We deemed Texas as the deepest team in the nation entering the season, but the Longhorns may have already suffered a critical loss with a potential season-ending knee injury to starting guard Varez Ward suffered in pre-game warmups last night. 

The Texas staff had been raving about Ward's play the entire offseason and the Alabama native started the first three games of the season and averaged 6.7 points and 2.3 assists - primarily due to his effort and defensive intensity. 

Ward landed awkwardly in the layup line prior to the team's victory over Pittsburgh and had to be carried off the court on a stretcher. The extent of the injury to his right knee is still unknown. 

Texas still has plenty of options in the backcourt with point guards J'Covan Brown and Dogus Balbay, wings Avery Bradley and Justin Mason - and Rick Barnes will also have Jai Lucas eligible after the first semester. 

However, losing Ward would certainly hurt. 

FOXSPORTS.COM STUD OF THE NIGHT: It's hard to discount a triple-double, so we're giving the nod to Ohio State's Evan Turner - who recorded his second triple-double of the season with 16 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a 20-point rout over Lipscomb. 

DUD OF THE NIGHT: Going with Western Kentucky after the Hilltoppers lost to Indiana State. It snapped a 15-game home winning streak for Ken McDonald's club - which had also won 29 of its last 30 at Diddle Arena. 

MID-MAJOR STUD: Morgan State's Reggie Holmes scored 34 points in a win against Arkansas. Holmes was 8-of-16 from the field, 5-of-10 from long range, 13-of-15 from the line and also grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists in the 97-94 victory. 

STAT OF THE NIGHT: Mississippi State senior big man Jarvis Varnado blocked four shots in a win against Bethune-Cookman and broke Shaquille O'Neal's SEC mark (412) for career blocks with 413. 

ON TAP: The game of the night is the Maui Championship contest between Gonzaga and Cincinnati. Here are the other games to watch tonight: 

1) Gonzaga vs. Cincinnati - The Maui title game is a matchup of two teams that had questions entering the year. 

2) LSU vs. UConn - Can Tasmin Mitchell and the Tigers pull the upset over Jim Calhoun's club in the NIT semifinals in New York City?

3) Vanderbilt vs. Arizona - The loser of this Maui Invitational consolation game goes back to the mainland 1-2 in the event - which doesn't bode well for either club. 

John Holland almost gave up basketball coming out of Fordham Prep.

Boston University’s leading scorer at 21 points per game and one of the leading candidates to win America East Player of the Year was all set to go to St. John’s and become a regular student.

There were no D-1 scholarship offers for the Bronx, N.Y., native coming out of high school, so he inked with Blinn Junior College in Texas.

Then one day he was on the computer and stumbled across the St. Benedict’s Prep program.

``I emailed them about 15 times,” Holland said. ``Every day.”

``They had no idea who I was,” he added.

Finally, Holland heard back from them and was invited down to team workouts – where he suffered from a mammoth-sized case of nerves upon walking in the gym and seeing highly touted players Corey Stokes, Samardo Samuels, Lance Thomas and Gregory Echenique.

But he performed well enough to make the prep school team and started much of the season.

Monmouth, St. Peter’s, Manhattan and eventually Boston University came calling and the 6-foot-5 former baseball star opted to take his game and Yankees hat to Beantown – where he won Rookie of the Year honors in 2007-08.

Holland averaged 18.1 points overall, including 20.5 in America East play, last season as a sophomore – making shots from behind the arc while shooting nearly 40 percent en route to first-team all-league honors.

But the numbers truly are irrelevant for Holland – a team guy who has bought into his role coming off the bench for rookie head coach Pat Chambers.

``We need more firepower off the bench,” Chambers said. ``And he hasn’t complained once.”

``I’ll do whatever the team needs,” Holland said.

Holland scored at least 20 points in all three games in San Juan – including 21 in a win against Indiana.

``It’s a real good win over such a storied program,” Holland said. ``It’s the biggest win in my college career – and it’s right there with winning the championship in Little League.”

``It was a great experience out in Puerto Rico, but we came here to win every game,” he added. ``We’re not satisfied with just one win. I’m happy with the win, but it’s not what we came here for.” 

I’m not certain there was a more meaningful win in the early season than Purdue’s victory against Tennessee.

This was the first matchup of legitimate Top 10 teams – both who have a shot to be in Indianapolis come April.

The Boilermakers depth – which was already in question – had taken two hits with the loss of starting point guard Lewis Jackson (potentially for the season) and freshman big man Sandi Marcius – who have both suffered foot injuries.

But Matt Painter’s team displayed it has enough to knock off elite and experienced teams such as Tennessee.

