Buenos días, readers. This morning, I’ve got three new photo galleries up for you to peruse — Houston, Stillwater, and Lincoln. After I get the Tech re-preview posted, I’ll get back to the rest of the photo galleries and hopefully get them all knocked out before the OU trip this weekend.

The Google Maps feature is coming along quite nicely and should also be ready to roll once the last photo gallery is posted. That will make it a lot easier to find all of the content that’s spread out across the site in an easy-to-navigate map.

Then all that’s left is to finish updating the trip blogs. (Phoenix was posted on Friday night, for those of you who may have missed it over the weekend.) If all goes according to plan, everything should be up-to-date and all of the bells and whistles functional before conference play is over. Which sets us up quite nicely for all of the tournament action, of course.

Can you smell that? March is right around the corner.

There’s only four games left for each team in the conference race — five for the Cowpokes and Cornhuskers, who were iced out back in January — which means that the final picture is slowly coming into focus. Thanks to losses this weekend by both Oklahoma schools, the Longhorns are now three games ahead of the fifth place teams.

Here, for your convenience, are the teams that still matter to the “bye race.”

If you want to think of it in another way, the “magic number” for a Texas first-round bye is only two. Any combination of wins by the Longhorns or losses by the fifth-place team will seal a bye. So if the Horns win both games this week, they’ll be guaranteed an extra day of rest in Oklahoma City for the tournament. And if they happen to split this week’s schedule, they’ll be ohsoclose to locking up that bye.

Here’s a look at the week ahead for the other six teams…

Kansas – at Kansas State (Monday), vs. Iowa State (Saturday)
The Jayhawks face a small challenge against an up-and-coming Wildcat team in their house. If they can get through tonight with a win, they should be sitting pretty at 12-2 heading into the final week.

Texas A&M – at Oklahoma State (Wednesday), vs. Baylor (Saturday)
Like Kansas, A&M is opening the week with a solid road test. The Cowboys have been reeling lately, although their incredibly loud arena really gets hopping for the big games. Texas A&M should also be 12-2 next Monday if they take care of their road game.

Kansas State – vs. Kansas (Monday), at Colorado (Saturday)
K-State could be on the verge of a huge week for their team, or simply a ho-hum split. Either scenario helps immensely in their quest for a first-round bye, but a win over Kansas would have to make them feel safer on Selection Sunday.

Texas Tech – at Texas (Tuesday), vs. Oklahoma State (Saturday)
Tech needs to keep winning to prevent their NCAA hopes from withering away. A tough road win in Austin could not only help them in the Big 12 race, but also pad their upset-filled resumé. The Cowpokes are horrible on the road, so Tech should be 8-6 or 7-7 at the end of the week.

Oklahoma – at Missouri (Tuesday), vs. Texas (Saturday)
Mizzou is a middle-of-the-pack club that can hurt a team when they are hitting on all cylinders. The Saturday contest with Texas is sure to be a hate-filled one in front of the rabid, toothless fans of Lloyd-Noble. This is a make-or-break week for the Sooners, as they could easily win each game, but just as easily fall flat on their faces.

Oklahoma State – vs. Texas A&M (Wednesday), at Texas Tech (Saturday)
Judgement day is fast approaching for OSU, a team once considered a lock for the NCAA tournament. They are absolutely abysmal on the road, so it’s a safe assumption to chalk up a loss in Lubbock on Saturday. That means defending the home court against the Aggies is key.

Texas survived a last-minute comeback by Baylor

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. Connor Atchley owns the Bears. The same Connor Atchley who would induce fan cringing every time he came into the game last year. Now he’s playing well enough that many of those same fans experienced that same kind of worry last night when Atchley limped off the court late in the game. Ladies and gentleman, your most improved player for 2006-07 is Connor Freakin Atchley.

