No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Texas Overrated in This Week's College Basketball Poll

The latest ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll is out, and the top four teams are No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Pittsburgh.

Ohio State (22-0) is deserving of the no. 1 spot because it's undefeated and has beaten five teams in this week's poll (No. 10 Purdue, No. 18 Wisconsin, No. 20 Minnesota, No. 23 Florida and No. 24 Illinois).

The Buckeyes have some tough games ahead of them—Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue, all on the road, will be difficult—but as of now they can make claim to being the nation's No. 1 team.

Kansas (20-1) is ranked no. 2 but has only played one team ranked in this week's poll. That team was No. 3 Texas, and they got beaten by 11 points at home in Lawrence.

It was a game where the Jayhawks held a 35-23 halftime lead but got outscored by 23 points in the second half and lost 74-63.

Texas (18-3), the nation's No. 3 team, has played a much tougher schedule than its Big 12 rival Kansas. Texas has played six games against teams ranked in this week's poll (No. 2 Kansas, No. 4 Pittsburgh, No. 9 UConn, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 15 Missouri and No. 24 Illinois).

The Longhorns had no trouble with Kansas, Missouri and Texas A&M. Illinois took them to overtime, and both Pittsburgh and UConn beat them.

Now something doesn't seem to make sense: Texas with three losses is ranked ahead of Pittsburgh with two losses and No. 9 UConn with three losses.

Pitt's two losses were to Tennessee and No. 8 Notre Dame. UConn's three losses are all within the Big East (No. 4 Pitt, No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 13. Louisville).

Pitt and Texas have both beaten some pretty good teams besides Texas. Pitt has wins over No. 9 UConn, No. 14 Georgetown and No. 19 Syracuse.

UConn has beaten No. 11 Kentucky by 17 points and No. 12 Villanova.

What's so troubling is that the polls are a reflection of how the NCAA Tournament committee is going to seed teams.

There's a good chance Kansas, Texas or Duke could ease its way to a No. 1 seed without deserving it over teams from the Big East Conference—teams that, because of their schedules, may have more losses.

Duke (19-2), a team that lost yesterday, 93-78, to the 11th best team in the Big East, St. John's, is playing in the weakest ACC in years. Right now Joe Lunardi thinks the ACC will only send five teams to the NCAA Tournament. He thinks the Big East will send 11 teams.

Kansas finishes its regular season with three tough games (Missouri twice and Texas A&M). Texas only plays one more ranked team in the regular season—Texas A&M.

BIG EAST IS THIRD BEST CONFERENCE IN THE COUNTRY

The Big East, a conference that beat up everybody in its non-conference schedule, is clearly the third best conference in the country. The best is the NBA's Eastern Conference, and the second best is the NBA's Western Conference.

The Big East is now beating itself up. St. John's, before it defeated Duke yesterday, just got done playing six of its last seven games against ranked Big East teams. The one team that isn't ranked (Cincinnati) was ranked when they played them.

If Texas and Kansas, especially the Jayhawks, had to play this kind of a schedule, it's hard to imagine they would presently be ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the country.