By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent

Texas, a team that is a favorite to reach this season's Final Four, faces two foes over the next four days that should provide the Longhorns an accurate measuring stick.

Second-ranked Texas faces defending national champion North Carolina at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Arlington, Texas. The game, which will be the first basketball contest played in Cowboys Stadium, will be televised by ESPN. The 10th-ranked Tar Heels (8-2) have lost to No. 5 Syracuse and No. 3 Kentucky.

After facing North Carolina, the Longhorns have two days to prepare for No. 12 Michigan State (8-2), the team that the Tar Heels beat in the 2009 national championship game. The Spartans will travel to Austin for a 6 p.m. game that will be telecast on ESPN2.

"We're gonna learn a lot, no doubt," said Texas coach Rick Barnes, whose team will be facing its first ranked opponent. "We'll be exposed to a different level of talent. It'll be a faster game, a more physical game than what we've been in the past few weeks. We're getting closer to finding our identity. The last few games, we've made more strides on defense.

"We had the opportunity to play North Carolina and this was the only date where the (Cowboys Stadium) was free. These two games just kinda fell into place. The times we've played Michigan State has always been around this point of the season."

Texas will play at Connecticut on Jan. 23 which means the Longhorns will play three of the teams that played in the 2009 Final Four.

Kansas coach Bill Self recalls having a young team at Illinois that won at home by 27 over North Carolina and last year's Jayhawks team knocking off Tennessee. He said those types of high-profile games can help define a team's season.

"I can point to many games where I had a young team and they beat a ranked team or a traditional power and those can be turning points," he said. "Even if you lose a game like that, you can get your players to play at a different level because of the adrenaline rush.

"It's good to play in a game like that. I think that'll be a good game for the Longhorns."

The Longhorns have out-rebounded their first nine opponents by over 10 per game. The next two games figure to pose big challenges on the boards.

"We're gonna have to rebound the ball. North Carolina is bigger than we are, Michigan State is a physical team," Barnes said. Blocking out isn't good enough. You have to go get it. Both teams pride themselves on rebounding."

The Longhorns are regarded as one of the deepest teams in the country and that depth already has been tested. Sophomore guard Varez Ward has been lost for the season. Freshmen guards J'Covan Brown and Shawn Williams missed Tuesday's game with Texas-Pan American because of ankle injuries.

But UT will add to its roster when Jai Lucas becomes eligible. The younger brother of former Oklahoma State star John Lucas, he transferred from Florida last season and will make his debut against North Carolina.

"He's a player that really understands what we're trying to get accomplished as a team," Barnes said. "He's been a great addition to our program without playing a game. He's ready to help us."

Beware the (green) Phog
Before North Carolina faces Texas on ESPN Saturday, top-ranked Kansas plays host to Michigan at 11 a.m. on ESPN. KU, ESPN and the city of Lawrence are joining forces for a "Green Game."

The network has produced two short features about go-green initiatives on the KU campus. One involves the 15 elliptical machines in the David A. Ambler Student Recreation and Fitness Center that convert kinetic energy created by individual workouts and feed it back into the building's electrical grid. The second video features KU's Biodiesel Initiative, which collects used cooking oil from campus dining halls and converts it into biodiesel fuel.

Layups
Kansas State, which broke into the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 17 this week, is getting plenty of positive publicity. The Wildcats have two victories over ranked non-conference teams and that has helped vault them to No. 1 in the Ratings Percentage Index. "We're excited about where we are," coach Frank Martin said. "But we're also humbled enough to understand that the Big 12 is a bear of a league and we can't sit on our laurels - because they're not going to give us a parade in December." Martin was profiled and praised in stories by ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil and CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish.

After losing three consecutive games, Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel decided to change the Sooners' starting lineup. OU is now using a four-guard lineup with 6-6 senior Tony Crocker moving from guard to power forward. "It's helping us a lot on the defensive end," sophomore guard Willie Warren said of Crocker. "It's in his DNA to be tough. He's our do-everything guy." Over his last four games, Crocker has recorded the first three double doubles of his career.

Oklahoma State post player Marshall Moses was shooting 45.3 percent from the field Against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Moses made 10-of-11 shots. After the game, the 6-7 junior was asked what his shooting percentage should be. "You can't ask me that question because I'll give you a bogus answer - 100 percent. If you take a shot, you are supposed to believe you can make the shot."

Baylor's Ekpe Udoh, who sat out last season after transferring from Michigan, is giving the Bears a presence in the paint. The 6-10 junior leads the Big 12 with five double-doubles. He is averaging 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds while making 66.2 percent of his shots. "We knew we were going to get a great defensive player," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "But we were pleasantly surprised at how good he is offensively."

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said this week he regrets scheduling last Saturday's game with New Mexico. The Aggies lost, 84-81, in a game Played in Houston's Toyota Center before an announced crowd of 7,757. "I said no to New Mexico for six weeks, but I'm just too nice of a guy," Turgeon told the San Antonio Express News. "I should have never given in, and I'm mad at myself for playing that game. It was a huge favor - an early Christmas present for their program, and it just wasn't very smart on my part." Turgeon said he would continue to consider scheduling nonconference games in Houston or Dallas but that he would prefer to play schools from the "Big Six" conferences.

Kansas coach Bill Self on the Jayhawks' new football coach, Turner Gill: "Our guys will always support him. Certainly as long as I've been here ... we had one bad episode (with fights between football and basketball players). Except for that, we've had a great relationship with football. We'll continue to support them and they us. To me, supporting each other is part of the college experience. It's what makes it so exciting to be part of college athletics."

Colorado is 6-4 and the Buffaloes' main shortcoming thus far has been on the defensive end. "With still only one senior (guard Dwight Thorne), what we've done is, we're doing pretty well offensively," coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "(But) if you look at our four losses we need to improve defensively. That's been our focus. With a young team, in particular, a lot of times they do what most players do - they let their offense dictate their defense. That can't be."