To the Cougars of Chicago State, Illinois doesn’t exist. And their really large city sitting along that really large lake is the 51st state. Sorry Puerto Rico, they beat you to it. And if this little fact doesn’t make a degree from this fine institution next to worthless, it should at least make the geography department a running joke. But if we can dispense with bad nomenclature humor, there’s a much bigger task at hand. Namely preparing my dear readers for tonight’s second round game.

Chicago State (1-0) somehow squeaked past St. Bonaventure last night, winning the right to get kicked in the face repeatedly by the Longhorns. They were carried largely by redshirt sophomore guard David Holston, who is listed at 5’8″, but is actually not much taller than Earl Boykins. Holston scored 43 against the Bonnies last night, which broke the school record of 40 according to some random staffer on the Chicago State bench.

But more important than Holston’s J.J. Redick impersonation was Chicago State’s absolute lack of rebounding skill. The final box score had them only outrebounded 37-30 by St. Bonaventure, but much of that defecit was made up during the Cougars’ winning push in the final eight minutes of the game. And if it weren’t for a monumental meltdown by the Bonnies at the line (the team finished 22-for-41 from the stripe), the Longhorns would have a different opponent in tonight’s ballgame.

Last season, Chicago State finished the year 11-19, yet still somehow made the championship game of the Mid-Continent Conference tournament, where they finally fell to Oral Roberts, 85-72. The Cougars return seven seniors from that team, so they should be quite experienced….at losing. Besides 7-footer Chidozie Chukwumah, the Chicago State team is a small one that will most likely be abused the same way that Alcorn State was.

So bring the family out to the Erwin Center tonight for a little doubleheader, or show up late and forget about those losers in the consolation game. The Horns are scheduled to tip at 7:30, but I’m personally banking on it being a little later than that. Come early, be loud, stay late, and wear orange…but don’t plan on drinking Dr. Pepper. Because apparently the FEC is the only place in the whole state of Texas that doesn’t sell it.

The much-hyped Kevin Durant showed up in Austin on Thursday night. Not the nervous Kevin Durant with the weight of the world and sky-high expectations resting on his wiry shoulders. No, the number two nationally-ranked freshman Kevin Durant finally came to town. And what a show it was.

In only 22 minutes, Durant dropped twenty points and barely broke a sweat. He drew extra defenders, made incredible passes, and threw down a reverse dunk that had to be seen to be believed. One thing I had not factored in to Durant’s already-high value to this team: when he makes a move to the glass, he draws extra defenders, but can still use his 379-inch wingspan to whip passes around the defenders to open men for the easy bucket. He uses those extra-long arms quite well on defense, too; he logged three steals on Thursday night, following up on his five from the final exhibition game.

When the buzzer sounded, the Horns had won by 103-44 margin. But that doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story. The Horns came out sloppy, turning the ball over three times and spotting the Alcorn State Braves a 9-1 lead. But Texas closed out the final 17:32 of the first half with a 47-9 run. In the second half, things got so bad that Texas led by 69 with just under five minutes left. And right around that same time, Alcorn State was shooting an odious 9-for-55 from the field.

Connor Atchley started the game, but unfortunately looked very tenative and overwhelmed during the short-lived Alcorn State lead. Barnes benched him in favor of Hill, the team settled down, and Connor was fine for the rest of the game. If he can get a steely resolve instead of a deer-in-the-headlights look, it can only help his playing time.

Craig Winder looked much better off the bench last night, dropping in ten points in his nineteen minutes, including a nifty layup on one of the Horns’ many fast-break opportunities. It will be interesting to see how big of a role he has this year off the pine, but it looked like he maybe has himself a little more under control this year.

For the first time this season, Texas had some trouble hanging on to the basketball, turning it over fourteen times. But when they forced their opponent to lose the ball 24 times, it didn’t seem to matter much. Only time will tell if this is going to be a problem for Texas. They really protected the ball well against their overmatched exhibition opponents, but against a team that was arguably just as bad as Xavier University or Lenoir-Rhyne, they suddenly had the yips. Next week’s games in New York City should be a good indicator for this statistic. Uh, I mean, if we win tonight. Then New York could be a good indicator. Maintain focusness.

A.J. Abrams continued to shoot the ball well, going 5-for-9 from the field and scoring eleven. Damion James was again an absolute beast, and the only true physical presence on the team. He scored thirteen and blocked two shots, and showed the hard-nosed, aggressive play that we all loved from P.J. Tucker and James Thomas. I thank God for Kelvin Sampson’s telephone addiction every damned day.

Dexter Pittman fouled out of the game in only nine minutes of play, but scored seven and fought his way to the line. He can score inside, but he needs to get used to his leaner body. There are some rebounds that he let get away which I’m sure he was used to gathering with his bigger frame that pushed defenders even further out of position. And it was typically after losing these rebounds that he picked up his fouls, when he made ill-advised moves to try to win the ball back. I have faith that Big Dex is going to be a great player here. And I think his four years are going to be great fun to watch.

Back for the Chicago State preview within the hour.

