NCAA Basketball: Kansas State, Providence on the rise on latest top 25 power ranking

1. Houston (15-1)

Things are looking good in Houston and they’re likely to keep looking good for weeks to come. The Cougars were previously ranked atop the polls and look like one of the favorites to get back up there and stay there during conference play. They aren’t particularly challenged at this point against these AAC schools, even though a few of them aren’t exactly pushovers. They certainly proved that this past week as conference play continued.

Their first game of 2023 turned into quite the laugher as the Cougars handed SMU a stirring 87-53 defeat. Jarace Walker led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Cougars had a fantastic effort on both sides of the ball. Additionally, Marcus Sasser had 14 points and 7 assists while J’Wan Roberts added 11 points and 8 rebounds in the win.

An elite defense has only let the Cougars down once in a loss to Alabama one month ago. There won’t be an opponent that tough on Houston’s schedule until the NCAA Tournament begins more than two months from now. If they truly are this elite-level team, the Cougars should handle their conference rivals with relative ease in the future and could be on quite the winning streak by mid-March. Next week’s dates are a road trip to Cincinnati and a home game against a disappointing South Florida squad.

We have completed our deep dive into the top 25 teams in the nation; do you think our rankings were accurate or did we miss out on a few teams?