NCAA Basketball top 25 power rankings: Tennessee and Villanova rise, Alabama falls

18. Texas (9-2)

Last offseason, it was quite the move to see Chris Beard depart Texas Tech to take over at Texas, with his current task to reignite a stagnant Longhorns basketball program. In his first season, he has this team headed in the right direction, but Beard is still just getting started. High expectations early for these Longhorns may or may not have been met at this point, but we’re still learning a lot about this team.

Texas has stockpiled a ton of wins against low major competition at home, while also picking up a decent win over Stanford this past weekend. The two losses on their resume came at Gonzaga and Seton Hall. There is no shame at all in losing to these two top 15 programs, but the Longhorns haven’t had any other opportunities to prove themselves. Texas looks great at home against bad teams but can they win these big games on a consistent basis? We simply don’t know yet.

The defense is great, as we’d all expect, but the Longhorns are still figuring things out on the offensive side. Timmy Allen and Tre Mitchell have provided many sparks on offense, but the Longhorns’ outside shooting has been ice cold at times this season. That 9-2 record does include some nice performances, especially on defense, but can this sort of thing continue against a rigorous Big 12 schedule?

Texas is another team that the ratings systems love, likely due to that strong defense, but without any good wins in nonconference play, do they have what it takes to make an impact in Beard’s first season in Austin?