College Basketball Couch Power 10 (Feb. 16th)
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Chaos reigned supreme in the Big 12 this week: Kansas ended Arizona's perfect season a week ago in an all-Top 10 affair, and then both teams lost on Saturday.
It may just be the 2nd edition of the 2026 Couch Power 10, but lest you think the college basketball season is only just ramping up: one month from today, we will all be filling out our brackets! That's right, less than a month from now, all 31 conference champions will have been crowned, and the full field for March Madness revealed. That's why, from here until the end of the season, you'll see us getting in the holiday spirit with our own take on the ideal seed projections at the end of this article.
So really, this is the time of the season where things start coming clearer into focus. Where pretenders are separated from contenders, wheat from the chaff. Where the cream rises to the top. And many other sports cliches, too!! And yet...that's hardly what we can say is happening. Indeed, 11 ranked teams lost last week, including the top-ranked of them all, and over half of those losses were to unranked team. But beloveds, that's why this sports' postseason is nicknamed March Madness and not March Mundanity. The craziness never stops! The very night I published my Power 10 last week, in which I had made the strong case for Arizona being the # 1 ranked team, the Wildcats fell for the first time all season, on the road at Kansas, even with the Jayhawks' star player sidelined. Neither team was content to stop there, though, as each further hampered their Big 12 hopes (and seeding position) with a loss on Saturday, Kansas's thrilling victory quickly wet-blanketed by a blowout loss at Iowa State, and Zona falling at home in overtime to Texas Tech. Duke bounced back from their heartbreaking loss at North Carolina well, with two blowout wins including over # 20 Clemson (who had lost at home to unranked Virginia Tech earlier in the week), but the same can't be said about Carolina. My Tar Heels suffered an absolute nightmare last Tuesday, sleepwalking to a loss at unranked Miami, but more significantly losing star player Caleb Wilson to an extended injury in the process. While the Heels' season was potentially crumbling, Purdue was earning a massive road win at Nebraska and upsetting the order of operations in the Big Ten; an order that was further upset by unranked Wisconsin stunning Illinois on the road, and then blowing out Michigan State a few days later. Madness!!
True to form for the last few years in college basketball, it's been a wild and unpredictable season. Despite this, I’ll try my hand at ranking the top teams based on what they’ve done to date:
1. Michigan
Michigan didn't exactly face stiff competition this week in order to reclaim the # 1 spot, making easy work of Northwestern (the worst team in the Big Ten) and UCLA at home. But the combination of the 10-win streak and Arizona's big losses made this an easy decision, as the Wolverines once again own the # 1 strength of record in the country.
2. Arizona
An 0-2 week is never ideal, but it can feel especially shellshocking after starting the season 23-0, and perhaps that's how the Associated Press felt, as they dropped the Wildcats all the way to # 4 in today's brand new poll. I'm not ready to go to that far with it; this time last week, I know I wasn't alone in thinking this was likely the best team in America, and two close losses to Top 15 teams-- one on the road and one in overtime --don't suddenly undo a season of good work. Still, Tommy Lloyd will need to pick his team up fast: a tricky BYU visits two days from now, and then comes a trip to Houston on Saturday in a possible Final Four preview.
3. Connecticut
For a program that's won 2 of the last 3 national championships, it seems like UConn isn't commanding a lot of talk at the moment. I imagine a lot of that has to do with how fewer opportunities the Big East has given this year for big wins than every other major conference: the Huskies have only one remaining game against a team currently ranked, and it's the same St. John's team that just beat them 2 weeks ago. But still, Dan Hurley and co. have more than earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, and even with a surprisingly nervy win over Georgetown over the weekend, a 23-2 record against a Top 15 strength of schedule is a pretty damn good body of work.
4. Houston
Last year's national runners-up may have been the biggest winners of the week, other than newly minted #1 team Michigan. Houston quietly dispatched Utah and Kansas State with ease, and ascended to a solo 1st place in the Big 12 as the other top teams in the conference all beat each other up. That said, they have a dogfight of their own on the road against Iowa State tonight, so watch this space.
