Big 12 Basketball power rankings: Kansas remains at the top in March

T-5. Texas Longhorns (18-11, 8-8)

The Texas Longhorns find themselves in a shocking position, winners of four in a row after seemingly falling out of contention for the NCAA Tournament.

Despite being without a trio of starters in Jase Febres, Jericho Sims, and Gerald Liddell, the Longhorns are on the cusp of an improbable run to the NCAA Tournament behind the hot hands of Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey.

The Longhorns have their biggest game of the year on Tuesday when they will head to Norman to take on the Sooners. A win would be their third-consecutive win over a team in the NCAA Tournament and would move them within an inch of being in the field. If they can win their next game, the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State, then the Longhorns will have capped off one of the most shocking and improbable runs to the NCAA Tournament in recent memory.

T-5. Oklahoma Sooners (18-11, 8-8)

The Oklahoma Sooners entered the week off the bubble, and now find themselves a win away from likely cementing a spot in the NCAA Tournament field.

The Sooners won against both Texas Tech and West Virginia, a pair of big wins that propelled them into the projected field. Behind rising star junior Brady Manek, Lon Kruger’s group again looks to have found their way, miraculously, into the NCAA Tournament field.

The work is not done for Oklahoma, however. The game at home against the Texas Longhorns on Tuesday is a must-win, both for NCAA Tournament repercussions as well as Big 12 Tournament seeding. The winner of the game will likely, all things considered, have a first-round bye as a four seed in the tournament.

That all is much easier said than done. Regardless of how the Sooners finish the season, this year will go down as another amazing showing of Lon Kruger’s skill when it comes to developing an under-the-radar, star-power lacking team.