Filed under: Kansas, Ohio State, Texas
With Ohio State finally losing its first game of the season, there is now a question of who should be the No. 1 team in the country. Our FanHouse college basketball team quickly weighs in with the three most likely options.
Kansas: Given the entire body of work, the Jayhawks are the best team in the country. Their only loss -- albeit at home -- came to arguably the second best team in the country. What sets Kansas apart, however, is the fact that they haven't slipped. They dodged a few close calls, but they haven't suffered a bad loss. Furthermore, since losing to Texas the Jayhawks have won by an average of more than 18 points a game. And recently -- as well as at the start of the year -- they have done it without perhaps their most dynamic player, Josh Selby. -- Evan Hilbert
Ohio State: One thing that annoyed me for years when it came to pollsters was a more recent loss hurting teams more than losses earlier in the season. Ohio State is the most recent team of the clear-cut top five teams to have lost a game, but only Kansas in that group has as few as one loss, like the Buckeyes. Let's compare the loss: Kansas lost by 11 at home, and this was with a 12-point halftime lead. Even if the team is as good as Texas, the best team in the country should never be outscored by 23 in a half on its home floor by anyone. On the other hand, Ohio State lost at Wisconsin. The Badgers haven't lost at home in over a calendar year and are now 150-11 on that court under Bo Ryan. They beat Duke by four last year in the Kohl Center, just as they beat Ohio State by four this year. If you look at the body of work for the entire season, Ohio State is still the obvious top team in the nation, even with Saturday's loss. -- Matt Snyder
Texas: In the fantasy world in which the polls attempted to rank the best teams relative to performance rather than a rote exercise in moving teams up and down based on the last week's result, Texas would be No. 1. No team is playing better than the Longhorns over the last two months. They've lost just once since Dec. 5, and that was in overtime to the UConn Huskies while the Kemba Walker review was still a star show. They are the nation's best defensive team, with a series of opponents efficiency ratings that look like the test scores of the kid in the back row who ate paste, as in a long series of 70s. Overall, the team's defensive efficiency rating is further ahead of No. 2, than No. 2 (Ohio State) is of No. 15 (UNLV). It's not just that the Longhorns are winning either, they're routing teams. Before Baylor's nine-point loss Sunday, no team had come within single digits of Texas since the Jan. 8 loss to UConn. The Longhorns have won their last 10 games by an average of 16.2 points. They also have something neither the Jayhawks nor the Buckeyes have -- they've beaten another great team. Ohio State's best win is a home victory over Purdue, a team that's 4-5 in true road games. Kansas' best win is at home over Missouri, 1-4 in true road games. The Longhorns went on the road and snapped the Jayhawks' 69-game winning streak. Other teams might have an argument for No. 1, but the Longhorns are the only team that's proved it. -- Ray Holloman
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