Birthplace of Basketball

Lawrence, KAN. -- Not too often you find yourself at the birthplace of basketball to see Texas fight for a share of the conference title. But here I am an hour and 20 minutes before tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse. The students are already filling up their allotted seats and the place is full of media. I'm here as a photographer. Pretty nice gig, in the second half I'll be next to an ESPN.com photographer with Getty Images and Reuters photogs next to him.

As usual, we had to drive up here, and we made it in about 11.5 hours. After being greeted with snow we headed out for a nice dinner at IHop before calling it a night. Now I'm in the media room, about to get lunch. This place definitely has a different feel than the Erwin Center, even an hour before the game starts. And it's nothing Texas could ever hope to change. This place is just special.

As far as the game goes, I'll predict 29 points from Kevin Durant and a 9-point, 70-61 loss for the Longhorns. Dallas Morning News columnist Chip Brown is predicting a double-digit defeat. Looks like giving Texas much of a chance in this environment isn't a popular move. Maybe we're all wrong.