I believe the Runnin' Horns are doing an Australian exhibition tour now, that should really help them get in shape for this season.

They cut their exhibition tour short because the Aussies were getting too rough, punching out the Horns. I hear the Horns have their answer to Olayguwan, a Nigerian center who's got a lot of promoise.

 Olayguwan?

That's what we got, man 9 out of 10!

The Shark bit on the towel today. Clack is looking more like NBA material allthe time in the Horns win and the Horns are edging up to the top 10. Pretty good for a perennial slow starting team that doesn't usually get hot till the Sweet Sixteen.

Arizona at UT The 83-78 loss to Lute Olsen's Arizona Wildcats has been the Horns only loss this year. And they hung around for that whole game till the final minutes. Clack's running jams were impressive and Brandy Perryman keeps hitting those 3's from somewhere out in Tarrytown. Gabe Munoneke even popped a three. The Horns played good, the Wildcats just played better and were hitting those shots. But, to the Horns, consolation, the Wildcats were ranked eighth going in to this game. The Horns had been ranked 13th in the Monday poll the day of the game. Fresno State at UT The Fresno State Bulldog game. Reggie really had a hot hand. He hit a three early. Chris Clack a monster, Jordanesque slam, he really aired it in. A rim shattering slam dunk with increadible hang time and a mini-windmill motion. Perryman had another 3 from West Austin. Jordan played good on offense and on defense with good hands inside. He had a power jam against two Fresno State guys hangin off of him. Clack had a 360 "circus shot" and a great steal in the first half. They led 47-41 at halftime. Perryman nailed another three just before the half ended. I believe he had three treys (a trey of trey's) in the first half. Tark didn't start biting on his towel till the second half. He's mellowed out a lot from his UNLV days. Much less excited. Clack had a monster offensive rebound and then Freeman nailed a three to put the Horns up 62-55. Then Clack nailed another hangin' jame after a steal and a full court run. Clack then did an incredible drive in traffic and another Jordan style hangin' left handed jam. Fresno State blew away Umass on the round earlier this week by 21 points! Freeman tied his career high for points. 43 points. Texas is now 5-1 on the year. 98-86 was the final.

The Horns are in their season opener tonight but Penders will be coaching be cellphone. The games in progress right now and the Horns are behind in the third quarter.

The Horns play in the Sweet 16 tonight. This is the first time they've been there in a while. Oregon's Ducks, Texas' opponent in tonight's Midwest Regional semifinal, were polar opposites of the Longhorns. Unbeatable at home, unimpressive on the road. Away from its home gym called The Pit, Oregon has averaged almost 10 fewer points, has made only 38.7 percent of its threes compared to 47.4 percent at home and commits two more turnovers with three fewer steals. Ducks Coach Ernie Kent, however, defends his club's 9-8 record away from McArthur Court, where Oregon was a perfect 16-0. "Early on, we had three losses on the road," Kent said, "but that's really deceiving." None of those losses to UMass, Portland and Minnesota was by more than four points. After a 27-point November blowout of Louisville in the Hall of Fame Game in Springfield, Mass., the Ducks awoke at 6 in the morning to fly across the country for a loss to UMass in Portland three nights later. "That was a tough trip on some of our big bodies," Kent said. "We were up 21-8 and had a chance to win in our last possession. The next game against Portland was probably our worst game of the year. Against Minnesota, we had a chance to win the last several possessions, too." This Oregon team needs no alibis, no what-ifs to explain a slight deviation in a fabulous season. Besides that 0-3 string, the Ducks have lost only five more games, one to Southern Cal after whipping the Trojans a week earlier to clinch the Pac-10 title and two to Cal and Stanford in overtime games. They won at UCLA for the first time in 18 years and on Arizona's floor for the first time in 17. The Ducks have three of the best perimeter shooters in college basketball, although Kent says his best two three-point specialists, Anthony Lever and James Davis, come off the bench. The Ducks run so much, they can be labeled a poor man's Kansas, but not all that poor. Star point guard Luke Ridnour is Oregon's T.J. Ford but a better shooter, a talent so highly regarded he's pretty much a Joey Harrington without the Heisman billboard on a New York high-rise. Oregon's not likely to be rattled tonight, but neither should Texas. Both are 7-3 in their past 10 away games. "Some of the players have said they felt more focused on the road," Barnes said. "Maybe that's a little of our youth coming out. Maybe at home, they assume it's just automatically going to happen." That could explain home losses to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, clubs the Longhorns beat on the road. Barnes has developed such a trust level with his team, he has no rules other than be on time. He doesn't even lay down a curfew. Barnes so likes his buttoned-down workaholics, he lets the players pick out where they want to eat and the movies they watch on short bus trips to Waco and College Station. So when the Longhorns are taking in "Ali" on the way to the Baylor game or center James Thomas decides the team should stop at Rudy's for barbecue on the way to last week's first two NCAA tournament rounds, they know they've got as much invested in this team as Barnes does. And when Barnes pulls over for a round of Blizzards at a Dairy Queen after beating Mississippi State on Sunday, they know they have a coach who appreciates their efforts. Barnes' more relaxed style is clearly working. "I got a call from my former president at Clemson, who said he noticed I was letting players wear tattoos," Barnes said. "I told him if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to get any players. He also asked me about T.J.'s hair, and I said if we keep winning, I'm going to start braiding mine." kbohls@statesman.com more at http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/sports_2.html

