Big 12 Basketball: Power Rankings in the home stretch

4. Texas Longhorns, 16-9, 7-5 Big 12

What on earth is going on in Austin?

The Longhorns lost Cameron Ridley for the season in December, then proceeded to lose two of their first three Big 12 conference games, to TCU and Texas Tech! Since the loss to TCU, the Horns are 7-3, with their only losses being at Kansas, at Oklahoma, and at Iowa State, and they played so well in all three of those games that they were winnable games down the stretch.

They have beaten Iowa State, West Virginia in Morgantown, they blew out Vanderbilt, and beat Baylor in Waco! Texas fans are already ready to declare Shaka Smart as the greatest coach in the history of that program.

In the same 10 game stretch, they have given up more than 70 points just three times, to Iowa State twice and once to Kansas, which is understandable. They have given up more than 60 points only five times. Opponents are shooting just 41% against them. Their defense has been absolutely suffocating. Their remaining schedule gives them plenty of opportunities for big wins as well:

Also, this is completely unrelated to how well the Longhorns are playing lately, but I never knew that Isaiah Taylor used to have Jameel McKay-esque braided hair. As someone who hasn’t changed his haircut in about… 13 years, I’m not well versed enough in hair styles to know what it’s called. But I do know that Taylor made a good decision to cut that thing off of his head. At least I think so.

Next: Number 3