While the majority of the toughest basketball continues to be played out East, both of the major Texas teams are still in the national rankings. The Texas Longhorns are still in the #1 seed conversation despite a stunning loss to Nebraska over the weekend, largely because every other Top 4 team lost with them last week. The Duke Blue Devils jumped the rest of the field to claim the #1 spot in both the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and the AP poll. The Longhorns checked in at #5 in both polls.
The Texas A&M Aggies continue to lurk in the bottom of the Top 25, nabbing the #17 spot in the ESPN/USA Today poll and the #21 spot in the AP poll. Right now ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Aggies as a #6 seed, which is right around the same level of respect they've gotten the last couple of years from the tournament committee.
A little closer to home, no Conference USA teams currently have spots in the Top 25, but a few of them do have slots in Lunardi's tournament field. The UTEP Miners and Memphis Tigers both are currently in, although they're both precariously close to the bubble. Another Conference USA team, the UAB Blazers, is lurking in Lunardi's "last four out." Both the Houston Cougars and Rice Owls would need a miracle run in the Conference USA tourney to be able to garner a spot in the NCAA Tournament.