The 5A boys basketball season is down to a precious few games (12 between Wednesday and Friday) involving both 5A-I and 5A-II schools. Most are being played this week because of scheduling conflicts from November or December invitationals or by late knowledge that no region tournaments would be played this year. Some schools rescheduled this week so as not to be idle an entire week prior to state.

5A-I is the most interesting. The latest 5A-I power rankings (Wednesday Feb. 16 at 3 p.m.) show the following order: 1. Buena, 2. Mesa, 3. North, 4. Mountain Pointe, 5. Mountain View, 6. Brophy, 7. Salpointe, 8. Corona del Sol, 9. Desert Vista, 10. Cesar Chavez, 11. Hamilton, 12. Desert Ridge, 13. Kofa. 14. Tucson, 15, Red Mountain, 16. Mesquite.

Those same teams likely will comprise the 5A-I playoff field, but as tightly packed as the rankings are it's possible every team could move up or down a spot given the remaining games.

Here are the 12 games remaining and the day they are to be played:  Wednesday Feb. 16 - Rincon at Buena; Thursday Feb. 17 - Highland at Mesquite; Desert Vista at Corona del Sol; Mesa Mountain View at Chandler; Skyline at Gilbert; Casa Grande at Desert Ridge; Horizon at North Canyon, Camelback at Desert Mountain; Deer Valley at Millennium, Sandra Day O'Connor at Pinnacle; Friday Feb. 18 - Mesa at Westwood and North at Central.

5A-I boys figures to be the most  wide open of the four in 5A. So keep watch on the power rankings to witness the daily changes. Where your top-16 school was Wednesday afternoon likely won't be the same resting place come late Friday night .