The end of the college basketball regular season is fast approaching, and at this point, we kind of know what every team in the state is, though there's still conference tournaments to be played that can shake up the NCAA Tournament field. With that in mind, let's do one more Texas 25, our look around the women's basketball landscape in the state of Texas where we put teams in tiers.
National Title Contenders
Texas (21-7): Texas is the only team in the state that looks to have a shot at a national title. The Longhorns lost some games early, which has hurt their overall ranking, but they're 12-3 in Big 12 play and have won eight of their last nine contests.
Conference Contenders
Lamar (16-10): The Cardinals went on this six-game winning streak a little too late, with the team sitting two games back of first place Southeastern Louisiana with three games to play. Not impossible that the Cardinals win the Southland, but it'll be tough.
Stephen F. Austin (22-5): The Ladyjacks are 1.5 games back of Southern Utah for the WAC lead with three games left. While the team's lost more conference games this year than they did in the last two years combined, that's really more of a testament to the strength of this program, because three WAC losses ain't bad.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (16-10): The Islanders looked like they were going to run away with the Southland before a surprising three-game losing streak. They've won two in a row since though and are a game back of SELA.
Texas State (19-8): The Bobcats are a game back of the two teams tied for first in the Sun Belt, James Madison and Troy, with two games to play. Can Da'Nasia Hood and Kennedy Taylor find a way to get the Bobcats their first Sun Belt title?
Stock Rising
Houston (11-14): Houston is 8-4 in conference play, which includes handing South Florida its only AAC loss. The Cougars struggled a lot early this season, but they've got some momentum here late. Could we see a shocking conference tournament run for them?
Sam Houston (12-12): The Bearkats have won four of their last six games, and their net rating this year has improved from -8.5 last season to -3.9 now. The move to the WAC hasn't gone well for this team, but maybe the next move to Conference USA will?
Texas A&M Commerce (12-15): The Lions could still win the Southland, but it's an uphill battle, and with two games against A&M Corpus Christi still to go, it seems fairly unlikely. Still, this was a great Division I debut, especially considering Dyani Robinson only played 16 games before a season-ending injury.
UIW (12-13): Four Southland teams have pulled away from the rest of the conference. UIW is the best of the rest of the teams, winning three straight to improve to 7-8 in Southland play. Can they be the fifth team in the conference with a record over .500 this year?
UT Arlington (13-14): This year hasn't gone the way the Mavericks wanted, but the team's currently on a three-game win streak. Freshman Taleyah Jones looks like a future star.
UTEP (17-8): UTEP is the top Texas team in Conference USA and sits third in the conference behind Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The Miners are a win away from having their best season since 2016.
Steady
North Texas (10-17): The Mean Green likely had higher hopes than their 7-10 record in conference play, but the team has steadied things after a 3-7 non-conference record.
Prairie View A&M (13-13): Yes, there was a time where I thought the Panthers had a chance to dethrone Jackson State. No, that didn't end up happening. But Prairie View is fourth in the SWAC and has a bright future.
Rice (18-7): Like with UNT, Rice probably thought it'd be a little better than it is, especially with the Owls being 9-0 in non-con. They're just 9-7 in conference play, but sit fourth in the Conference USA standings.
SMU (15-9): SMU sits at 6-6 in conference play and has dropped two in a row, but overall, the Mustangs have had a solid season. In her second season as head coach, Toyelle Wilson has the team heading in the right direction.
UTSA (8-18): The Roadrunners have won six conference games, climbing out of the basement. With one more win, the team would have its best season since 2017, when it went 13-15.
Stock Falling
Abilene Christian (12-14): The Wildcats became a program that consistently won double-digit conference games at the end of the 2010s. Now, they're heading for a third season in a row with single-digit wins in conference play.
Baylor (16-10): The magic's run out for Baylor, as the Bears have dropped four in a row and will see their streak of Big 12 regular season titles end. They should still manage to make it into the tournament, but even that isn't a sure thing at this point.
Houston Christian (11-15): The Huskies were expected to challenge for a Southland title. Instead, they're 6-9 in conference play and have lost three straight.
Texas Tech (16-11): The Red Raiders are set to win their most games since Krista Gerlich took over as head coach, but they've also lost seven of their last eight games.
UTRGV (9-16): The Vaqueros won 10 WAC games last year. They've won three this season. The defense has really fallen off—they had a 93.1 defensive rating in conference play last year, but that number is down to 102.0 this season.
Basement
Tarleton (7-19): Long season for the Texans, who've lost 10 in a row and have just one WAC victory this season. After going 8-10 last year, Tarleton looked like a team that could make a push into the upper tier of the WAC. That didn't happen.
TCU (7-18): The Horned Frogs finally won a Big 12 game, defeating Kansas State 75-62 on Feb. 18. TCU is now 1-13 in conference play.
Texas A&M (6-18): Not much to say about the Aggies. They've been more competitive lately, with five of their last six losses coming by 10 points or fewer, but when that's the thing being highlighted as a positive...well, yikes.
Texas Southern (2-24): This was always going to be a long season for the Tigers. Their two conference wins both came against Mississippi Valley State, which is winless in SWAC play.
