The Daily Gus: December 5th

D.J. Augustin was arguably the best point guard in the nation last season being the all-everything for Texas as he took them to the Elite 8. He then declared for the NBA Draft, and a rebuilding year was expected for Rick Barnes' squad down in Austin. Seems everyone forgot the Longhorns still had one of the premiere guards in the Big 12. A.J. Abrams showed last night why Texas will still be a force and is one of the favorites to win the league once again, lifting the Horns to a 6-1 start. Abrams hit five three pointers and went 9 of 18 shooting and played 38 minutes to score 31 points, spurring Texas over UCLA in Austin. Texas jumped out to a nine point halftime lead, but the game was close the whole way, a contest that wreaked of March foreshadowing. Darren Collison had 22 for UCLA, but six turnovers really hurt the UCLA backcourt. Texas went out to Maui and got beat by Notre Dame in an amazing early season game and now comes back for a win in the Big 12-Pac 10 Hardwood Challenge Matchup Feast of two over powerful BCS leagues. The Horns seem to have gone under the radar, being overshadowed by Oklahoma in its own league and other powers nationally. The thing you have to respect about Texas is their willingness to never back down from an out of conference challenge, going anywhere to play anyone. Next week they will play Villanova in the Jimmy V Challenge and will later play at Wisconsin and at Arkansas. Rick Barnes, opposite of many of his fellow BCS schools (cough ACC) always believes tests in the non con make his team better in the league schedule, and it has certainly worked in the past.

Shoot-Around

- Let the BracketBuster return games begin; St. Mary's got beat last season in their only home defeat to Kent State, as Kent used that game to springboard into the NCAA discussion and the top 25. Thursday night, St. Mary's got some sweet revenge, going into the MAC favorite's home den and taking over in the second half for a 75-69 win. Patty Mills had 26, 19 in the second half and the Gaels keep rolling along, moving to 6-1 and picking up another good road win. Thursday night marked the beginning of a four game road swing for the Gaels, they will play at San Diego State, Oregon and Southern Illinois in the next week and a half. This could answer the question how good Patty Mills can make this team.

- Predictions are overrated. Butler moved to 6-0 and has showed no signs of slowing down after graduating five seniors last season. The Bulldogs kicked off their conference season last night, getting the toughest win in the league out of the way, nailing a buzzer beating three to win at Cleveland State. Cleveland St has been massively underacheiving, they are now 5-3 and are behind the proverbial 8-ball if Butler keeps playing like they know how. Butler shot 32% in the victory, as they slowed down the pace to a crawl, but forced the Vikings to play ugly, shooting 26% and 1-11 from three point range. If Cleveland State wants to even think about claiming the top spot from Butler in the Horizon things need to change before conference play gets going full force.

- Connecticut had looked real impressive in their seven victories to start the season; average margin of victory by 24 points per contest. The provocative thing was that the Huskies had not played a true road game until Thursday night, and boy did they get a rude awakening. Buffalo is a tough damn place to play, especially in the middle of December where there ain't much else to do except U Buffalo hoops and Bills football. Rodney Pierce got his game off for the Bulls, going for 28 and 10-19 from the field. Hasheem Thabeet was the player of the game though; Thabeet had 21 and 18 and combined with Jeff Adrien for eight blocks. The Bulls had a shot to tie the ballgame on the last possession but Pierce turned it over.

- Two years ago Wright State beat top 10 Butler twice and went to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Horizon league. This season Brad Brownell's squad has lost all leadership and to be honest talent. The Raiders are 0-5 after a 57-46 loss at home to Wisconsin Green Bay. Wright State gave up a 20-2 run late in the first half and mustered only three made threes on twenty attempts.

- Looks like we could have a title race in the Summit League this season rather than a simple Oral Roberts coronation. ORU traveled to Fargo last night and got beat by North Dakota State, as NDSU defended its homecourt to start the conference season. The Bison were picked second behind Oral in the Summit preseason poll, but ORU has struggled, going 1-5 in the non conference. North Dakota hasn't been much better, just 2-3, but last night was a huge home win that may indicate a time of change within the league. Guards Ben Woodside and Brent Winkelman combined for 44 points to lead NDSU.

- Blake Griffin was elbowed in the onions, but still managed to play his game and get 25 points and escape with a 73-72 victory over USC. The boys of Troy dropped to 5-3, and after two losses in Puerto Rico, Tim Floyd's squad is really struggling. The way they came out on the road and competed with a really good Oklahoma team. Daniel Hackett had 13 assists had showed Willie Warren a true point guard, as he helped Dwight Lewis get 25 points. The Sooners continue to move up the ranks, and show no signs of slowing down- although a true road test at Tulsa on Sunday should spark a little tenuous atmosphere.