Lots and lots of news for the Horns now that the regular season has come to a close. And that starts with the Big 12 conference awards, where Rick Barnes took home Coach of the Year in a season where his Longhorns set a school record for regular season victories. D.J. Augustin was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team, while A.J. Abrams and Damion James were named to the second team. The king of hustle, Justin Mason, was named to the All-Defensive Team.

In the latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi, the Horns are still a 2-seed playing in the Phoenix regional with UCLA as the 1-seed. God forbid this projection actually holds, as good ol’ Joe has a potential second-round match-up for Texas with Arkansas…in Little Rock. Hardcore amateur bracketologists will be happy to know that Joe is now going daily with his picks from until Selection Sunday.

Andy Glockner’s Bubble Watch — now also a daily feature — has the Big 12 with three “locks” in Texas, Kansas, and OU. He feels that Baylor and K-State are solidly in, and barring a Bear implosion against Colorado on Thursday, I would have to agree. That leaves A&M in the “work left to do” category, which could be something of a misnomer. As long as the bubble doesn’t contract further with cinderella auto-bids, the Aggies should be fine. But while they don’t actually need another win, they certainly can’t afford to somehow lose to Iowa State.

While everybody is focused on seeds and bubbles, there is still that weekly tradition of the polls, which saw Texas climb to 6th in the AP and 8th in the ESPN/USA Today.

Although there’s no Big Monday, there’s more tournament action from Championship Week tonight. Auto-bids will be handed out in the Southern Conference (8 PM CST, ESPN2), where bubble team fans will be pulling hard for Davidson. At the same time, those nervous folks will be hoping that Gonzaga can stave off San Diego in the WCC Championship (8 PM CST, ESPN). And just underway in Albany, Rider and Siena are battling for the MAAC title on ESPN2.

I’ve spent the week watching games from December and January, wins over teams like Oral Roberts, TCU, and Saint Mary’s. Looking back, I remember my tempered expectations for the Longhorns this season. Without Kevin Durant, how would the huge 2007 freshman class mature in their sophomore season? I hoped for a 12-4 conference mark, but wasn’t going to hold my breath. And I certainly didn’t think Texas would stroll into Auburn Hills to face Michigan State with an unblemished record.

But now here we are, just hours away from the conclusion of another regular season, and Texas stands in a position to share their second Big 12 crown in the last three years. It’s even crazier to think that the Longhorns had a chance to win the thing outright and finish with a 14-2 mark, but it’s hard to be disappointed with a possible title and 13-3 finish in what was statistically the second-toughest conference in the nation. Not only did the new sophomores step up — particularly double-doube machine Damion James — but Connor Atchley blossomed into a big-time threat and a great shot blocker. The new freshman class developed nicely over the year, giving Coach Rick Barnes a respectable rotation in the front court.

All that being said, there’s still a lot of basketball to play. And the long road through March continues on Senior Day against a very hot Oklahoma State team. This isn’t the same Cowpoke squad that scuttled in early conference games and dropped a 63-61 nailbiter to Texas at home. No, this OSU team is now one that slays giants, namely #4 Kansas at home and #16 Texas A&M on the road. The biggest difference for the ‘Pokes? The emergence of point guard Byron Eaton, who has averaged 19.3 points per game over the last six contests, a stretch in which included a five-game OSU win streak.

For a review of the complete Oklahoma State roster and style, you’ll want to revisit the game preview from the January 21st match-up in Stillwater.

What to look for

The key today is going to be shutting down Eaton. In OSU’s last game against Oklahoma — the only loss in their last six games — the Sooners held him to only 13 points, his lowest scoring output in a month. The pudgy guard had only 14 points in the first game with Texas, and if the Horns hold him to similar numbers today they should be in business.

Texas also needs to concern itself with perimeter defense, which suddenly reared its ugly head again in the second half against Nebraska. The Longhorns can’t afford to let Eaton and James Anderson get hot from long range, lest they give the ‘Pokes a fighting chance today.

