#5 Duke (13-1 overall, 1-0 ACC) at Florida State (12-5, 1-1) – 6 PM CST, ESPN – Florida State has been hanging around the second tier of the ACC, and they have a history of jumping up and surprising teams in Tallahassee. An upset tonight would be the feather that their cap has needed, while further muddling the middle of the ACC picture.

Virginia Tech (10-6 overall, 1-1 ACC) at Virginia (10-4, 0-1) – 6 PM CST, ESPNU – This interstate rivalry is a pretty fun one to watch, and the Hoos will be pressing for their first conference win. Jones Arena — one of the nicest new basketball palaces in the country — should be absolutely rocking tonight.

#1 North Carolina (17-0 overall, 2-0 ACC) at Georgia Tech (7-8, 0-2) – 8 PM CST, ESPN – UNC is still undefeated and rolling through the ACC, and tonight shouldn’t slow that train down at all. Hansbrough is thisclose to averaging a double-double per game, so if he cleans up on the glass tonight he can crack that magical 10 RPG mark.

DePaul (7-8 overall, 3-1 Big East) at Villanova (11-3, 1-2) – 8 PM CST, ESPNU – These guys are playing again already? Back on January 3rd, the Blue Demons opened conference play with an upset win over the Cats in Chicago. This time, Nova gets to play in the friendly confines of The Pavilion, and they will be looking to bounce back from a confusing loss to Cincy this weekend.

Tulane (10-6, 0-2 C-USA) at Tulsa (8-5, 0-1) – 8 PM CST, CSTV – Can CSTV get back to broadcasting A-10 games instead of this crap?

#9 Texas A&M (15-1 overall, 1-0 Big 12) at Texas Tech (9-6, 0-1) – 8:30 PM CST, ESPN2 – Much like in the Florida State game, Lubbock is a dangerous place for top-ranked teams to come play. The students at Tech come out in force for big opponents — particularly the Aggies — and Bob Knight seems to always be able to coax upset wins out of his average teams. This year the Techsters are pretty abysmal, though…can they somehow pull out another miracle?

If that’s not enough hoops for you, there’s a ton of action on Full Court, although some of it might’ve been better left to radio. Or no media coverage at all.

Rutgers (8-9 overall, 0-4 Big East) at Syracuse (12-5, 2-2) – 6 PM CST – Rutgers is quite possibly the worst team in the conference, while ‘Cuse looks like they could be a sleeper in this wide-open league. Please be gentle, Coach Boeheim.

Towson (6-9 overall, 2-3 CAA) at UNC-Wilmington (9-8, 2-3) – 6 PM CST – I’ve had my calendar cleared for months for this barnburner.

Missouri (11-5 overall, 1-0 Big 12) at Iowa State (10-6, 0-1) – 7 PM CST – Mizzou looks to keep the momentum going after their upset win over the Horns on Saturday. Iowa State shouldn’t prove too much of a challenge in Ames tonight, setting up next weekend’s Border War as a game for the league lead.

Albany (7-9 overall, 2-2 America East) at Boston (4-11, 1-2) – 7 PM CST – There is one team in the America East conference with a winning record, and that is Maryland-Baltimore County, who is 11-6 against a schedule ranked 231st. Why is this conference included in the Full Court package?

St. Francis, PA (3-13 overall, 1-4 NEC) at Mount St. Mary’s (7-9, 3-2) – 8 PM CST – Who would win if the America East and Northeastern Conferences met in an epic battle of suck?

Baylor 79, Oklahoma State 71 – Oklahoma State lost their 15th-consecutive road game and possibly their leading scorer at the Ferrell Center in Waco. James Anderson left the game with an ankle injury midway through the second half and never returned, leaving Sean Sutton’s bunch in a lurch. The win for Baylor gave them their best start since the 1945-46 season, one in which the Bears finished with a solid 25-5 mark.

