’ve seen sellout crowds in my time on the Forty Acres, and I’ve seen some big wins. But I have never seen a packed arena that was so rowdy and into the game. The alumni along the sidelines stood for a majority of the first half, the last five minutes of regulation, and both of the overtimes. Even as the game dragged on and both players and fans tired, the students still jumped and screamed on defense. It was big-time college basketball, and finally the Frank Erwin Center had the atmosphere to match it.

Now the Horns must make a quick turnaround as they face their toughest task to date. A well-rested Kansas team awaits in Lawrence for a painfully early tip-time of 11 A.M. on Saturday. Texas gets only 60 hours to recuperate and prepare, so we can only hope we don’t get a repeat of the flat performance we saw in Philadelphia following a triple-overtime game in Stillwater.

Regardless, this Longhorn team now owns the signature win that its NCAA resumé sorely lacked. Last night’s win has to assure them of at least a 6-seed in the Big Dance. And as hot as they are right now, who knows where the ceiling is.

Texas A&M (24-4 overall, 12-2 Big 12)comes to town tonight to face the Longhorns in a game that both must win in order to keep themselves in the mix for the conference title. Add that bit of drama to the passion always attached to this rivalry, and the Drum is bound to be absolutely electric. Can you remember the last time there was this much excitement about a basketball game with the Aggies? This newfound rivalry is nothing but great for basketball in the state of Texas, and the energy surrounding this game is contangious.

If you don’t recall what happened last time out, this handy-dandy link should help refresh your memory. Texas hung with the Aggies for 30-35 minutes by attacking the rim and getting to the line. In the end, A&M pulled away with a ton of offensive rebounds and fast-break points against a Texas team that looked like it had hit the wall.

The key players for the Ags are Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas in the paint and Acie Law IVXCLMIIX at the point. For a more detailed rundown on the team, you can check out the game preview from the first match-up.

While these three are the most reliable stars for Coach Billy Gillispie, all of his players are scoring threats and he even gets quality contributions from the bench. To stop Texas A&M, it’s really a game of pick your poison. Work too hard on guarding the perimeter, and AK and Jones will destroy you inside. Pack the lane, and the Ags will shoot right over the Horns. Fortunately, A&M does not often grab their offensive rebounds, so Texas will need to corrall those misses and limit the Aggie possessions to one-and-done.

On the offensive end, the Horns need to continue with what worked in College Station. Namely, attack the rim and draw the fouls that come with A&M’s aggressive defensive style. It’d also be great to keep knocking down the free throws that gets you, something the Horns had a hard time doing in the second half in College Station. Of course, they shot something like 99.9999999% at the line in the first half, so it really was just the law of averages setting in.

In the second half of the first game, Texas A&M sagged their zone and dared the Horns to shoot over it. Too often, Texas obliged and went away from what had worked so well for them. I would not be surprised to see Gillispie utilize the same defensive scheme tonight. It’s key that Texas not fall into the trap a second time.

I’m not holding out a whole lot of hope for a victory tonight, but I would love to be proven wrong. I had the same sinking feelings before we headed to the neutral-site game against LSU, and that turned out well. Of course, A&M is a much stronger team than the Tigers and are ridiculously good on both sides of the ball. Fortunately, the crowd should be fired up tonight and the Erwin Center uncharacteristically deafening. Hopefully that means the home-court advantage will come into play. We’ll find out at 8 P.M. tonight.

There’s only four days left in the Big 12 regular season — six if you count that pointless Monday night make-up between OSU and Nebraska — which means the post-season picture is getting a bit clearer. Thanks to the Oklahoma State win over K-State last night, Texas is now guaranteed to finish no worse than third place and of course will enjoy a first-round bye in Oklahoma City.

As we all know, tonight Texas takes on the rival Texas A&M Aggies at 8 P.M.in Austin. Later today I’ll bring you a re-preview of this very talented Aggie team. But for now, let’s look ahead at the games left on the conference slate that can affect the Horns.