The Longhorns (19-7 overall, 9-3 Big 12) once again struggled against Baylor (12-13, 2-10), needing a second-half surge to secure a 68-67 victory. And just as in the victory back in Austin, the key to the UT run came in the form of a tall, lanky white guy wearing number 32. Atchley hustled all over the floor, scoring a career-high 15 points and pulling down eight rebounds. He was even credited with two steals and another block — his 14th straight game with at least one — and continued to set the best screens on the court for the Horns.

Time and again, Atchley came free on the low blocks for easy dunks. And on Kevin Durant’s second-worst shooting night, it was refreshing to see another Longhorn moving without the ball to create some offense. Between Damion James’ easy layups against OSU and Atchley’s dunks last night, it looks like the Horns are finally getting some consistent scoring from the frontcourt.

Despite Durant’s tough night from the field (5-for-16), he kept Texas on the scoreboard by getting to the line repeatedly in the second half. He shot 90% at the line on ten attempts and grabbed just about every 50/50 ball that came loose. KD’s fourteen boards gave him his 16th double-double on the year and ninth in twelve conference games.

Unfortunately, the thing most Texas fans will remember about this game was the near-meltdown in the final minutes. But while Texas gave up the lead and ultimately lost to Tennessee in a similar fashion back in December, this time the Horns were able to escape with a road win.

Up 68-60 with 1:40 to play, the Horns missed four free throws, turned the ball over twice, and allowed the Bears a final 11-second possession to win. Without any timeouts, Baylor wasn’t able to draw up a play and the final shot was an awkward, desperate one thrown up by St. Michael’s grad Mark Shepherd. And when you’ve got a former teammate of Ian Mooney wrist-flicking a 17-footer at the last second, the odds are against the miracle bucket.

Once again, Texas allowed far too many open looks from behind the arc. This happened most often against the 2-3 zone, as the threes made against our man defense was often the result of a jab step giving the shooter just enough breathing room to get it off. I’ll take those threes any day — although not biting so hard on fakes does remain an area to improve for the Horns — as opposed to failing to get out on shooters in the zone.

Fortunately, it now seems that Barnes is committed to running a man defense more often, utilizing the zone when the personnel on the court requires it or he’s trying to protect Augustin or Durant from foul trouble. I’m a huge fan of this defensive mix, and hope to see it continue the rest of the year.

Most importantly for Texas, this win gives them 19 on the year with four games to play. While all of the remaining games could easily show up in the loss column, it seems that the first three are also winnable. I’ll look at the road ahead in my conference breakdown tomorrow, but it’s not hyperbole to say that this was a “must-win” game. The Horns are now just steps away from a dance ticket in March, and possibly even a chance to play themselves above that dreaded 8/9 seed range.

Next game is Tuesday at the Drum against Tech, but in the meantime we’ll have more new stuff here at Longhorn Road Trip. Three weeks to Selection Sunday!

While this post is appearing on the website at 10 A.M., I’m actually at work pulling the five-to-noon shift before heading up to Waco. Isn’t technology great?

In case you missed it, my Baylor re-preview went up yesterday afternoon, followed by a long-overdue recap of the Phoenix trip.

The Horns take the hardwood tonight at 7 PM Central, but in the meantime, there’s tons of college hoops around the country. In the Big 12, Texas A&M travels to Norman to take on the Sooners at 2:30, while Oklahoma State tries to right the ship at home against Mizzou at 12:30. The Kansas Jayhawks will be waiting for the Aggies to falter again, as they chalk up another pancake win at home against Nebraska at 3 P.M. PhogBlog has your preview of the blowout.

The big game of the day is coming, predictably, in primetime. North Carolina heads to Boston College (8 PM Central, ESPN) in a game that is absolutely huge in the crazy ACC. The Golden Eagles are atop the league, with a half-game edge over the visiting Tar Heels. Winner takes first place, although both VaTech and the Hoos of UVA are tied with North Carolina coming into Saturday.