Tonight the Longhorns kick off the regular season with a home game at 8:30 PM against Alcorn State in the 2K Sports College Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. With a win, the Horns move on to the quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday night at 7:30, while a loss would send them to the 5:30 consolation game.

Alcorn State finished their 2005-06 season with an 8-20 record, with all eight of their wins coming in Southwestern Conference play. Their last NCAA tournament appearance came in 2001-02, where they were one-and-done with an 81-77 loss to Siena.

The Alcorn State Braves have no notable basketball alumni, but their most famous graduates include professional quarterback Steve McNair, wide receiver Donald Driver, and Roots author Alex Haley.

And why do you need to know all of these mundane facts about a 3,000-person college from a podunk town in Mississippi? Because as G.I. Joe taught me, knowing is half the battle.

This game should not present any problems for Texas, and will hopefully allow the team a chance to iron out some more wrinkles. Some interesting storylines to follow will be A.J. Abrams hot shooting from behind the arc and the regular season debut of phenom Kevin Durant.

For those heading to the Frank Erwin Center tonight, doors open at 4:30 for the first game between Chicago State and Saint Bonaventure, with the Longhorns tipping off at 8:30, or 30 minutes after the end of the previous game if it runs long.

Monday night showcased the run-n-gun style that the Longhorns had talked up during preseason media interviews. The Horns dropped 103 points on an overmatched Xavier University squad and forced the tempo throughout the game. Considering I was on Vicodin at the time, and was most concerned with trying not to drool on myself, here are my scatter-brained observations from the game.

A.J. Abrams continued to shoot lights out. If we can fully convert him to a 2-guard and run a lineup with both him and Augustin, it is going to be amazing. Of course, Abrams showed last year that he has the talent to spell Augustin if need be, but it’s key for the Horns to allow Abrams the freedom to shoot. On the night, he was 7-for-10, including 6-of-7 behind the arc.

D.J. not only looked incredibly comfortable at the point, but he worked his tail off on the glass as well. I remember one defensive board he snatched from between much taller opponents, and another offensive series where it seemed like he grabbed three or four of his own offensive rebounds. The contrarian may wonder why he missed that many shots, but it was really great to see him not give up on the play at any point.

Connor Atchley continued to impress me. He has taken huge strides since last year, and while he’s certainly no All-Big 12, I don’t feel nearly as nervous about him as I did prior to the exhibitions. He had a couple of great blocks, including one where he came up behind a guy going to the glass, swatted a ball into the stands, and then ate a live wolf. It may have been the drugs, but I swear it happened.

Matt Hill still looked scrappy underneath and knows how to get to the line. He was still perfect on the year, until I opened my big mouth to make that comment and he missed his first from the charity stripe. In the two exhibition games, he was 10-for-11 from the line.

Kevin Durant worried me a little bit with his performance in this game. He took quite a few lazy shots, and lost the ball on lazy crossover dribbles. I know that his talent level was so much higher than many at the high school level, and that he invariably felt like he was mailing it in at times. But in college, he’s going to have to man up and play with his nose to the grindstone. When he does that, I can’t even imagine how great he’s going to be.

Seeing the team push the tempo and put pressure on the ball was really exciting. This is a hot shooting team, and on those nights when we finally go cold, we are going to need things like turnovers and transition buckets to keep us in the games. I’m really glad to see that we can run the floor so well.

That’s about all I can remember from that hazy night, but hopefully my recollections will be better following tomorrow night’s doubleheader. Bring the family, and pack the Drum for our season opener. See y’all there!

No, it’s not those bastards who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament back in 2004 in Atlanta. You may remember the game. Brandon Mouton fouled out in the final minutes and reportedly asked referee Ted Valentine for an explanation on his foul, to which the zebra replied, “This isn’t the fucking NBA.” Oh, and Rick Barnes received two technicals and was ejected by the same ref in the stretch of about 0.009 seconds. And then of course, there was the corn-fed fatty jumping around with her “X-Men” sign just in front of our section.

But this isn’t that team. So tonight should be completely free of the venom a rematch with that particular Xavier could have brought. Instead, tonight the Longhorns take on Xavier University from New Orleans, a team that didn’t even have a 2005-06 season because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina. So while playing in the Erwin Center against an Elite Eight team from last year will certainly be a huge moment for the Xavier players, just getting to play basketball again is too.

It looks like Xavier goes by the Gold Rush, although if you were to read their circa-1995 website, you might think they are the Xavier Rush Gold Nuggets. They play in the NAIA, which as far as I can tell is a league made up of colleges that make my old high school look huge. You know, powerhouses such as Montana State-Northern and Rio Grande…..Ohio.

Last Tuesday, Xavier played Arkansas in an exhibition and fell, 82-49. As fans, we should obviously avoid the “transitive analysis” of who-beat-whom and by how much. Tonight is a good opportunity to see if the guys are going to get better position for rebounds, and if it’s possible for a team to hit 75 three-pointers.

It ought to be another fun one. See y’all at the Drum.