basketball

It looks like the NBA is back in business. It looks like we'll be back ballin' on Christmas day.

You could be a high flying, slam dunking, Red Raider round baller! Well, I guess you need to have talent and you need to meet NCAA guidelines and stuff, but you could be a part of the team.

Oft-injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has informed the NBA he has retired after eight seasons in the league. Yahoo! Sports first reported the news. The top pick in the 2002 draft was an eight-time all-star, despite averaging just 48 games in each of the last five seasons. Yao appeared in only five games during the 2010-11 season after suffering a stress fracture in his left leg Nov. 10. Read

LeBron James has been accused of not showing up in crunch time of the NBA Finals. He may want to consider not showing up in Peoria, Illinois on Thursday, as well. The Peoria Chiefs, Class A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, will hold a “LeBron James NBA Championship Replica Giveaway Night” on Thursday when they host the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

According to a tipster who sent a photo of the receipt to the website, Brobible, Miami Heat swingman LeBron James ran up a $171,937 bar tab at the XS Nightclub in Las Vegas earlier this year. While the bulk of the amazing bar tab goes to the purchase of high-end champagne, perhaps the most offensive thing about it is that James wound up paying $108 for 12 Bud Lights...

I'm all for second and even third chances, but Billy Gillispie has got a lot to prove if he gets the coaching job at Texas Tech. Read more after the break.

It's time to pick up your "Pick 64 Bracket" from FMX and Hooters. We've got cool prizes for every round of the tourney. More after the jump.

Both Texas Tech basketball teams will play their season finale on Saturday. The Red Raiders will head to College Station to battle the ranked Aggies, while the Lady Raiders will play host to ranked Oklahoma at the United Spirit Arena. Keep reading to get a preview for both games.

There are many reasons to go to Cal-Tech, but basketball isn't one of them. The again, maybe they've learned to harvest that brain power to figure out how to win. The team just broke a 310 game conference losing streak. Read more and check out some cool basketball videos after the jump.

Leave it to the Lady Raiders to bring back pride and honor to Texas Tech athletics. At a time when there is so much division and discussion about the other sports programs, Kristy Curry's squad squashed Baylor's 21 game winning streak. Read more after the break.

This week in sports, the contenders for the Vince Lombardi trophy were whittled down to four, tennis stars competed for the Australian Open title, and snowboarders defied gravity at the Snowboard World Championships in Spain. These are some of the weeks best moments caught on camera...