We're about an hour and a half from the first tip of this year's NCAA Tournament, so what better time to remember why we love the damn thing so much in the first place.

Those of you rooting for Belmont to take out the second-seeded Blue Devils this evening, remember, it can happen. Just watch Tarvis Williams beat Iowa State with seven seconds to play to send Hampton to the second round. And even among non-Belmont backers, there's probably a fair number who would like to see Greg Paulus muff an easy one the way Jamaal Tinsley did in 2001.

Texas does not like to make it easy on itself, even as they improve to 6-2 in the Big 12. In eight conference games the Longhorns have trailed at the half in 5 of them, including all of the past 4. Despite that, they have only lost once in those games. as they pulled out an overtime road win over Iowa State, 71-65.

This time, they had to make a late comeback as the Longhorns were down by 11 with a little more than 10 minutes left and not even 40 points scored at that point. Texas proceeded to outscore Iowa State 25-14, as the Texas defense surged to take away everything inside for the Cyclones.

Jiri Hubalek, who had 22 points in the first 30 minutes for Iowa State, only had 2 for the rest of the game and overtime. Hubalek was completely shut down because the Cyclones could not get him the ball. Hubalek had only one shot attempt in that time.

A.J. Abrams was the big scorer for Texas with 25, via 7-10 on 3s. The rest of the Longhorns were 1-11 outside the perimeter. Texas has to be concerned about the way they play in the first half. They have lacked intensity and focus. Settling for jump shots and only putting defensive effort in spurts.

They may keep winning, but they are forced to play D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams huge minutes to do it. Augustin has played 38 minutes or more in all of the conference games and except for one game, the same situation is with Abrams. Both have averaged around 36 minutes for the season. That has to take a toll.

Yes, Kansas still is dominant in the conference. That is probably the one constant in the Big 12 this season. That and Oklahoma State still can't win a road game. Everything else is up for debate.

Last week, I noted that the Big 12 is a difficult conference to notch road wins. Naturally the road teams went 5-7 this past week to make things a little less skewed. Considering the road teams had won 5 games all season until last week, that was a huge swing.

Having a bad week: Missouri and Oklahoma State. Suspensions and extended losing streaks taking the hope out of the fans.

Having a good week: Oklahoma and K-State. Blake Griffin back much earlier than expected to help the Sooners win two big games, and the Wildcats are undefeated in the conference to make tonight's meeting with Kansas that much more dramatic.

Kansas came into conference play as clearly the best team. They've done nothing to dispel that notion. Not that teams aren't trying.

Baylor and K-State have started strong. Texas is always hanging about. Iowa State has gotten off to a nice start. Then it starts getting dicey. The Big 12 is the second toughest major conference to get a road win with the home teams going 13-5 (.722). Only the Big East at .778 (35-10) is tougher. There's going to be a lot of teams struggling to finish 8-8 in conference. Making it difficult for any of the other teams to stay close to the Jayhawks.

I've already voiced my displeasure with the inclusion of teams like Xavier among the mid-major morass. They have the tradition, the size and the talent to hang with any of the big boys but the Atlantic 10 is still a bit of a redheaded stepchild. The only way they can defy their label is by winning games, something they've done seven out of eight times this season after beating Creighton 79-66 last night. The deep Musketeers got a typically well-balanced scoring night, led by 28 from Drew Lavender. The 5-7 sparkplug usually finds one of his five teammates who score in double figures but took matters into his own hands from the opening tip. He scored 17 in the first half, hit four threes and still found the time to dish out 10 assists.

XU remains under the radar but is a team that can't be slept on. C.J. Anderson, Josh Duncan and Derrick Brown can beat you inside while Lavender, Stanley Burrell and B.J. Raymond control the perimeter. Few teams, regardless of conference, can match that kind of balanced scoring. We'll see who among Tennessee, Kansas State, Auburn, Virginia and Arizona State can, but first the Musketeers will face Cincinnati in a battle for city bragging rights next week.

Elsewhere on the hardwood:

Here's a hilarious clip from the 1992 NCAA Tournament Selection show when then-Iowa State coach Johnny Orr tells Dick Vitale what most of us think pretty much every time we see his mug on television:

According to Wikipedia, "Orr led Iowa State to [five] NCAA tournament berths before retiring from Iowa State in 1994. He remains the winningest coach in Iowa State history with 218 wins and 200 losses." Next to Vitale is Jim Valvano, probably one of the ACC's most charismatic coaches.

When: Thursday through Sunday

Where: Oklahoma City

Defending Champions: Kansas

Favorites: Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas

Dark Horse: Texas Tech

Storylines: Can Kansas make it to the championship game on Sunday and lock up a #1 seed? Can Kansas State or Texas Tech make a deep enough run (which will likely require winning the matchup against each other in the quarterfinals) to get off the bubble and into the Big Dance? Will Acie Law IV channel Randolph Childress circa 1995 and cary A&M to the title?

Best Potential Games: Kansas State vs. Texas Tech in the quarterfinals and Kansas vs. Texas A&M or Texas in the championship game.

Random Thoughts: The Big XII tournament always seems to be somewhat of a wild ride with more upsets than the other major tournaments, it's very rare the "chalk" holds up. Seeing Oklahoma State make it to Sunday, for example, wouldn't surprise me in the least. For total entertainment value, the Big XII tournament is second only to the ACC for me. This year does feature 3 heavy favorites and "everyone else" - but if one of the big 3 goes down early on this could get crazy in a hurry.