Colorado 55, Nebraska 51 – Doc Sadler’s Cornhuskers entered conference play looking to be on their way up in the conference, having logged wins against Arizona State and Oregon in the first half of the season. But Nebraska shot only 34% on the road in Boulder last night, losing to what will likely be the worst team in the conference when all is said and done. With their next three games against Baylor, Kansas, and Mizzou, things could get ugly in a hurry for the Cornhuskers if they can’t defend home court against the Bears.

#11 Michigan State 66, Ohio State 60 – The Spartans opened up a massive 21-point lead but let Ohio State crawl their way back into it as the game wore on. MSU shot only 39% and struggled without Raymar Morgan, who battled foul trouble all night and was limited to 19 minutes of play. It was a character-building victory for the Spartans, who badly needed a bounce-back win after the debacle at Iowa.

#17 Wisconsin 80, Penn State 55 – The Badgers stormed out to an 18-2 lead and dominated the Nittany Lions the whole way, moving to a perfect 4-0 in Big Televen play. Wisconsin hit 10-of-18 from behind the arc on a night where they couldn’t seem to miss, and Michael Flowers had a career-high 23 points in the win.

#23 Clemson 70, NC State 54 – Clemson’s nosedive hasn’t quite yet hit full speed, as the Tigers righted the ship with a convincing win on their home floor. Duke is next on the sked for Clemson, giving them a chance to silence all the critics with a meaningful January victory.

Boston College 76, #24 Miami (FL) 66 – The Golden Eagles won their 13th-straight game against Miami, knocking the Hurricanes from the polls as soon as they had arrived. Frank Haith’s squad was ranked 3rd in the ACC in three-point percentage heading into this one but shot a paltry 8-of-26 in the losing effort. In addition to dropping the ‘Canes to .500 in league play, the road loss prevented them from matching the best start in school history.

If you’re into the recruiting game, tonight there’s a high school match-up between Plantation American Heritage and Monsignor Pace (8 PM CST, ESPNU). This marks the first time a Florida high school game is going to be aired nationally, and it’s a chance to showcase some big-name stars. Heritage center Eloy Vargas has already signed with the University of Florida, as has one of his opponents, guard Ray Shipman. Pace’s frontcourt is also pretty nasty with stud junior Rakeem Buckles and Terrance Saintil, a VCU signee.

As for college hoops, ESPN’s got three games on their pair of channels, while Full Court has a few Big 12 match-ups. On to the games…

Cincinnati (8-8 overall, 3-1 Big East) at Notre Dame (12-3, 2-1) – 6 PM CST, ESPNU – South Bend is not an easy place to win, but Cincy hopes to continue their hot start when they travel there tonight. Former druggie Kyle McAlarney is averaging 15.6 PPG and 5 APG in conference play for the Fighting Irish.

Ohio State (12-4 overall, 3-1 Big 10) at #11 Michigan State (14-2, 2-1) – 6 PM CST, ESPN – The Spartans are going to be fighting mad after only scoring 36 points in a loss to Iowa on Saturday. Ohio State certainly has their work cut out for them in this one.

Creighton (12-3 overall, 3-2 MVC) at Northern Iowa (10-6, 2-3) – 6 PM CST, ESPN2 – It’s a topsy-turvy world in Mid-major Land this year, and the Metro Valley is no exception. Drake and Illinois State are both atop the league with perfect records, while Creighton and Northern Iowa are having some struggles this season. The loser of this one is going to be mired in the middle of the standings for quite some time.

Oklahoma State (10-5 overall, 1-0 Big 12) at Baylor (13-2, 1-0) – 7 PM CST, FSNSW/ESPN Full Court – Oklahoma State surprised a lot of folks with their emphatic win at home over Texas Tech on Saturday. Are the Cowboys putting things together, or is Tech really that bad? And after an impressive non-conf run, just how good is Baylor? There are a ton of questions in the middle of the Big 12, but this game might start to answer a few of them.

