After a pair of top 25 wins, the Oklahoma Sooners moved up five spots to No. 4 in this week’s AP Poll.

The Sooners are joined in the top 10 by No. 6 West Virginia, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 10 Kansas. The four schools are tied atop the Big 12 standings with conference records of 4-1. This season’s conference race is going to be one of the most intriguing one we’ve seen in a long time. Every time a great Big 12 team other than Kansas comes around, the Jayhawks still find a way to win the regular season title. Will Oklahoma, West Virginia or Texas Tech break that 13-year stranglehold? It Trae Young, Jevon Carter or Keenan Evans don’t make happen this time around I may lose faith in the possibility of it happening again in my lifetime. It almost seems predetermined at this point.

TCU stayed in the top 25 this week following a pair of losses that dropped the Frogs to 1-4 in league play. I’m glad the voters recognized that both of those losses came in overtime and away from home, because TCU is absolutely one of the 25 best teams in college basketball. They’re in a hole right now, but they’re perfectly capable of getting back to .500 in Big 12 play and earning a tourney berth for the first time since Billy Tubbs was the coach down there.

AP Poll

1. Villanova (63)
2. Virginia (1)
3. Purdue (1)
4. Oklahoma
5. Duke
6. West Virginia
7. Wichita State
8. Texas Tech
9. Michigan State
10. Kansas
11. Xavier
12. Cincinnati
13. Gonzaga
14. Arizona
15. North Carolina
16. Arizona State
17. Auburn
18. Kentucky
19. Seton Hall
20. Clemson
21. Tennessee
22. Ohio State
23. Michigan
24. TCU
25. Miami