Power 16: Championship Week Edition

Here is my pre-conference tournament Power 16 poll, ranking the teams that should comprise the top 4 seeds in the NCAA tournament:

1. Ohio State
2. UCLA
3. Kansas
4. Texas A&M
5. Wisconsin
6. North Carolina
7. Florida
8. Georgetown
9. Memphis
10. Texas
11. Nevada
12. Louisville
13. Washington State
14. Maryland
15. Southern Illinois
16. Marquette

Following UCLA's loss at Washington in their regular season finale, Ohio State moves up to the #1 spot after squeaking past Michigan. Kansas has been on a roll lately, and won the Big 12 conference title outright by beating Texas at home. With that win, the Jayhawks were able to avoid playing either Texas A&M or Texas until the Big 12 final. Even though UCLA lost to Washington, they still had a big win earlier in the week at Washington State and they won the Pac-10 conference by 2 games. I don't think that Texas A&M should be penalized too much for losing a double overtime thriller to Texas, especially when Florida and North Carolina lost also. North Carolina fell to Georgia Tech and Florida lost to Tennesee, both of them in games that weren't especially close. Wisconsin was able to squeeze past Michigan State, after Kamroon Taylor hit a game-winning 3 with 4 seconds left.

Following that top tier of seven teams, the rest of the field is really wide-open. Even with the loss at Syracuse, Georgetown has still been playing great basketball lately. Memphis and Nevada have astounding records, but they both play in extremely weak conferences. Texas won at Texas A&M and almost at Kansas also, and they are really hitting their stride at the right time. Louisville has won 6 games in a row, and 10 of their lost 12, and the Cardinals are the #2 seed in the Big East tournament this week. Washington State bounced back from the tough loss to UCLA with a close win over USC, and they came in 2nd place in the Pac-10. Maryland is playing really well lately, and they won seven straight ACC games to end the regular season. Southern Illinois fell in the MVC tournament final to #2 seed Creighton, but still will get at least a 4 seed. Marquette's win over Pittsburgh was enough to push the Golden Eagles into the 16th slot.