40 Acres Sports

The 2008-09 basketball season isn’t over yet but Texas fans can get started being excited for next year already. The 6-foot-3 guard had a great week at the McDonald’s All-American basketball game including showing great things in practice, 15 points in the game, and a slam dunk contest win. Check out high quality video of the dunk contest win below:

Haltom City defensive end [tag]Reggie Wilson[/tag] is the latest 2010 recruit to add his name to one of the most impressive recruiting classes in recent memory, and he may also be the most exciting. He’s only been playing football for a few years but he’s already a dynamic pass-rushing end who strikes fear in opposing quarterbacks. Check out some of his highlights below to learn exactly why you probably don’t want to be a Big 12 QB for the next few years:

The 2008-09 Texas Longhorns were far from a perfect team, but Saturday night the team showed a ton of heart but came up short in the final minute in a second round loss to [tag]Duke[/tag]. Despite being overmatched in some areas, the victim of some bad bounced (and calls), and unable to knock down free throws the Horns still had their chances to come up with a huge win. Watch highlights from the game below…

Yahoo.com interview from [tag]Varez Ward[/tag]:

Texas advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament behind a barrage of 3-pointers from senior guard [tag]AJ Abrams[/tag] and support from [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] and others. They started slow but a run of four straight 3’s by Abrams allowed the Horns to pull away from [tag]Minnesota[/tag] and eventually win 76-62.

It’s not really a highlight package, it’s an Abrams show but so was the game last night so it’s fitting. Watch it now…

Texas will play [tag]Duke[/tag] on Saturday at 7:15pm.

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ESPN’s Andy Katz spends a few minutes breaking down the Horns’ first round matchup with [tag]Minnesota[/tag]. He talks (very) briefly with both head coaches to get their thoughts on the tournament and their first round opponent.

Not many Texas fans have their own team making a long run in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but both college basketball experts from Yahoo Sports think the Horns could make some noise in the East regional. The team has been horribly inconsistent throughout the 2008-09 season but does have the ability to beat most anyone if they play well. Thanks to big front line including [tag]Damion James[/tag], [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag], and [tag]Gary Johnson[/tag] they believe the Horns match up well against [tag]Duke[/tag] and could give the region’s #2 seed fits.

Watch the region preview below:

Jason Horowitz and Greg Anthony of CBS Sports discuss the first round matchup between 7-seed Texas and 10-seed [tag]Minnesota[/tag]. Anthony talks about the Gophers’ lack of offense and something we all know very well: the Horns’ lack of quality guard play. If the Texas big men including [tag]Damion James[/tag] and [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] play well they could dominate the opening round game. Watch the preview below…

Texas opens the NCAA Tournament Thursday at 6:10pm.

Barely any Texas talk but ESPN has a brief look at the teams in the East Region of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Watch Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, and Scott Bilas break down the region below…

The Texas Longhorns did exactly what they were supposed to today in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament, they throttled an overmatched Colorado team that finished the season at the bottom of the conference standings. Junior center [tag]Dexter Pittman[/tag] played more minutes than he has any other game this season and dominated an outclassed CU frontcourt with 26 points. Brief ESPN highlights are below:

The Horns take on [tag]Kansas State[/tag] Thursday at 2pm.