SB Nation's Power 16 debuts

SB Nation has asked us to be a part of its weekly power poll, and being the huge college basketball fans we are, we gladly obliged. You can find this week's results at SBNation.com.*

* By the way, if you don't visit that place first for your general sports news, you're making a mistake, as there is no better place to find all of the relevant perspectives on any given story.

Here's our ballot (with comments at the bottom); bear in mind that this was cast Tuesday evening, before last night's Pac-10 craziness. Also bear in mind that I simply made a mistake with Michigan State. I would have put them at 15 instead of Florida State.

1. Texas
2. Kansas
3. Purdue
4. Kentucky
5. Duke
6. Syracuse
7. West Virginia
8. Kansas State
9. BYU
10. Wisconsin
11. Georgetown
12. Villanova
13. Pitt
14. Cal
15. Florida State
16. USC

Thoughts submitted with the ballot on Tuesday ...

• Seems to me that Purdue and Kentucky (John Wall or not) are pretty clearly 3a and 3b in terms of the undefeateds who are left. Purdue lacks the explosive athletic ability of Kansas and Texas, and I think that Louisville exposed some of Kentucky's flaws. Talent will win them a lot of games, but I don't think the Wildcats are on the level of the Longhorns and Jayhawks.
• Somebody needs to give BYU a little love, so it might as well be me. They might not be as good as their No. 6 Pomeroy rating, but they're not far behind. They've got one thing that every team wants: An explosive scorer in Jimmer Fredette. He's awesome. Will people believe after they slap around UNLV and UTEP?
• Some might raise their eyebrows at my placement of two Pac-10 teams. But trust me - Cal is as healthy as they're going to be and their offense is explosive. Beyond that, NOBODY wants to play USC right now. Trying to penetrate that defense is like a trip to the dentist's offense. It's going to be fun to watch Cal and USC clash this year. Editor's note: Boy, does this look stupid now, or what?
  
• Team that came out of nowhere to get on my radar? Pitt.