4. Houston Cougars (14-2, 1-2 Big 12)
Last week's games
57-53 loss at Iowa State
68-67 loss at TCU
There were questions regarding whether Houston was ready for the Big 12 gauntlet after a weak nonconference schedule, and they were answered last week. They lost consecutive games on the road, albeit to very good squads. Perhaps the Cougars can return to their roots of hard-nosed, defensive-minded basketball now that they don't bear the No. 2 national ranking on their chest anymore.