POWER 16: March 4 Edition

I don't have enough writeup to justify a jump today, so I'll just get to the point.

1. Kansas Jayhawks
   
2. Syracuse Orange (+1)
   
3. Kentucky Wildcats (-1)
   
4. Purdue Boilermakers
   
5. Duke Blue Devils
   
6. Kansas St. Wildcats
   
7. Villanova Wildcats
   
8. New Mexico Lobos
   
9. West Virginia Mountaineers (+3)
   
10. Vanderbilt Commodores (+4)
11. Baylor Bears (+2)
    
12. Ohio St. Buckeyes (+3)
    
13. BYU Cougars (-4)
    
14. Butler Bulldogs (-4)
    
15. Texas Longhorns (-4)
    
16. Pittsburgh Panthers
    

Syracuse hops Kentucky for obvious reasons, but I'm sorry — the Jayhawks just de-pantsed a Top 5 team and deserve to remain at No. 1.

Kansas State missed a golden opportunity. With a win Wednesday night, the Wildcats would have moved to fourth.

But they maintained position because everyone else around them also lost at some point, so relative to the pack, we're doing fine.

BYU tumbled after losing at home to New Mexico, Butler fell because the Horizon League frankly sucks and Texas fell because ... uh, hello, have you watched Texas this season?

And yet, the Longhorns still are a better candidate than anyone else on the waiting list, which makes me wonder if the middle of the NCAA Tournament can challenge the Top 10 teams this season. I have my doubts.

West Virginia, Vanderbilt, Baylor and Ohio State were the chief beneficiaries of that sub-Top 8 shuffle.