Texas lost to Marquette in the Final Four, and then Marquette went on to win it all in the next game, beating Kansas more decisively than they beat the Horns. That probably makes Texas the second best team in the nation. Did you hear Roy Williams comment after his loss to Marquette, can you blame the guy for doing this in the heat of the moment? Williams loses his cool, curses in TV interview From staff and wire reports Roy Williams, known for emotional reactions to wins and losses, became so upset after a reporter's questioning about the job opening at his alma mater of North Carolina that he uttered a vulgarity on live national television Monday night. Williams was responding to questions from CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein outside the Kansas locker room following the 81-78 loss to Syracuse in the national title game. Bernstein began pressing Williams on the opening at UNC, where Matt Doherty was forced out last week. Williams turned the job down three years ago and consistently refused to address the situation this past week. After first saying he didn't "give a flip" about people asking about the opening, he finally cracked in the face of Bernstein's questions. "As a journalist I understand why you have to ask that question," said Williams, his eyes red with emotion. "But the guy in your ear that is telling you to ask that is not a very nice person. "I could give a (expletive) about North Carolina right now." Moments later, CBS cut away.

The Horns will definitely start off next season in the top four, with most of their team coming back and TJ Ford probably not going to the NBA. Same with the Lady Horns. They'll come back a top four team jext year, what a dream season for Texas basketball.

from TexasSports.com: NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Carmelo Anthony stole the show and Syracuse earned another chance to win the national championship, in of all places, the Superdome. The super freshman scored a season-high 33 points and had 14 rebounds, and the Orangemen's 2-3 zone defense was tough enough for a 95-84 victory over Texas on Saturday night. The 54,432 fans were the most ever to see a Longhorn basketball game. Syracuse (29-5) will play Kansas on Monday night in the title game on the same court it had a chance to win it all 16 years ago. Then, Indiana's Keith Smart hit a jumper in the final seconds to beat the Orangemen 74-73. Now, Anthony and coach Jim Boeheim will get a shot to win the school's first national championship. Brandon Mouton had 25 points, his second 20-point performance in his last three games, for the Longhorns (26-7), the only No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four. Texas' 26 wins tied the Horns single-season victory record. Mouton led the Horns with 89 points in five tourney games (17.8 ppg.). "We broke a lot of barriers for Texas basketball this year," Barnes said. "This was a tough loss, but we can't forget that it's been a terrific season. We need to just keep building. I'm very optimistic about our future.