College Basketball Power Rankings

A hectic week in college basketball saw all of the country's remaining undefeated teams lose, but my #1 team remains unchanged.

15. SAN DIEGO STATE. This is really a nod to the entire Mountain West Conference. The league has as many as six teams angling for a March Madness berth, more than the Pac-12 and SEC, and perhaps even the ACC and Big 12. San Diego State is the best of the lot: the Aztecs have only lost twice, both times to a team ranked in the top nine on this list.

14. NORTH CAROLINA STATE. The opportunity was too good to pass up -- a home game against a conference rival ranked #1 overall in the country. The Wolfpack came through with a critical 84-76 upset of #1 Duke on Saturday. They've got six outstanding core players, all of whom contributed to the win (their tenth in a row). Still need to see a good road win before ranking them higher. Their game at Maryland next week is a real test.

13. OHIO STATE. NC State took care of one undefeated team, and Ohio State downed the other. Playing at home, the Buckeyes blitzed #2 Michigan early and held on down the stretch to win 56-53. Ohio State remains the quintessential "solid" team: they've got an elite scorer in DeShaun Thomas, an elite point guard in Aaron Craft, and a bunch of nice complementary pieces. Until a third player steps up, the Buckeyes' upside is capped.

12. GONZAGA. 16-1 on the season after beating rival St. Mary's this week. The Bulldogs have about nine guys who get regular minutes and they're all rock-solid. Next week's matchup against Butler should be fascinating.

11. CREIGHTON. Very quietly, Creighton has been obliterating its opponents with a relentless offensive attack. Doug McDermott is a freak, somehow averaging 23.6 points per game on 57% shooting even though everyone knows he's coming. Oh, and he's making half of his three-point attempts.

10. BUTLER. Still haven't lost since Thanksgiving, but an injury to one of their best players and a date with Gonzaga might change that.

9. ARIZONA. Another undefeated team that lost this week. Arizona made its living off of the frenzied last-minute comeback but, shockingly, that style of play isn't exactly sustainable. They lost on the road to an excellent Oregon team. The Wildcats are the anti-Ohio State: they're inexperienced and volatile from game-to-game (even half-to-half), but their stable of talented freshmen gives the roster a ton of upside.

8. MINNESOTA. Technically, the Golden Gophers went 1-1 this week. They were actually a lot more impressive than that. They played two Big 10 road games, blowing out #12 Illinois and almost pulling off an epic comeback at Indiana (and playing at Indiana is like playing the Seahawks in Seattle). Next on the docket: hosting Michigan. That's a brutal three-game stretch. Welcome to the Big 10.

7. FLORIDA. Quietly humming along at 12-2. Both Missouri and Kentucky suffered weird losses this week, so if Florida doesn't win the SEC, it would be a major upset.

6. SYRACUSE. Started off 4-0 in the Big East. But like last year with Fab Melo, Syracuse has gotten itself into eligibility trouble: key bench contributor James Southerland is out indefinitely. Even the timing is poor -- the Orange travel to Louisville on Saturday.

5. MICHIGAN. The Wolverines were the last undefeated team in the country to lose. And there's no shame in dropping a road game to Ohio State. But their usually-dynamic offense looked lost against the Buckeyes' lockdown defense, and they can't expect anything less from the rest of the Big 10. The next month will be very telling -- they travel to Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan State.

4. DUKE. Suffering a single-digit loss without the injured Ryan Kelly at NC State? That's a respectable result. Moving forward without Kelly, though? Could be dicey. Miami has to be licking its chops for its January 23rd home game against the Blue Devils.

3. INDIANA. It looked like the Hoosiers were going to blow Minnesota out of the gym on Saturday, entering halftime with a 52-29 lead. Then the second half happened. They allowed 52 Minnesota points and almost blew the entire lead before escaping with a 88-81 win. Defense was Indiana's big flaw last year; looks like that hasn't changed.

2. LOUISVILLE. The Cardinals are ranked #1 in the polls, with their lone loss coming to Duke back in November when Gorgui Dieng was still sidelined. They passed a tough test at Connecticut on Monday but still must defeat Syracuse before escaping the week unscathed.

1. KANSAS. The Jayhawks are currently 15-1 after an easy home 61-44 win over Baylor (perhaps their toughest competition in the muddled Big 12). Winning the conference is a foregone conclusion. More intriguingly: can this team go undefeated the rest of the way? It's not that hard to imagine, especially if they get past their next two games, which are both on the road against Texas and #16 Kansas State. No team in the country is more likely to end up with a #1 seed in March than Kansas.