FanHouse AJ Abrams

This time it ended in a smile. And a grin. And a basketball held aloft like it was the Stanley Cup. And an ending that seemed awfully familiar.

Duke is back in the Sweet 16. Finally. Again.

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All the hype prior to Saturday night's primetime showdown between Texas and Oklahoma was focused on superstar Sooners forward Blake Griffin, but in the end it was two guards who stole the show, with Texas' sharpshooter getting the last laugh.

Griffin suffered an apparent concussion after taking an elbow to the nose midway through the first half, and didn't play at all in the second period, finishing with just two points on the night. The Longhorns went on a run right after the break to go up 12, but for a while it looked like freshman Oklahoma guard Willie Warren would be the star of the night, as he hit four threes in a 3:28 span to put OU up five.

There was a time when February belonged to college basketball and the intricate puzzle of creating a 65-team bracket from a list of 340-some-odd candidates.

Then we got Rick-rolled by the steroid investigation.

So to get things where they should be here's a steroids tip that doesn't involve digging through someone's garbage:

Investigate the NCAA Tournament bubble.

No. 9 Texas jumped all over No. 8 UCLA early and held on for a 68-64 victory. A.J. Abrams scored 31 points and came down huge down the stretch for the Longhorns.

I'm a sucker for these conference battles. We just came off of the highly successful ACC/Big Ten Challenge which came after the ACC's much hyped series with the Big East. Not only does it settle some bragging rights, it allows schools to travel into unfamilar territories for exposure and recruiting. That's why this Big XII/Pac-10 Hardwood Series should do well.

It allows the Big XII to get a few games on the west coast and allows the Pac-10 schools to hit the south and midwest. With ESPN backing the series, it ups the exposure. It is also a great measuring stick to see how the conferences stack up.

The Big East and SEC have a different arrangement. They will bring just four teams from each of their conferences to play in "neutral site" games. Marquette-Tennessee and South Florida-Vanderbilt will be played in Nashville; Mississippi State-Cincinnati and Ole Miss-Louisville will be played in Cincinnati.

Well, I guess all the college basketball honks get what they wanted: Luke Harangody's Notre Dame Fighting Irish facing off against Tyler Hansbrough and the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Maui Invitational championship.

Notre Dame 81, Texas 80: Harangody poured in 29 points and grabbed 11 boards in the win for the Irish. Notre Dame had to watch an A.J. Abrams half-court heave hit the front of the rim before celebrating their hard-fought win. The Irish made this game closer than it should have been as they missed 11 of their 21 free throw attempts. This is the only one of the eight games played in the Maui Invitational to have a margin of victory under 18 points.

North Carolina 98, Oregon 69: The Heels jumped all over Oregon early with aggressive defense and an offense that, when ran the way Roy Williams wants, looks unstoppable. Danny Green led the way again with 21 points.

The Maui Classic has always been one of the must-see events of the early part of the college basketball season. You get to see coaches in Hawaiian shirts (picture Phil Martelli), beautiful bump shots of the beaches and some good hoops action.

This year's Invitational is no different. The No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels headline the event which begins today. But they aren't the only story to watch as six of the eight teams in Maui were in the NCAA Tournament last year:

North Carolina: The top ranked team is the favorite to win this thing but the Heels are coming in on shaky ground. Marcus Ginyard is still out as is Tyler Zeller who is done for the year with a broken wrist. The story will be Tyler Hansbrough's shin. He played Friday against UCSB but will see his minutes carefully monitored this week. If he does well, so will the Heels.

Notre Dame: Doesn't everyone want to see a matchup of Hansbrough and Luke Harangody? It could happen if the Irish get by the Texas Longhorns. The key to winning the Maui will be Mike Brey's coaching against some of the biggest names in the nation.