A new No. 1

Three weeks into the season, we've settled into a rhythm with college hoops. Packed weekends are followed by a smaller Monday slate, which helps everyone ease into the week. Or stay glued to MNF. So today's Daily spends a little more time on the news, including the new No. 1 and the jumbled mess of the Top 25.

Let's get to it.

1. Razorbacks not sharp, but Ricky Council was

Arkansas didn't display the ferocity it showcased at Maui last week, but it had enough to pull away from Troy on Monday night.

"Everyone's talked to me about how hard the first game is back from Maui," said coach Eric Musselman afterward. "I thought some of the players were on Maui time. But Ricky Council is on Arkansas time."

Council IV scored 27, including 11 of their final 16 points in their 74-61 win. Most notable was this bomb with 4:33 left, as the shot clock was expiring and Arkansas nursing a 1-point lead.

"I hate that side-step 3 that he takes, but I loved it on that particular shot," Musselman said. "It was huge. It took spirit away from Troy. ... it was a momentum-changing shot."

That keyed a 17-0 run to close to the game, which capped a 43-point second half from the Hogs (6-1), who looked out of sync to start the game and even trailed at halftime. Troy (6-2) never seemed perturbed by their length, particularly guard Nelson Phillips, who led the Trojans with 22 points.

Then again, Arkansas didn't have its usual lineup to start the game. It issued this release about 30 minutes before tip-off.

That's all Musselman or the school said. Davis, a junior guard who averages 8.5 points a game, has started every game this season; only Council IV and Anthony Black had played more minutes before Monday.

It's hard to know how much Davis' absence will affect Arkansas going forward, though. Monday also marked the season debut of guard Nick Smith Jr., viewed by many scouts as the country's most talented freshman. Smith played just five minutes (he was on a minutes restriction) and missed both his field-goal attempts, but he'll certainly play more as the season wears on.

"Really happy that Nick got into the game," Musselman said. "Now he'll have days to practice, which will help him in between games."

Other results to know from Monday:

Kansas 87, Texas Southern 55: Turns out the Jayhawks can make shots. Coming off their two worst offensive performances of the season, Kansas (7-1) made a season-best 13 3-pointers, going 13-of-29 from deep. Jalen Wilson (22 points, 5 boards, 6 assists) did his usual stat-stuffing, but freshman M.J. Rice was the most efficient scorer, hitting 6-of-9 attempts for a career-high 19 points.

Virginia Tech 67, Minnesota 57: The Hokies (7-1) had no trouble in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge opener, getting 17 points from Sean Pedulla, while Justyn Mutts added 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. The ACC is 2-0 after Monday night.

Pitt 87, Northwestern 58: The Panthers (5-3) had no trouble with the Wildcats (5-2) in one of the more surprising final scores of the night. Pitt entered as a 7-point road underdog, but this was never really a game after halftime. It hit 14 3-pointers and had five players in double figures.

Mississippi State 74, Omaha 54: The Bulldogs (8-0) remained perfect behind their stingy defense that forced 18 turnovers and held the Mavericks to 40 percent shooting. There's a good chance they'll begin SEC play 13-0.

Nevada 78, Sam Houston 60: The Wolf Pack (7-1) had five players in double figures, handing the Bearkats (6-1) their first loss.

Washington 77, Seattle 66: UW (6-1) beat the Redhawks (5-1) for the 18th straight time and dropped them from the unbeaten ranks.

UC Davis 81, Boston 70, OT: The Aggies (6-2) led by 29 points before Boston's Jonas Harper sent the game into OT. The Terriers (4-4) even led for the first 75 seconds of the extra period, but that was it.

Marist 52, Columbia 39: The Red Foxes (3-4) held the Lions (2-6) to just 10 points in the first half. Seems pretty good.

San Diego 71, Longwood 68: Here's how this game ended:

2. Cougars glide to top of AP poll

For the first time since Dream and Glide in '83, Houston is atop the AP poll. Now the question is how long will it stay there?

Hold that thought. First, we'll let coach Kelvin Sampson — now in his 34th season and at his fifth program — enjoy it. His previous high was No. 3 during the 2001-02 season at OU.

"I've never been ranked No. 1," he said. "We were ranked all 12 years at Oklahoma. I'm sure we were ranked at Indiana. Then we've been ranked five or six straight years. We're used to having a high level of success."

The Cougars (6-0) garnered 45 of 63 first-place votes, ascending from No. 2 after North Carolina dropped a pair of games over the weekend. Texas and Purdue both received eight votes, while Virginia got two. However, the Boilermakers are behind both schools and Arizona. Meanwhile, unbeaten UConn, fresh off a win at the Phil Knight Invitational, is No. 8, behind a pair of 1-loss teams in Baylor and Creighton. (Those all came with serious movement, too. Arizona jumped 10 spots. Purdue jumped 19. UConn went up 12 spots.)

It gets more interesting.