Finally, the Horns must control turnovers, which has suddenly been a problem in the last week and a half. Texas has turned the ball over an average of 11.6 times per game over the last three contests. While that’s not a staggering number, it is up 21% over the season average that the Horns carried into the K-State game, and they can’t afford to give a ton of points up in transition to an Ok-State squad that likes to pressure beyond the perimeter.

Tickets remain

As the sub-head says, there are still tickets available for today’s game. The Horns have some big-time recruits visiting today in Renardo Sidney, Wesley Witherspoon, and verbal commit J’Covan Brown. It won’t look good to have a half-empty, dead arena, so come on out and bring out everybody that you know. If you’re out of town and can’t make it in, the action can be caught on ESPN.

Ed. Note: Frequent LRT co-traveler Grant attended yesterday’s Baylor/Texas Tech game and filed this report from his third-row seats at United Spirit Arena. As we look forward to covering future seasons of college hoops, these guest contributions could become a much more regular feature. If you are interested in helping out, just send an email to contact at longhornroadtrip dot com, or use the comment form on any post.

Although the home team wasn’t harboring any post-season dreams, there was still a lot to play for on Senior Day in Lubbock, as the Baylor Bears (21-9 overall, 9-7 Big 12) looked to solidify their NCAA Tournament résumeé against the Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-14, 7-9). Tech came into today’s game with an impressive 12-1 record at home, including last Saturday’s 83-80 upset of the then fifth-ranked Longhorns. Despite the Red Raiders’ recent dominance at home, Scott Drew’s squad was determined to bounce back from Wednesday’s home loss to Texas A&M, and scored an 86-73 victory behind a career-high 38 points and nine rebounds from LaceDarius Dunn.

Pat Knight made a nice gesture by giving “Knight School” winner Tyler Hoffmeister his first collegiate start in his final home game, alongside fellow seniors Charlie Burgess and Martin Zeno, the latter of which has started every game as a Red Raider. Hoffmeister played the first 2:23 of the contest, sat, and did not return.

The game began at a quick up-and-down tempo, with both teams staying neck-and-neck thanks to an early seven points from both Burgess and Baylor guard Tweety Carter. Once the game slowed down, Tech built a nine-point advantage thanks to the scoring of freshman guard John Roberson, who had 13 points in the first half. Despite Curtis Jerrells going to the bench with three fouls at the 5:24 mark of the first half, Baylor was able to get back into the game by taking advantage of Tech’s weak interior defense, driving into the lane for easy buckets. A Dunn three-pointer tied the game at 34 with just under two minutes left, and the teams traded baskets before Roberson closed out the half by hitting one of two from the charity stripe to give Tech a 37-36 halftime advantage.

Much like in Baylor’s home contest against the Longhorns last month, Dunn came out of the locker room firing. The freshman star went 4-of-4 from behind the arc to start the second half and keyed a 16-6 run which put the Bears ahead to stay. The Red Raiders were able to cut the lead to 63-54 on a Zeno layup with just under nine minutes left in the game, but could not overcome the hot shooting of Dunn, who also went 12-of-13 from the free throw line. The Bears were able to easily break the Raiders’ 2-2-1 press and maintained their distance by getting into the bonus early. They capitalized by knocking down their free throws, sending most of a frustrated Red Raider crowd of 7,914 towards the exits early.

Perhaps most impressive about the Bears’ performance was their airtight defense of Tech sharpshooter Alan Voskuil, who was held scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting and fouled out with 1:12 left in the game. Zeno led the Red Raiders with 27 points, while Roberson chipped in 25.

Baylor’s fourth conference road win came in spite of yet another disappointing performance from Aaron Bruce, who scored just four points, with his first bucket finally coming on a layup with just 25 seconds remaining in the first half. The Bears will need Bruce to break out of his slump to make a serious run in either the Big 12 or NCAA Tournaments, seeing as they certainly can’t expect a 38/9 line from Dunn night in and night out. Still, this was an important win for Baylor, enabling them to finish 9-7 in conference play, and likely propelling them off the bubble and cementing their status as an NCAA tournament team.

