On April 8th, a champion will be crowned in men's college basketball and we have some answers - ESPN

Is there a national championship favorite?

As we reach the midway point of the regular season and enter the two-month sprint to the postseason, no single team has separated itself as the team to beat in college basketball. And there was no better indicator of this than this past Tuesday and Wednesday, when four of the top five teams in this week's AP poll lost to unranked opponents.

It's fair to say there's a group — on paper — that seems like it has a higher ceiling than everyone else, but none is a bulletproof title favorite.

Here are the questions we think will determine the national championship discussion for the next three months. Some are similar to the questions we asked in the preseason, as the jury is still out on a few situations. Some questions are new (Arizona is now squarely in the hunt) and some were left in November (doesn't seem like we need to talk about UCLA anymore).

Keisei Tominaga splashes the 3-pointer, then Sam Hoiberg gets the steal and bucket to force a Purdue timeout.

This is the biggest question when it comes to championship pecking order. In theory, the Purdue Boilermakers would be a popular Final Four pick. The Boilermakers have the best player in the country in Zach Edey, continuity from last season, a tournament-tested coach in Matt Painter and an elite offense with multiple options. But they've also had a few NCAA tournament disappointments in recent years, most notably last season when they became just the second 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed.

Purdue is better than last season. Edey has improved at both ends of the floor, the backcourt of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer is a year older — Smith has been one of the best point guards in the country — and Lance Jones has been an impact pickup