Houston edges out Kansas, questions for Kentucky

We’re essentially starting from scratch this week. Not because college football’s end gives us a chance to reset for the final two months of the regular season of men’s college basketball, but because last week completely blew up the rankings. Nine of the 16 teams in the Power Rankings took at least one loss, the next two programs in the waiting room lost games, and a long list of schools ready to take their place also suffered defeats.

Purdue lost at home to Rutgers on Monday, opening up the door for No. 2 Arizona to take the top spot … until the Wildcats lost at home to Washington State on Saturday. So that leaves us with a battle between Houston and Kansas. Both have just one loss, with the Cougars falling at home to Alabama and the Jayhawks dropping one in the Bahamas to Tennessee.

Houston has the edge in metrics-based rankings: No. 1 in the NET, No. 1 at KenPom, No. 1 in the BPI.

Kansas counters with the most Quadrant 1 wins in the country, with six. The Jayhawks have quality victories over Duke, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, NC State and Texas Tech.

For now, we’ll give the edge to Kelvin Sampson’s squad. While Kansas has more résumé-boosting wins, the Cougars’ win on the road at Virginia might be the best win for either team.

On to this week’s awards and rankings.

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Kansas State takes lead in OT on Ismael Massoud’s clutch 3

Had Rutgers not lost Sunday, the Scarlet Knights would have been a good option. Northwestern and NC State had very nice weeks. Iowa State’s was solid. But nothing compared to Kansas State going on the road to Texas and Baylor and coming away with two victories. Especially in the fashion in which it did so.

First, the Wildcats scored 116 points in the win at Texas — the most points ever scored by an unranked team in a road win over a top-10 opponent, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. They then pulled out an overtime win at Baylor, where head coach Jerome Tang spent his previous 19 seasons…