In an oddly-timed out-of-conference matchup, Memphis heads west to play a reeling Gonzaga team. You know, the one that embarrassed Texas on national TV just two months ago. Unfortunately, the Horns don’t get another shot at them this late in the season, because it looks like anybody has a chance against the Zags as of late. Their seemingly infinite home-win streak was snapped at 50 on Monday night by Santa Clara, and Loyola-Marymount even knocked off the Bulldogs only a week earlier. Memphis looks like the heavy favorite in this one, even on the road. But if Gonzaga can defend their home court, it will help the Texas RPI and SOS, if only ever-so-slightly.

Baylor post-game and maybe a Houston trip wrap-up will be coming your way on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, enjoy all the hoops and the laugher up in Waco.

Baylor’s Golden Titty Palace (photo from World Stadiums)

Tip: 7 PM Saturday, FSN

It’s only been three weeks, but it’s once again time for the Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns to tangle. This time, the stage is the Golden Titty Palace along the banks of the Brazos River in Waco. Last time out, Baylor (12-12 overall, 2-9 Big 12) made a great push for an upset behind an insane shooting percentage from star Aaron Bruce. In the end, the Longhorns (18-7, 8-3) prevailed with a late comeback and sealed an 84-79 victory.

The key difference this time? Aaron Bruce won’t even be playing. He sprained his ankle last week and will be missing his second-straight game when the teams meet tomorrow. Bruce accounts for 15% of their offense and plays the second-most minutes on the team with just a hair under 30 per game. In Austin, he led the Bears with 25 points, one of only two Baylor players in double digits. The slim chances the Bears had to pull off the upset at home may have gone down with the Aussie.

Without Bruce, the Baylor threat from outside is much, much weaker. Tweety Carter and Curtis Jarrells can both hit in the low 30-pecents, while Henry Dugat — Bruce’s replacement in Wednesday’s starting lineup — is also shooting the three-ball above 35%, although he takes a few less shots than the others.

If you don’t recall the other stars for Baylor — and I use that term loosely — you can take a quick gander at the first preview. This time around, Baylor will likely try to force it inside even more without Bruce, which makes big man Kevin Rogers an even bigger factor. In the game on Wednesday, Rogers blew up for 27 against Mizzou while Bruce was on the sidelines.

Mamadou Diene is still seeing very limited minutes, so his injury may still be causing problems. On Wednesday, he played only 13 minutes against the Tigers, leaving forwards Tim Bush and Patrick Fields to pick up the slack. Bush saw his playing time jump to nearly 30 minutes in the contest, and secured 11 boards with the extra time on the court.

While Coach Drew and the Bears appear to making a concerted effort to get the ball inside, they are still a good screening team that knows how to get their guards open around the perimeter. Carter is a hell of a freshman who can knock it down from long range, and he’s going to be a consistent scorer over his next three years in the green and gold. Austin-native Jerrells always manages to terrorize the Horns, and he’s coming in on a hot streak; in his last seven games, he’s averaging over 16 points.

At this point, the Longhorns just need to work on neutralizing their disadvantages inside. The Bears outrebounded Texas by three in Austin, which is an acceptable deficit for tomorrow’s game as well. But if it is too one-sided in this contest, it could lead to a lot of easy inside looks for Baylor and a lot of short possessions for the Horns.

In conclusion, the keys for Texas…

Shut down Rogers – Without Bruce, he is going to be the focal point of the offense. He’s definitely going to get his points — 20-plus would not be a surprise — but can Connor Atchley and Damion James keep him from taking over the game?

Limit the rebounds – Baylor is a bigger team, although Texas is playing more man-to-man since the last time the teams met. The Horns must keep the second-chance points to a minimum while securing their own offensive boards.

Draw fouls – What better way to neutralize the Baylor big men than to get them on the bench? Diene will likely see only 10-20 minutes, leaving the Bears with only Rogers, Bush, Fields, and Lomers. The drop in talent is huge after their top three frontcourt guys. Get them to the pine and this will be a cakewalk.