Wednesday, 8 P.M. – Texas A&M (12-2) at Texas (11-3)

Saturday, 11 A.M. – Texas (11-3) at Kansas (13-2)
Saturday, 3 P.M. – Missouri (6-8) at Texas A&M (12-2)

Although it’s a heck of an uphill battle, the Longhorns do control their own destiny. If they win both of their remaining games, they will force a tie for first place, which results in a co-championship. But for the sake of seeding in Oklahoma City, the Horns would come out with the 1-seed. They would own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Jayhawks, while that same criteria would be a split between A&M and the Longhorns. In that case, the tie would move on to divisional record, which the Longhorns would win thanks to an 8-2 mark against the “south.”

Besides that longshot to claim the top spot in the post-season tournament, all permutations but one would put Texas squarely on the 3-seed line. However, if the Longhorns win tonight against A&M, but lose to Kansas, there is still a slim chance they could earn a 2-seed. That’s because if Missouri were to then upset the Aggies on Saturday, both the Horns and Ags would finish with 12-4 marks. Once again their head-to-head marks would be split, while Texas would have eight “south” wins to A&M’s seven.

To recap in concise, easy-to-read equations:

Defeat A&M + defeat Kansas = 1 seed
Defeat A&M + lose to Kansas + Aggies lose to Mizzou = 2 seed
Everything else = 3 seed

For those of you planning ahead to travel or watch the Longhorns next Friday, this means that Texas will most likely be playing in the nightcap at 8:20 P.M., which actually ends up being roughly 30 minutes after the 6 P.M. game finishes. If the Horns somehow pull off the miracle and the 1-seed, they would open on Friday morning at 11:30 A.M. And that reeeeeeally unlikely 2-seed scenario would result in the 6 P.M. game.

So now that you know our Friday possibilities, who’s joining me in Oklahoma City? Anybody? Bueller?

A&M re-preview coming at you later this morning.

Booing was a favorite fan activity in Norman on Saturday (Photo: G. Austin)

Road games are never easy, and the crowds never friendly. But the Oklahoma Sooners and their fans took things to a whole new level on Saturday, as Coach Jeff Capel earned a technical foul and a fan threw a cell phone across the court. Yet despite the hostile environment and a second half in which they shot only 14 percent, the Longhorns were still able to earn a 68-58 victory in Norman.

Texas (21-7 overall, 11-3 Big 12) came out firing and jumped to a quick 9-0 lead. In the first half, the Horns hit a ridiculous 8-of-13 shots from behind the arc, while Kevin Durant had 19 points in the first twenty minutes. They led by ten to fifteen for most of the half and headed to the locker room with a 41-28 advantage.

The second half was a completely different story. The game was bogged down on both ends by a lot of whistles, although Texas was fortunate enough to draw most of their fouls in shooting situations. The Horns did not even make their first field goal until almost twelve minutes had elapsed in the second half. It was one of only two baskets they would get in the entire twenty minutes.

Instead, the Longhorns made all of their second half points at the line. They took 30 free throws in the second stanza, sinking 22 of them. Texas was in the bonus with over 12 minutes left in the half, and Sooner fans were growing restless. Boos rained down from the half-empty seats. Jeff Capel was throwing tantrums on the sideline. Then, with the Sooners chipping away at the lead, their coach ultimately killed any building momentum by picking up the technical foul on a missed 10-second violation. The Horns sunk their free throws and rebuilt the lead.

Later, with a little over five minutes on the clock, a Sooner fan threw their cell phone across the court as Connor Atchley prepared to shoot free throws. He missed both, perhaps because he was a little jumpy. A boot or a soda could’ve come flying towards him at any moment, after all. Or maybe the keys to a trailer.

In the end, it was an ugly game that was painful to watch. The Horns spent a lot of time standing around in the second half hoping that D.J. Augustin or Durant were going to create some offense. But the adjusted Sooner defense seemed content to play physically and not allow our players to reach the rack. So as the fouls mounted up and the Horns padded the lead, many Texas fans may have overlooked the fact that three-fifths of the team were just holding down the floor.

In the big picture, this is a huge win for seeding — not only in the conference tournament but the NCAAs as well. Personally, I’d rather put it in the rearview and not think about it for a while. If the Horns continue their second-half offensive woes on Wednesday night, it’ll be a long, long game. But if the Saturday first-half team is the one that shows up, an upset is certainly possible.

Tomorrow night I’ll bring you the last Big 12 update of the year, focusing on the top four teams.