Daily Word: Which unbeaten team falls first?
— -- Each weekday, our college hoops experts discuss the biggest issues, trends and themes in college basketball.
1. Six teams -- Michigan State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Purdue, Xavier and SMU -- in the Top 25 are unbeaten. Which one loses first?
Andy Katz: Purdue could lose to Butler on Saturday in Indianapolis. But the Bulldogs may not have the inside game to beat the Boilermakers. Iowa State should have lost to Iowa. And as good as the Cyclones are, they showed signs that they may struggle to defend at times. Iowa State is at Cincinnati next week. The Bearcats will be desperate to win a marquee game. This should be it. So I'll go with Iowa State as the first to fall.
John Gasaway: Butler will give Purdue a good game this weekend on a neutral floor, but Iowa State will lose first -- at Cincinnati next week. Coach Steve Prohm has been excellent, and Georges Niang has been as good as advertised, but this will be the Cyclones' first true road game. Ask North Carolina how those go.
Dana O'Neil: Purdue. The Boilermakers are scary good -- Final Four good. But in Butler, they meet a team that is more than happy to score step for step with them. Yes, the size differential on the inside will make things tricky for the Bulldogs, but they've been rebounding and playing bigger than they are all season. On the Bankers Life Fieldhouse floor, I think Butler gets the so-called upset.
2. Iowa State is No. 2 in the Coaches Poll. The Cyclones are No. 5 in the AP poll. So who got it right?
Katz: Neither. Iowa State should be further down. The Cyclones had a remarkable home comeback against Iowa. But Iowa State hasn't been as dominant as Oklahoma and shouldn't be ahead of the Sooners in the Coaches Poll. You could make a strong argument the Cyclones shouldn't be ahead of Maryland, either (No. 5 versus No. 6 in AP poll).
Gasaway: The media. The Cyclones are indeed fast-paced poetry in motion on offense, but for some reason the coaches are hypnotized by the zero in the loss column. If ISU loses that one-point home game to Iowa, is this team ranked No. 2?
O'Neil: The media. If it's the big goose egg in the L column that blinded the coaches, they ought to consider who the Cyclones have played -- their toughest opponent was Iowa, and -- rally notwithstanding -- it was at home. Oklahoma beat Villanova by 23 points. And the Sooners, too, are undefeated. Iowa State is a very good team, but not No. 2 in the nation right now.
3. Which three-loss team in the Top 25 -- UCLA or UConn -- is more dangerous?
Katz: UCLA. The Bruins are a much better shooting team. UConn probably has more room for growth, but the Huskies lack consistent offensive production from the perimeter or even inside. UCLA's Tony Parker is a much better scorer than what the Huskies have to offer.
Gasaway: Connecticut. The ceiling for Amida Brimah on interior defense is higher than any corresponding individually or collectively determined potential horizon for the Bruins.
O'Neil: UConn. I will admit to being pleasantly stunned by UCLA. I didn't honestly expect much of anything out of the Bruins this year, least of all against the schedule they've played, but with an inside-outside game predicated on Brimah's growth, the Huskies have more room to grow.
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