5. Duke
As mentioned in the intro, Jon Scheyer could not have asked for a better response from his team to the heartbreaking rivalry loss (though the same could not be said of the coach himself, whose attempts to deflect the narrative by accusing UNC students of punching and shoving his staff were not proven to hold any sort of merit). Duke barnstormed through Pitt and Clemson, the latter a matchup of 1-v-2 in the ACC standings. They're putting the finishing touches on a blowout of Syracuse as I write this, as well, and there can be little doubt the Blue Devils are not only still the class of the ACC, but a title contender to boot.
6. Purdue
It didn't take long for my "the polls are underrating Purdue" take to age well! 24 hours after publishing that argument, the Boilermakers scored their biggest win of the season, taking down Top 10 foes Nebraska in Lincoln. They then completed their successful week on the road with a weekend blowout of a tricky Iowa team. It's been a more topsy-turvy season than the preseason # 1 team anticipated, perhaps, but with all 3 of their remaining games against ranked opponents coming at home, this home stretch is a big opportunity for Matt Painter's men to prove their mettle and keep climbing back up the rankings. The challenge starts tomorrow, with top-ranked Michigan coming to town.
7. Iowa State
Arguably no team epitomized the chaos in the Big 12 standings this week better than Iowa State did. Last Tuesday night, they conceded the last 13 consecutive points of the game and fell to unranked TCU, their first loss in a month. Four days later, they dismantled a Kansas team who had just ended Arizona's perfect season-- and another huge win might be in the works, as they lead newly-minted Big 12 leaders Houston at halftime as I write this. Iowa State is a flawed, but well-coached and well-balanced team, and the fact that they have 3 losses to unranked teams but a 3-0 record against Top 10 teams feels pretty much right.
8. Nebraska
The bad news? The overtime loss to Purdue marked Nebraska's 3rd loss in 4 games after the dream 20-0 start. The good news? Nobody's gonna fault Nebraska for losing 3 games to Top 10 teams by a combined 12 points in regulation, and they bounced back well with a dominant win over bottom-feeders Northwestern over the weekend. Fred Hoiberg's Cornhuskers still have plenty to play for, starting with a game against their coach's old archrival tomorrow night.
9. Texas Tech
I'll confess, I wince a little bit at putting a 6-loss team in the Top 10 in mid-February. But in fairness, first off, Texas Tech doesn't have a bad loss amongst the bunch: the only one of the 6 that wasn't at the hands of a Top 20 team was their stumble a couple weeks ago at UCF, a bubble team playing at home. And more importantly, even before Saturday's big win, Tech possessed a handful of wins any team in America would kill to have on their resume. But going on the road to the # 1 team who just lost a big conference game, and beating them at their place? That's the most impressive feat yet. First Duke, then Houston, now Arizona...Texas Tech very feasibly could have already beaten 3 Final Four teams. It's a crowded field of contenders in the top half of the Big 12, but with the wins in the bank and trips to Iowa State and BYU on the horizon, the Red Raiders have every opportunity to stake their claim.
10. Miami (Ohio)
Miami of Ohio played just 1 game last week since their debut in the Couch Power 10, and it was a 16-point blowout of rivals Ohio, keeping their perfect season alive. Yes, their schedule's a joke!! Who cares!! They're 26-0!!! It's Miami-Ohio!! It's fun!! It's March!!!
Just missed: Illinois, Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Kansas, Saint Louis, Carolina legend Caleb Wilson :(
BONUS!
Couch Regional Seeding
MIDWEST (Chicago):
1. Michigan
2. Iowa State
3. Miami (Ohio)
4. Kansas
WEST (San Jose):
1. Arizona
2. Nebraska
3. Texas Tech
4. Gonzaga
EAST (Washington, D.C.):
1. Connecticut
2. Duke
3. Illinois
4. Saint Louis
SOUTH (Houston):
1. Houston
2. Purdue
3. Vanderbilt
4. Florida
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