Texas remained a 2-seed in Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, although he shifted them out West to Phoenix. There’s still a week to go, but it’s pretty safe to say that Texas is a solid 2-seed — barring back-to-back losses to Oklahoma State and in the Big 12 Quarterfinals — but now the question is where. Personally, my only concern is to not draw the Detroit site. One trip to that city per season is enough for me.

Fans who want to check out the Kansas/Texas A&M game can still buy tickets, thanks to a majority of the Aggie students heading home for Spring Break. Unsold student tickets can now be bought at this link, so if you’re in the area and want to catch the 3 P.M. showdown, you’ve still got a shot.

Big 12 hoopsheads or fans of teams seeded five through twelve can buy my Big 12 Tourney tickets for Session 1 and 2 off of eBay. All games are on Thursday in the Sprint Center, and you can bid using these links for Session 1 and Session 2.

Apparently there are some technical difficulties with the Flash video player, as it will only work for one video per page. That means if you try to watch the Baylor video while the Tech one is still on the main page, you get the Tech video. Yet if you click over to the Baylor write-up by itself, the video plays just fine. All of the technobabble that makes this stuff work is just Greek to me, so I’ve passed it along to some more knowledgeable folks to see what they can do. For now, if you want to watch the Baylor video, you can view it on the single-entry page.

When we threw together our plans to travel to the Ferrell Center for tonight’s Baylor/Texas A&M clash, the thought was that we’d get to see not just another great installment in this rivalry, but a game that just so happened to have post-season implications for both teams. And until the last few minutes of the second half, we were treated to exactly that. The Bears and Aggies were nip and tuck down the stretch, headed for another thrilling finish. But in a matter of moments, an insane series of events stole the spotlight from the game on the court.

With just under two minutes left, Baylor’s Tweety Carter ran full-speed into a pick by A&M’s Joseph Jones. As anyone familiar with the size of these two players could guess, the ensuing collision was best described as hitting a brick wall. Carter crumpled to the court, the Aggies scored an easy lay-up, and the lead was pushed to eight points. The Baylor fans were restless, booing relentlessly as trainers tended to the fallen player. Words were exchanged between the two huddles, various players and coaches were held back from brawling, and a Nerf basketball was thrown on to the court.

Earlier in the half, the P.A. announcer had warned fans that objects thrown onto the court would result in a technical foul against the Bears. So as Curtis Jerrells quickly scooped up the ball, all eyes in the Ferrell Center turned to Section 121 to find the culprit. Immediately fingers were pointed at two young Aggie fans, and a random man pushing 50-odd years rushed up the stairs to scream in their faces. Another Aggie ran down from his seat two rows above, got in the face of the old man, and the shouting match was on. The crowd was on edge and it honestly felt like a riot was about to break out. Security escorted the two accused Aggies out of the arena, although I’m convinced it was more for their own safety than any proven guilt.

The angry Baylor fans voiced their disapproval with the original chant shown in this video, despite the fact that any sensible Aggie supporter could just happily point to the scoreboard.

After more fouls and desperation threes from the Bears, time seemed to finally be winding down to the merciful conclusion of the game. But after Donald Sloan stole the ball near mid-court, he decided to play Harlem Globetrotter and throw it off the backboard to himself for a dunk with 1.8 seconds left. Ignoring the fact that his team was already up 12 with seconds to go, Sloan’s And-1 Mixtape highlight quickly brought the wrath of the Baptists. Dr. Pepper bottles sailed from the stands, more Nerf balls were sent airborne, and the court at the Ferrell Center became the new town landfill. The Aggies hustled off the floor to avoid the debris while Baylor Coach Scott Drew grabbed the mic &emdash; not to chastise the fans for their behavior, but to thank them for their great support all year. Remember Baylor fans, good sports recycle.

One can only hope that somehow these two teams meet up again in Kansas City next weekend. While the bad blood won’t get quite as nasty in a neutral site environment, this thing is turning into a down-and-dirty rivalry along the lines of the Duke-Virginia Tech fued. (Or is it just Greg Paulus vs. Deron Washington?) Even if things don’t come to a head next weekend, this is the kind of game that fans of both schools will mutter about eight years from now when explaining why they hate the other fans. This was truly the kind of night that bitter rivalries are all about.