Kansas entered tonight's game against Iowa State riding a 5 game winning streak where the Jayhawk's average margin of victory was a ridiculous 27 points. Poor Iowa State did nothing in an 89-52 loss but further pad that scoring margin as KU's defense smothered the Cyclones from the opening tip and the Jayhawk offense got white hot after a sluggish start to the game. Kansas' withering defense held ISU to only 8 points in the first 15 minutes of the game, effectively ending the contest before it even started.

Kansas has now won 6 in a row by almost 29 points per game, and looks to be playing as well or better than anyone in the country as they make a push for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. No one has ever questioned the Jayhawk's talent, but earlier in the year they seemed a bit out of synch and never truly comfortable. As freshman Sherron Collins has emerged as the team's dynamic spark plug, KU has begun to fire on all cylinders and looks ready to take on anyone right now. This very well might be the best team in the nation entering the NCAA tournament.

Every Thursday I pick through the Big XII to put together a power ranking, and I was hoping that it would be easier this week than last. Uh yeah, forget about that. Texas Tech decided to become unstoppable at home, Texas went on the road and looked the bad kind of young and Oklahoma State is starting to show the cracks that were expected of a team with absolutely no depth.

1. Kansas

After they lost to Texas Tech, this spot was all Texas A&M's ... who then promptly went to Lubbock and lost themselves. So Kansas keeps the top spot for now, but this team has to be the most frustrating in the entire country right now. There is not a more unpredictable group than these Jayhawks, who will be the best team in the country one night and then complete no-shows the next.

2. Texas A&M

Tough loss in Lubbock, but this is still a quality squad and will make significant noise before the season is over. It's neck and neck between them and Kansas for the top spot in the league.

3. Texas Tech

When you beat Kansas and A&M in the same week (even if they were both at home), you jump to at least #3. Bob Knight's group is limited in talent, but they play their tails off and Jackson and Zeno are terrific at controlling tempo and running the motion offense with surgical perfection. They aren't going to win the league, but they are going to keep beating some good teams throughout the season. Absolutely no one is going to want to face them in the NCAA tournament.

4. Oklahoma State

OSU won the opening leg of bedlam in Stillwater, but even though I feel Oklahoma is better than most people give them credit for - it was still a very telling effort. This is basically a two man team on the offensive end (see the 49 point effort against Texas A&M), with everyone else feeding off of Curry and Boggan. They play great defense, but there's such little depth one of the Gotti boys are seeing serious minutes.

5. Texas

Texas looked awfully young against Villanova in Philadelphia - with the emphasis being on the "awful" part. That being said, they are still almost certainly a NCAA team this year and the Big XII is shaping up to be a 5 bid league. Durant isn't going to score 30+ every night, and when he doesn't someone else needs to step up and chip in. Asking two freshman, no matter how good, to carry a team is probably too much.

6. Oklahoma

The Sooners play great defense, they hustle and they just don't have top of the league type talent. How much better would this team look with Scottie Reynolds on it right about now? He'd probably make them a NCAA team, but right now they are looking like a good bet to make noise in the NIT. Don't be surprised when they grab their half of bedlam in Lloyd Noble.

Teams 7-12 after the jump

The conference season has begun, and the stronger teams in the league are starting to assert themselves ... so time for the first edition of the Fanhouse Big XII Power Rankings.

#1 - Kansas Jayhawks (16-2, 3-0)

Kansas has the Big XII's 3 best wins on the season and completely humiliated Oklahoma State to open league play. The game was played in Lawrence, but it could have been in the Sutton family backyard and it wouldn't have made a difference. It's highly doubtful a squad that lost a home game to Oral Roberts is going to go undefeated in the Big XII, but this KU team has the talent to do that.

#2 - Texas A&M (15-2, 3-0)

Acie Law IV is the best PG in the Big XII, and Billie Gillespie is making a name as one of the better young coaches in the country. It's hard to imagine the basketball team being better than the football team in College Station, but that's exactly the case.

#3 - Oklahoma State (16-2, 2-1)

Sean Sutton has such a thin team that one of the Gotti brothers was on the floor for all 3 OT's against Texas and he's forced to keep running out Byron Eaton despite the fact that he looks he spends each timeout placing bets with the hot dog vendor on how many turnovers he can commit before the next TV stoppage. Oh yeah, there's also Boggan and Curry and a crazy bunch of people in orange cheering them on.

#4 - Texas (13-4, 3-1)

Kevin Durant is the best player in the country, but might not be the most important freshman on his own team (that doesn't make sense, and is a bit of hyperbole - but humor me). D.J Augustin has been nothing short of spectacular at PG for the Longhorns, and is the engine that makes them tick. People talk about how young teams like UNC are, but nobody depends on their freshman more than Rick Barnes does his.

#5 - Texas Tech (13-5, 2-1)

Honestly, positions 5 through 9 could really be placed in about any order you want - but Texas Tech is probably the best of that crew. Jarrius Jackson is playing great this year, and he's carrying a pretty limited Red Raiders team right now.

#6 - Oklahoma (10-6, 2-2)

Some folks will be surprised that I have OU this high, but there's a lot to like about this team despite the record they have right now. First off, Capel has gotten to really defend (#6 in the country according to Ken Pomeroy) and they don't have a bad loss on the season. Every loss has been to a team in the RPI top 60, and they are going to be better during the league season than people expect. Don't be surprised to see the Sooners hanging around "the bubble" near the end of the season.

Bottom Half of the Big XII After the Jump