GAME TIP: 1:00 CT

TELEVISION: ESPNU

Dual apologies for the lack of a Baylor postame piece and, now, a somewhat abbreviated hoops preview. Computer issues are to blame. (For a solid-as-always pre-game look at this afternoon's contest, check out Longhorn Road Trip.)

There will be a Baylor Postgme React (delayed to Monday evening, in all likelihood), but there's not much time to do a comprehensive preview of the hoops team's season opener against UC-Irvine today. Fortunately, both my parents teach at UCI these days and, even as the basketball team has settled into a prolonged slump of mediocrity, my poor father -- a college hoops junkie who played college ball himself -- continues to go to all the Anteaters' home games, so I know enough about UCI to offer a few quick pre-game thoughts.

The two key Anteaters to watch are 6-5 forward Eric Wise, who last year averaged a team-best 14 points and 6 boards as a freshman (All-Big West second team) and 5-10 senior guard Michael Hunter, who's not unlike the similarly diminutive AJ Abrams in that he's not great as a distributor but has an accurate, quick-release jump shot and a scorer's mentality. Hunter is comfortable looking for a quick pop beyond the arc after using a ball screen or pulling up in transition on the break. Ward-Balbay-Brown will need to keep track of Hunter, who can get hot in a hurry.

Beyond those two, the roster is pretty pedestrian. Patrick Rembert will run the point but isn't capable of breaking down a defense on his own. Texas will want to keep close 6-2 Derrick Strings, the other likely starting guard alongside Hunter and Rembert. Strings has a nice stroke from downtown and has potential to be more of a slasher/scorer this year as a sophomore.

The big trouble for UCI, if you hadn't guessed from the guard-heavy previewing thus far, will be in the frontcourt, where the Anteaters lack both size and talent. Starting center Zack Atkinson will be banging with Dexter Pittman at 6-9, 220, which is a mid-day snack for Big Sexy. The aforementioned Wise is a very nice player, but Texas' size and strength on the interior makes this a tough game for him. A +15 rebound differential for Texas wouldn't surprise me in the least.

All told, this is a squad that is not at all well-constituted to deal with Texas' size, strength, and athleticism. If Texas' perimeter defense is sloppy and the 'Eaters get hot, they might stick around for a while, but even if the 'Horns play poorly this afternoon, they're going to wear down UCI by the end. If they play well, this one will be over early.

Prediction: Texas 78  UC-Irvine 56

And.....it's go time.

After a long off-season following the heartbreaking--yet not soulcrushing--loss to Duke in Greensboro, it is finally time for the Longhorns to get back on the court.  We've been beating the drum for the past few months, but this is going to be a special team and a special season.  Today will be our first look at the 'Horns as they start their murderous schedule against the not-so-murderous Anteaters of UC-Irvine.  Ryan Clarke of Longhorn Roadtrip--AKA "The Man"--has written an excellent preview for the game.

After the jump, I've catalogued a list of links and articles from the off-season for your perusement.  If you dont read anything else, make sure you read the extensive Roundball Roundtable...

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More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Avery Bradley: the face of a super recruiting class set to take the court at the Erwin Center.

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(The following comes from the WAO half of 40AS, although I feel confident that JMA agrees with the general sentiment. Except for the first one. I know he disagrees with that one.)

• Sixty-four teams will get good news in March: they will have the opportunity to win the national championship on the court. By beating other teams that also want to win it. Many supporters of the BCS argue that the system makes college football's regular season better than those of other sports, yet the basketball regular season stands in clear defiance of that notion. Basketball season is proof that, in the moment, we fans simply want our team to beat the other team, and the end of close hoops game is every bit as gut-wrenching in January as a football game in November. It may only be the difference between a 3 seed and a 5 seed, but it matters. 
• Here comes the real heresy: I had more fun in college at the Drum than at DKR. That's not necessarily to say that I liked basketball better than football. I simply mean that I have more specific game memories from hoops than pigskin. Reasons after the jump.

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More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

Only one of the fantastic freshmen appears likely to start as the season gets underway. What should we make of it?

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Txtwstr7: It's been a while since we've talked hoops.  I thought we could hold off on another roundtable until closer to tip-off, but the news trickling out over the probable starting line-up has forced our hand.  It appears that things aren't exactly as we thought, and many Longhorns fans might need to recalibrate their expectations over which players we will see trotting onto the floor during the early non-conference season.   Based on the heavy circulated tweets by Andy Katz, it appears that the starting line-up will be Ward-Bradley-Mason-James-Pittman.  Naturally, this means that J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton-both presumed starters-will open the season on the bench.  This is pretty jarring and its full ramifications need to be fleshed out.

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Two weeks from today, Texas will have vanquished an overmatched opponent in front of thousands of fans.  And I'm not talking about Baylor.  While it seems like only yesterday that BON'ers were saying "TOO SOON" about talking about UT Basketball, the reality is that tip-off is nearly upon us.  In only two short weeks, Rick Barnes and company will have thoroughly and soundly defeated the Anteaters of UC-Irvine at the Erwin Center.

Despite promises and guarantees to the contrary, no Stampede tickets have been sold for the game.  The e-mail was *supposed* to come out last Monday.  But it didnt.  The e-mail was supposed to come out on Tuesday.  But it didnt.  The e-mail was supposed to come out "by the end of the week."  But it didnt.  As I sit here and type this post tonight, I'm still unable to purchase a Stampede pass for my final year on the Forty Acres. 

While some of you will merely repeat the often stated "Texas is a FOOTBALL school" line and shrug your shoulders about this, that's the exact type of attitude that allowed this inaction to occur in the first place.  The idea that student season tickets for football would be unsold less than two weeks prior to kickoff is simply inconceivable.  I feel the same way about this delay for the Stampede tickets. For those of you who contacted me about this--I feel your pain, and this isnt ok. 

But this isnt just a post about the Stampede.  It's a post about how the Stampede e-mail situation simply represents the latest step in an impotent offseason of marketing the upcoming basketball season.  Once again, this isn't ok.

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...since losses is plural, then you've probably already realized that this post will be about basketball.  Last season, Texas went 23-12, which was their most losses since the 2001-2 season, when the team went 22-12.  In fact, over Rick Barnes' eleven year career at Texas, the Longhorns have never lost more than 13 games in a season.  By and large, last year's team was written off as a disappointment, especially considering the lofty preseason rankings and expectations.

After the jump, we take a closer look at the relative tightness of each of the Longhorns 12 losses last season, which includes some surprising numbers.  More importantly, we look at the contributions of the two departing seniors in each of the "close" games from last season.

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...when the football team takes the field for the Showdown in Stillwater, we will officially be two weeks (and one day) away from the start of the UT Basketball season.  Rather than wait until Friday to put up something else about the team, we wanted to provide some links, notes, and articles from the last few weeks and then repost an item that might have flown under the radar a few weeks ago. 

If you still aren't feeling the hoops team, we'll cut you some slack, but only for one more week...

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