Monday's Pregame Beat

7:00 pm: UConn @ Louisville: The battle of the bubble. Both the Huskies and the Cardinals are in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament this season. UConn has one great win, knocking off then-No.1, now-No.10 Texas at home, but has nothing else on their resume and has lost five of their last six games. On top of that, they are playing without head coach Jim Calhoun, which throws an even bigger wrench into their spokes. The Huskies desperately need a win to reverse their fortunes.

Louisville is struggling just as much. They have lost four of five, and their best win is over Cincinnati. Granted, the Cardinals have been on the wrong end of some tough calls of late, but at the end of the day a loss is a loss. It is too early to call anything a make or break game as far as the tournament is concerned, but if both of these teams end up on the bubble, this game could be seen as a de facto tie breaker.

9:00 pm: Texas @ Oklahoma State: The Longhorns are struggling. They have lost three of four, two of which came on the road, and are now two games back of Kansas in the Big XII standings. The issue? A bevy of problems. Their rotation is too deep, Dexter Pittman has not been playing well the last three weeks, they are having trouble stopping people. Hell, in their loss to Baylor, both Ekpe Udoh and LaceDarius Dunn had fouled out with more than two minutes left in overtime (Dunn was out in regulation), and Texas still lost, at home, despite Udoh not hitting a shot from the field in regulation.

The Cowboys are headed in the other direction. Before losing to Missouri on Saturday, OK State had won three in a row, including picking up a win at Kansas State. James Anderson has been great this season. He is averaging 22.5 ppg, and over 26 ppg in his last four.