Thursday December 20th – #7 Duke at #9 Pittsburgh. The young Dookies will face a huge test as they travel to Madison Square Garden to face the Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and the Panthers. Both teams have played pretty easy schedules up to this point, so this game will be a great gauge of just how good they really are.

Saturday December 22nd – #4 Georgetown at #2 Memphis. A fantastic top-5 battle will take place at the FedEx Forum in Memphis when Roy Hibbert and the Hoyas come to town to face Chris Douglas-Roberts, Derrick Rose and the high-flying Tigers. If there is one game you watch this weekend, it is this one. Hibbert is the premier center in all of college basketball, and Rose is making a big splash in his freshman season.

If a battle of top-5 teams isn’t enough to satisfy you, may I also recommend watching #5 Texas at #10 Michigan State. The Longhorns have successfully survived the graduation of Kevin Durrant, thank you very much, with D.J. Augustin leading the charge. The Spartans are always tough to play at the Jack Breslin Arena, and the Longhorns know they will be in for a battle.

Post from: EveryJoe

Games to watch this week – 12/19

Johnson, a 6′6″ 210 pound forward from Houston, was diagnosed with a heart ailment this past June and was held out of all team-related conditioning and practice activities. Team trainers gave Johnson the green light to begin practicing with the squad on Friday, but did not clear him to compete in any pre-season or regular season games. Longhorn trainers want to monitor Johnson’s condition further before allowing him to play in any games.

You never like to hear about athletes dealing with heart conditions, especially after the tragic losses of players like Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers. I hope that the UT coaching and training staff exercises extreme caution with Johnson. With the loss of superstar Kevin Durrant from last year’s team, the Longhorns were counting on Johnson to make an immediate impact on this year’s team.

Hopefully, his heart will allow that to happen…

Post from: EveryJoe

Longhorn star recruit cleared to practice