Special guest Kelly Hines (@KellyHinesTW), veteran sportswriter of the venerable Tulsa World, joins Trib sports guys John Werner and Brice Cherry for some Big 12 and Top 25 basketball talk.

• Houston moved back to No. 1 this week for the fifth week this season, which has seen several different teams holding the top spot. That indicates may indicate there's no clear-cut favorite to win it all, but as of today, who's most likely to cut down the NCAA nets in April? Does that team come out of the Big 12 for the third year in a row? What about four Texas teams getting to the Final Four?

• On the flipside of the college basketball powerhouse that is Texas is what's happening with Oklahoma's Big 12 teams, which is ... not great. OU is in something of a rebuilding mode with second-year skipper Porter Moser; meanwhile, while OSU is in the bottom half of the league, it looks fairly likely to make the NCAAs this year, and Mike Boynton has only taken the Cowboys there once before. What's the feeling among the faithful north of the Red River? Heck, Oral Roberts may be the best team in the state.

• No. 1 South Carolina continues to reign on the women's side. Consider this: Dawn Staley's team's last six NCAA finishes are national champs, Elite Eight, Sweet 16, COVID-19 (with a 32-1 record), Final Four and another natty last year. Have the Gamecocks supplanted UConn as the premier program in women's college basketball? Parity is on the rise.

• John's back from a quick trip to Manhattan, Kansas, aka the "Octagon of Doom," which looked pretty great on TV. We've made trips to Allen Fieldhouse and other cool places in Big 12 play over the years, but what's the best basketball venue Kelly and John have ever been to, and what's on your bucket list?

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Music: https://purple-planet.com/