Kentucky (7-7 overall, 1-0 SEC) at Mississippi State (11-5, 2-0) – 8 PM CST, ESPN – Kentucky pulled out an overtime win over a previously-unbeaten Vandy squad, but they are still in the midst of a very average season. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are riding a six-game winning streak and hope to maintain their perfect conference mark.

New Mexico (14-3 overall, 1-1 MWC) at Texas Christian (9-6, 1-1) – 8 PM CST, CSTV – Despite a solid record, the Lobos have an RPI in the low 60s thanks to a weak schedule. If they are going to be serious about the bubble, they can’t afford to mess around in conference play. Unfortunately for New Mexico, the pressing TCU Horned Frogs might present a problem in Fort Worth tonight.

There are a handful of other games on ESPN Full Court tonight, including the aforementioned OSU/Baylor tilt for those who can’t catch it on Fox Southwest. Here are those listings…

Stony Brook (4-11 overall, 1-2 America East) at Binghamton (6-10, 2-2) – 6 PM CST – Yikes.

Nebraska (11-3 overall, 0-1 Big 12) at Colorado (8-7, 0-1) – 8 PM CST – The Cornhuskers weren’t able to make a statement in their home opener against Kansas, but who can really blame them? Jeff Bzdelik’s weak team should make for a nice punching bag as Big Red takes out its frustrations in Boulder.

Wake Forest (11-4 overall, 1-1 ACC) at Maryland (10-7, 0-2) – 8 PM CST – This one doesn’t have quite the appeal of some past match-ups between the two schools, but there ought to be a desperate Terps squad on the court trying to avoid a crippling start to conference play.

Sorry for the lack of the regular daily posts on Monday, but instead of recovering from the 27 hours of traveling over the weekend, I instead worked ten more and then came home to immediately pass out. Things should be back on track the rest of the week, although Horns in the League will not return until tomorrow.

Monday of course means new polls, and Texas predictably fell in both of them. The Horns slipped to 19th in both the ESPN/USA Today and AP rankings. Besides the Horns, the only other three-loss squads to crack the polls are Xavier (20th in both), Villanova (21st/25th), and Clemson (23rd/24th). The Big 12 still has the same three teams in both polls, although OU, Baylor, Mizzou, and K-State all grabbed a few votes from the coaches.

There was also a new Bracketology from Joe Lunardi, who slid the Horns to a 4-seed playing in Denver for the first two rounds. As far as I’m concerned, that sounds great. It might be selfish, but I’d rather not deal with the nutjob Razorback fans if Texas were to get the “home pod” in Little Rock. The B-12 is the second-most represented conference, with the Jayhawks (1-seed), Aggies (2), Wildcats (8), Sooners (9), and Bears (10) joining the Horns in the mix.

Caught up on some weekend TV thanks to the DVR and absolutely loved Rick Barnes’ appearance on Friday Night Lights. Coach played a recruiter from the fictional Texas Methodist University, which uses the TSU football stadium on the show but has a superimposed Austin skyline behind it. Barnes got the hotshot “Smash” Williams to give a verbal commitment to TMU, but I’ve got to hope his real recruiting calls are a little less wooden. If you missed it, you can check out full episodes at NBC.com. Rick’s in Episode 211, and he appears near the end.

I’ve just joined a pretty big blogpoll hosted by the good folks at March to Madness. There are currently 18 voters and the newest poll will be released tomorrow, covering games through last night’s Big Monday. I’ll show my selections tomorrow along with commentary and invite you readers to chime in with your own thoughts.

All good things come to an end, but typically those good things don’t come to as hideously ugly an end as they did on Saturday in Columbia. The Longhorns were a perfect 9-0 in conference openers under Rick Barnes and had won nine in a row against the Missouri Tigers, but Mike Anderson’s club destroyed both of those streaks with a convincing 97-84 win in front of 13,085 loud fans at Mizzou Arena.

