College basketball power rankings: In unpredictable season, steady Houston is No. 1

There’s no dominant team. From night to night, the unpredictable keeps happening. 

College basketball is one big, glorious mystery this season, and it is beautiful. 

In the last week, eight of our previous top 15 teams in the weekly power rankings lost. For a third consecutive week, we will have a new No. 1. More to come on who that is, but first, some quick takeaways from a crazy week that was in the sport.

• Even though Purdue suffered its first loss of the season to Rutgers, I would argue that this was the Boilermakers’ most impressive week of the season — next to their run to a PK85 title in November. The reason? Matt Painter’s team responded to the defeat by going on the road and edging a top-25 Ohio State squad and following it up with a commanding win over Penn State on Sunday night.

• Arguably the best story in college basketball at the moment is straight out of Manhattan … Kansas! The Kansas State Wildcats, who were chosen dead last in the Big 12 preseason poll, are 14-1 and 3-0 in conference play. Their last week? A 116-103 win at Texas … followed by a 97-95 overtime victory at Baylor. Former Bears assistant Jerome Tang, who was Scott Drew’s right-hand man, took his program into Waco in his first season and the Cats pulled it off. What makes this story so special? Keyontae Johnson, a former Florida standout who collapsed on the floor during a game in 2020, has returned to college basketball this season and is starring for K-State. He went for 24 points and nine rebounds in Saturday’s victory at Baylor, while fifth-year senior Markquis Nowell put up the best performance of the week in the country with 32 points and 14 assists. Hats off to the Wildcats.
• The Big Ten’s depth is outstanding. Just look at Sunday’s results: Northwestern went on the road and upset Indiana at Assembly Hall. Iowa stopped one of the hottest teams in the country, Rutgers, by going into Piscataway and knocking off the Scarlet Knights. Maryland, coming off blowout losses to Michigan and Rutgers, knocked off Ohio State. The point? 12 of the 14 teams in the conference are involved in the NCAA Tournament conversation. B1G will stack units on Selection Sunday.
• The Big East has dueling nine-game winning streaks, with Xavier and Providence as two of the hottest teams in America. The Musketeers won at Villanova for the first time in program history on Saturday, while the Friars knocked off UConn before edging St. John’s on…