``I think it really showed something – not having Lewis and also being without JaJuan (Johnson) for most of the game,” Purdue star Robbie Hummel said after the 73-72 victory to win the Paradise Jam. ``We had some guys step up. To beat a team like Tennessee says a lot about our team.”

E’Twaun Moore and Hummel combined for 42 points in the win – one in which Johnson, a vastly improving big man, only played 18 minutes due to foul trouble.

Veteran guards Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant both played their roles, but it was guys like freshman Kelsey Barlow, who has been pressed into action as the team’s backup point guard, who was key even though he missed two free throws late in the game.

``He got a couple of monster rebounds,” Hummel said.

Hummel missed his first free throw with a 72-70 lead and 32 seconds left before Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl called two timeouts in an effort to fluster Hummel.

``I felt like a field goal kicker,” Hummel said.

Hummel sank the second free throw to go up 3, but Bobby Maze came back down the court and cut the lead to 73-72. After Barlow missed two at the line, Tennessee’s Wayne Chism took an ill-advised (but wide open) 3-pointer with six seconds left that would have won the game.

RANDOM NOTES: Boston College misses Rakim Sanders (ankle). The Eagles lost to Northern Iowa on Monday night and had also dropped a game to St. Joe’s. … Nice to see DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright, one of the whose team was winless last season in the Big East, get off to a 3-1 start with wins against St. Joe’s and Northern Iowa. ... Ohio State sophomore guard Walter Offutt is transferring out of the program. ... South Carolina's versatile forward Dominique Archie is out indefinitely with a sprained right knee. ... As if USC wasn't thin enough, Trojans coach Kevin O'Neill has lost Kasey Cunningham to a season-ending knee injury. ... Marquette has lost reserve big man Chris Otule for the year with a broken right foot suffered in practice yesterday. 

First of all, I miss the 85 degree weather in Puerto Rico already. Can’t someone convince the NCAA to build an arena down there and permanently place the Final Four in San Juan? I mean, seriously, Detroit or San Juan?  It’s a no-brainer.

Here are the nightly awards:

FOXSPORTS.COM STUD OF THE NIGHT: This belongs to Cincinnati big man Yancy Gates, who had 16 points and 10 boards and was one of the keys in the Bearcats victory against ranked Vanderbilt out in Hawaii.

FOXSPORTS.COM DUD OF THE NIGHT: OREGON – Even without big man Michael Dunigan, who sat out the second straight game with a hip injury, there’s no reason Ernie Kent and the Ducks shouldn’t be getting past Montana on their home court. The Ducks have now lost to Portland and Montana in successive games and need to get it together quickly.

FOXSPORTS.COM MID-MAJOR STUD: Saint Mary’s underrated big man Omar Samhan had a monster night with 33 points and a dozen rebounds. It may have been against Cal Poly, but Samhan did it the previous contest as well when he went for 25 & 18 in a loss to Vanderbilt.

STAT OF THE NIGHT: Texas’ freshman trio of Avery Bradley, J’Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton combined for 41 of the team’s 85 points in a rout over Iowa. Hamilton had 16, Brown finished with 14 and Bradley scored 11. The trio logged a total of 62 minutes on the night.

ON TAP: Here is my list, in order, of what I want to see tonight:

1) Florida State at Florida – There’s no love lost between these two programs. The winner could crack next week’s Top 25 (although Florida plays Michigan State on Friday in New Jersey).

2) Maryland vs. Cincinnati in Hawaii – This is a second-round matchup in Maui between two teams that will likely be on the bubble come March. This will likely be a nice resume victory for the winner.

3) Texas vs. Pittsburgh – I’d be shocked if Jamie Dixon and the Panthers gave the deepest team in the nation a legitimate run, but Dixon is a heck of a coach so you never know.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – I'll have more in this space later today and tomorrow on what I saw in my travels the last six days in St. Louis, New York and Puerto Rico – where I caught 16 overall and potentially 13 NCAA teams.

One of the most fascinating aspects of my job is watching some of these kids grow from the first time I see them as high school sophomores on the summer circuit.

A good example is Scoop Jardine at Syracuse, who played with more poise and maturity the other night in Madison Square Garden than I had seen from him in all my years of watching the Philly native.

Another was Taylor King, who burst onto the scene at ABCD Camp prior to ever playing a high school game at Mater Dei. King played on one of the most stacked teams ever in the summer, the SoCal All-Stars club that had Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings and Daniel Hackett.

"They were a winning machine," Scout.com's Dave Telep said of that group.

Here's my story after last night's Villanova victory over Ole Miss on King and how far he's come – and how he got to the Main Line:

msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/10416828/Kin...

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