Men's Power Rankings: Houston joins Purdue, UConn for the No. 1 debate - ESPN

For the first time in months, we have a full-fledged three-way battle for No. 1. What had been a UConn vs. Purdue debate now includes Houston. UConn's 19-point loss at Creighton last week has temporarily removed the Huskies' shield of invincibility at the top, meaning it now comes down to résumés to decide which team among the three candidates is No. 1.

The Huskies' metrics aren't quite as strong as the other two programs', but they own double-digit wins over North Carolina, Marquette and Creighton and had looked utterly dominant with a healthy Donovan Clingan before the road loss to the Bluejays. They're 9-3 against Quadrant 1 opponents (tied for the most Q1 wins in the country), 14-3 against Q1 and Q2 (the second most in that category) and don't have any losses outside Q1.

Purdue stayed at No. 2 last week after losing at Ohio State but has a couple wins over Rutgers and Michigan to add to its case for No. 1. The Boilermakers are No. 1 in both résumé-based metrics (ESPN's strength of record and KPI) and No. 2 in the NET, BPI and KenPom. They're tied with UConn for the most Q1 wins and have the most Q1 and Q2 wins in the country (17-3). Matt Painter's team owns victories over Arizona, Tennessee, Marquette, Alabama and Illinois.

That brings us to Houston, which has been ranked No. 1 at KenPom since the start of December and hasn't relinquished that spot. The Cougars are also No. 1 in the NET and BPI. Interestingly enough, they lost three Q1 wins between Saturday and Sunday due to losses on Saturday by Utah, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. As a result, they have seven Q1 wins — two fewer than Purdue and UConn — and 13 combined Q1 and Q2 wins. Before last week, they didn't quite have the quality wins to get to the top, but