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Alabama moved to No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 and No. 1 daily in college basketball on Monday morning. Two days later on Wednesday night, the Crimson Tide lost 68-59 at Tennessee, prompting another shakeup that sent Purdue back to first place.
My top three are now Purdue, Houston and Alabama in that order.
Simply put, Alabama suffering a fourth loss in a place where Kentucky and Missouri both won has re-established Purdue as a program with what is clearly the best work in the sport. Yes, the Boilermakers lost their most recent game — at Northwestern last Sunday — but they’re still 9-3 in Quadrant 1 opportunities with zero additional losses. The only school with more Q1 wins than Purdue is Kansas, but the Jayhawks have two more losses than the Boilermakers. The only schools that can match Purdue’s nine Q1 wins are Texas and Baylor, but both the Longhorns and Bears have three more losses than the Boilermakers.
Will Purdue still be #1 on Friday morning?
It depends on whether Matt Painter’s Boilermakers win Thursday night at Maryland, where they opened by just 2 points. (FYI: UCLA, which is #5 in the Top 25 and #1, is the only school to win at Maryland so far this season.) If Purdue loses in front of what will be a wild crowd inside the XFINITY Center , Houston would then move him to No. 1 in the Top 25 and No. 1 Friday morning, provided Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars make no mistake at SMU Thursday night.