Texas jumped out to an early lead on the road, riding the hot shooting of Damion James to an eight point advantage with a little less than twelve minutes left in the half. But a flurry of points from reserve Keon Lawrence had the Tigers back on top in less than three minutes. The teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the half, with the Longhorns taking a two-point lead into the break.

The second half was all Mizzou, which was immediately evident when the Tigers hit their first six shots coming out of the locker room. Missouri quickly built a ten-point lead which they never relinquished. Texas kept fighting, slowly chipping away at the deficit, but were constantly thwarted by timely threes from the Tigers.

There were almost no positives to be drawn from this game beyond the play of Damion James. His 27 points and 16 boards were good enough for his eighth double-double of the year. In the first half, he was a scorching 6-of-8 from the field and hit two free throws — something which was a huge struggle for the Longhorns for a fifth straight game.

Coach Barnes had to limit Damion’s minues in the first half thanks to foul trouble, but an interesting incident just before half may have cost him even more playing time. With 3:32 left on the clock, a foul was called inside on Clint Chapman. James was next to the play and the scoreboard charged him with his third foul, although the announcer correctly said that Chapman was the one responsible. During the ensuing media timeout, James was replaced by Justin Mason and sat for the rest of the half.

It’s tough to say whether or not the Texas coaching staff thought he had three fouls, and it’s even more difficult to say that the Longhorns could’ve built up enough of a lead in those three-plus minutes to withstand the Missouri barrage in the second half. But it’s definitely valid to say that the one player who the Tigers didn’t have an answer for could’ve changed the complexion of the game had he been left in.

As for the rest of the team, the picture wasn’t pretty. The Longhorns made only fifty percent of their free throws, finishing a nauseating 11-of-22 from the line. Most shocking of all was the fact that D.J. Augustin was a paltry 3-of-8 from the line, while A.J. Abrams made only 2-of-4. This has suddenly become a recurring theme for this team, and it is going to absolutely kill Texas in the post-season if it continues. If I’m Jeff Capel or Mark Turgeon, I’m licking my chops at the thought of my physical defense sending the Longhorns to the line instead of giving up points in the paint.

While Missouri’s hot shooting from behind the arc was the biggest reason they won on Saturday, Texas certainly helped them out. Sure, there were a few contested threes that Missouri made, but a huge percentage of them were wide open thanks to poor rotation on defense. Late in the first half, the Tigers had a ton of open looks that clanged off. The perimeter defense was just as weak in the second half, while the Mizzou shooters weren’t. And that was the difference in the game.

I’ve been one of the biggest believers in Connor Atchley since last season, perhaps often overlooking flaws and choosing only to point at the flashes of brilliance and potential that occasionally shone through. And early in the year, Connor was validating that faith, scoring 20-plus points in some games, setting great screens, and even playing great defense inside. But since then, he has completely disappeared from the offense and started biting on any head fake thrown his way. If you trace it back, the sudden drop in Atch’s play coincides with the Longhorns’ struggles. Just like the free throw issues, Texas needs Connor to step it up if they want to get back to the level of play they were at in early December.

Gary Johnson was almost a non-factor, aside from a heads-up play setting a (moving) screen for Abrams on a fast break layup. His stat sheet was appropriately bare, as he missed two free throws to go with a rebound and a foul in nineteen minutes of play.

Although he only saw the floor for five minutes, it was five more than I thought I would see Dexter Pittman against the up-tempo Tigers. He actually looked good inside, snagging three offensive rebounds and scoring on a pair of put-backs. He even made both of his free throws, so perhaps he should lead a team meeting on the subject.

Texas has a long week off to prepare for a very weak Colorado team, and they should coast to a home victory against the Buffaloes. But while coaches and players always spout the axiom “one game at a time,” here the matter at hand is much larger than just winning the next one. Texas has some huge issues to address, and the Big 12 is going to be a very bumpy road to travel if they can’t figure things out quickly.