College Basketball Regional Power Rankings: Can the Texas Longhorns win the Big 12?

Feb 1, 2014; Austin, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns guard

(1) reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half at the Frank Erwin Special Events Center. Texas beat Kansas 81-69. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

I picked an amazing Saturday to be lazy and watch college basketball on the couch all day. There was a buffet of great games and fantastic finishes. I didn’t have to resort to Netflix or HBO one time. Five Top 10 teams went down, including number one Arizona. Syracuse’s thrilling overtime victory over Duke might be the best game of the year. Texas clobbered Kansas to extend its winning streak to six. Even my Aggies sucked me into watching their horrendous effort at Florida. Could we shoot over 30% from the field? Could we somehow reach the 40-point mark? Or did we only shoot 26% for the ENTIRE game in a 69-36 massacre that made me wonder if the NCAA will ever establish a mercy rule?

No more Aggie basketball ranting, I swear. I want to discuss the teams that don’t make me pull my few hairs out. I’m changing the scope for these rankings and adding the Oklahoma schools to my coverage. The Sooners and Cowboys will add some much-needed depth to this list as some of the other Texas teams start to fade, such as a program in College Station. Plus, our northern neighbors are closer to Dallas-Fort Worth than most of these schools, anyway.

But I digress. Let’s power rank the best in college hoops for our region this week. As my man Jay Z would say, “On to the next one.”