(Da Bull, prior to his glorious rebirth in lucky silver & black)

Somewhat (cough) obscured locally amidst coverage of the no. 9 Longhorns (tipping off against Wisconsin in a few minutes) and UT football’s 4th consecutive bowl victory, the Austin Toros (9-4) have claimed 1st place in the D-League’s Southwest Division with last night’s 113-87 defeat of Tulsa. Said victory was achieved without the services of PG Keith Langford, summoned by the parent Spurs earlier in the day (and held scoreless in 4 minutes of action during San Antonio’s 83-73 loss to Toronto).

Langford became the 4th member of the Toros to suit up for the defending NBA champs this season, joining Marcus Williams, Ian Mahinmi and Darius Washington. Washington was waived by San Antonio this week, and while he didn’t accomplish much during his limited opportunities coming off the bench for the Spurs, he did average an eye-popping 28 points /6 assists per game earlier in the year with the Toros. The chances of his challenging Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker for playing time were pretty slim, but as of today, he’s a free agent and represents a far more appealing option at point guard than say, Nate Robinson.