Texas Beats UCLA in Premiere Game of Big XII/Pac-10 Hardwood Series

Filed under: Texas, UCLA, Big 12, Pac-10

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.