A.J. Abrams to Declare for Draft (?!?!)

Fox Sports is reporting that A.J. Abrams is going to declare for the draft. He won't hire an agent, and he'll probably still come back to Texas, but apparently he's going to take advantage of a recent rule change that allows NBA teams to pay for his workouts while he weighs his options.
I suppose he's got nothing to lose, unless he actually enters the draft, but I'm not sure how much he stands to gain either.
On the flip side, just goes to show you that yesterday when I was among the reporters hounding D.J. Augustin about whether or not he'll go pro, I should've checked up with Abrams. I could've maybe been the first to know and might have gotten some insight into what he's thinking.

Return to my roots

This blog was born in Kansas City, MO during Big 12 Media Days for the 200 football season. Back then, Matt Mosley hadn't caught on to blogging yet, and this was the one and only Hash Marks blog.
Oh well, we can't all be as clever and original as me.
Anyway, I'll be back there on Thursday to cover the Big 12 tournament, and I'll try to update regularly.

Quick recap of Texas basketball awards and recognitions so far:
Rick Barnes: NABC Distict 9 Coach of the Year, All-Big 12 Coach of the Year
D.J. Augustin: ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American, First Team Sporting News All-American, First Team All-Big 12, USBWA All-District VII Team
A.J. Abrams: USBWA All-District VII Team, Second Team All-Big 12
Damion James: USBWA All-District VII Team, Second Team All-Big 12
Justin Mason: All-Big 12 Defensive Team

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.

***

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.

***

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