Oklahoma City Miracle?

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Ok, so it's never a miracle when a team with the best player in the country beats a team that lost to Oral Roberts at home, but no one here is giving Texas much of a chance against Kansas. They're playing for the Big 12 tournament title at the Ford Center in about an hour, and I'm among the many expecting KU to win.

Texas hasn't looked especially good in either of their first two games, and Kevin Durant has yet to put together two good halves. D.J. Augustine seems to be taking about 30 minutes of floor time before warming up and finding his groove, and Connor Atchley is, well, he's Connor Atchley. A.J. Abrams is Texas' most consistent performer here in OKC, and his specialty is the fickle-by-nature three-pointer.

Meanwhile, Kansas is looking fine, and that's enough to beat the Longhorns if they keep underperforming. To be fair, Durant's had two incredible halves to go with his to ho-hum halves, and Augustine made a huge shot against Baylor, then several shots down the stretch versus Oklahoma State. If they can get hot together and stay that way, Texas' chances increase exponentially.

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After much soul searching and serious debate, Cody Hale and I have decided we'd rather live in Oklahoma City than Texas' panhandle. This has more to do with how awful the panhandle is than how great OKC is, but this town's not that bad if you stay in a select few areas.

When I say a 'select few', I'm giving OKC the benefit of the doubt. The only nice place we've found is Bricktown, but we haven't explored much. There are plenty of restaurants on and around downtown's knockoff Riverwalk, and the bars look nice from the outside. Circumstances beyond our control prevented us from checking out Skyy Bar or any of the others, but given the chance, we would have. We ate at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill, and a 1-hour 10-minute break not withstanding, it was pretty good. The cover band was too loud for conversation, but at least they sounded alright. The ribs were delicious, and the fried okra, "freedom fries," and caesar salad were all good. The corn bread was nothing special, but the cheap beer to wash it down with made up for it.

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Alright, 30 minutes till tipoff, time to get my game face on.
Quick, meaningless predictions:
Texas loses, 65-75
Durant scores 28
Craig Winder has three steals, three fouls and two points
Texas gets into the NCAA tourney as a 4 seed

Goldthwaite girl makes good, Texas town takes note

Jody Conradt, her team and a little town 2 hours northwest of Austin can finally breathe a long sigh of relief.

Conradt won her 900th game Tuesday night after losing six of her last seven, making her one of two coaches in the entire NCAA basketball landscape to reach that mark. Pat Summitt at Tennessee is the other. Conradt's left such legends as John Wooden, Dean Smith and Phog Allen in her wake.

While winning those hundreds of games - and a national title to boot - Conradt's earned attention and respect, receiving spots in multiple halls of fame. But no one's taken more notice of her than the people of Goldthwaite.

Goldthwaite boasts about 2,000 residents. It's the town where Conradt grew up, where she averaged more than 40 points a game during her four years in high school. And, according to Mayor Mike McMahan, it's the town she put on the map.

"We just feel fortunate she's from here, and we've known her all our life," McMahan said.

The 55-year-old McMahan has kept a close eye on Conradt's career, as has most of Goldthwaite's population. A sign near the city limits declares you're approaching her hometown.

Conradt's squad has struggled this season and will need a large dose of benevolence from the NCAA selection committee to compete in this season's tourney, but Conradt's accomplishment should not be overlooked.

Nor should the team. While the Longhorns have notched a modest 18 wins, they've beaten No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 13 Texas A&M. They've shown that when they put their minds to it, they can beat some of the top teams in the nation. With 64 bids to hand out, the selection committee just might be able to find a spot for the Texas team. ESPN's Bracketology currently projects the team as a 12 seed.

That was before they lost 67-58 Wednesday night against the Sooners. The ground these women stand on couldn't be any shakier.

"We're hopeful," Conradt said. "I think our team did everything they could do to try play themselves into the tournament."

But even if Conradt fails to put a team in the field of 64 for the second straight year, she knows she has loyal, albeit frustrated, fans in Goldthwaite.

"When we get beat, or when things are down, we all hurt," McMahan said.

"We all" is the 99.9 percent of town residents that he estimates know who she is. Their kids practice in the same gym that she started her basketball career in. Goldthwaite Eagles look up to her - their reminder that growing up in a pixel of a town doesn't mean they can't affect the world.

"Jody continues to be a role model," McMahan said. "Not only for girls, but for young men around here."

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.