Kansas dropped six spots to No. 9. Gonzaga went down eight to No. 14. North Carolina went from No. 1 to No. 18. Duke's down nine places to No. 17. Michigan State and San Diego State both fell. Tennessee jumped to No. 13. Illinois went from unranked to No. 16. The poll is all over the place, which isn't a huge surprise for this time of year.

The predictive analytic sites are also jumbled. KenPom has Texas No. 1. EvanMiya thinks it's the Zags. Haslametrics likes Purdue. Team Rankings and Bart Torvik both slot Houston at No. 1, and the others have them at No. 2. Right now, it seems everyone's on the Coogs.

(Quick asides, the AP Poll apparently has the Vols way too low, Kansas too high, and 9/10 seems to be an ideal spot for Indiana. Also, the last time Purdue and Indiana were both in the top 10 was 1998.)

So. Back to Houston. When the Coogs finalized their non-conference schedule, it projected as a slate that could keep them at No. 1 for much of the season. How's that look now?

Their first game as No. 1 is tonight against Norfolk State, but their first test is Saturday vs. Saint Mary's in Fort Worth at The Battleground 2K22. A week later, it's Alabama at home, then a Dec. 17 trip to Virginia. Until a five-point win against Kent State on Saturday, Houston looked to be in mid-season form. Now that close game makes a bit more sense.

The freshman forward is already a key component of Houston's approach, so his absence will be worth monitoring. There are few programs that adjust to personnel losses better than the Cougars, but it's fair to say that having Walker back would be a better representation of their capabilities.

At least, that's what I'd like to see.

3. Goodbye ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Hello ACC/SEC Showdown!

Enjoy the ACC/Big Ten Challenge while you can. It won't be here next year.

This was evident once the Big Ten agreed to a new media deal that didn't include ESPN, but it's still going to be strange to think that late November/early December won't include these annual matchups. They weren't always great (this season is no exception), but the challenge typically provided 2-3 enticing games and even some memorable moments over the last 20 years.

Nevetheless, there's already a new challenge ready to step in: the ACC vs. the SEC. This will start next season and have essentially the same format as the other conference matchups:

• Conference will split home games, with matchups being announced later.

• It'll be 28 games (men and women), and grow to 30 once Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC in 2025.

• ESPN will broadcast everything.

Also important — but lost amid the shuffle because the ACC/Big Ten Challenge has run for so long — is that the Big 12/SEC Challenge is also kaput. Those games were never grouped together as well, so they never had the same cachet.

“We thank both the Big Ten and Big 12 for their partnership in the final year of our existing events and look forward to finding more ways to creatively partner with both conferences in 2023-24 and beyond,” ESPN Vice President of Programming, Nick Dawson, said in a statement.

So now's the time to figure out some new conference matchups, right?

4. Two grounded Flyers

Dayton's rough week — it went 0-3 at the Battle 4 Atlantis — got a little bit worse.

That's Dayton's starting backcourt, out for the foreseeable future.

Smith has missed three of Dayton's seven games this season because of an ankle injury and hasn't looked anything close to what he showed as a freshman. Hard to know if he'll be healthy at all this season. Elvis' injury robs Dayton of their most reliable scoring option at guard.

The Flyers (3-4) began the season in the AP 25, but injuries and a middling offense derailed any early promise. Still, the season isn't lost. Aside from a trip to Virginia Tech, they'll have a series of winnable games throughout December before entering A-10 play. An at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament might be a longshot, but it's not impossible if they surpass 21 regular-season wins.

5. Next few days will test unbeaten teams

Through 1,369 games, 18 unbeaten teams are remaining. Expect those ranks to thin slightly as 11 play on Tuesday or Wednesday. Here are how those could shake out:

Still perfect

Houston, Purdue, Maryland and St. John's should all win. Houston hosts Norfolk State, while the other three play teams with a combined two wins.

Perfectly close

Indiana's 6-0 and already beat an NCAA Tournament-caliber team in Xavier. The defense hasn't missed a beat from last season, and the Hoosiers aren't struggling to score. On Wednesday, they play host to a UNC team that's lost two straight and could have a hobbling Armando Bacot. So why does this game feel like it's going to be tight? I mean, Caleb Love and RJ Davis can't keep shooting like this, can they?

Missouri (7-0) is at Wichita State (4-2) and is a 1-point favorite. The Tigers are scoring in waves (93.3 per game) and doing it efficiently (1.12 points per possession). The Shockers will be their toughest opponent yet, but they did lose earlier this season at home to Alcorn State. Mizzou goes to 8-0.

Southern Miss is 7-0, matching its win total from last season. They're a 5-point home favorite vs. Montana, a game that features two sub-par offenses that don't push the pace. I won't watch, but the Golden Eagles should take it.

Virginia (5-0) travels to Ann Arbor in a game where I'd bet the under. But I'd also bet the Hoos to stay perfect.

The road ruins it

Drake and Kansas State are both coming off MTE victories and they both have go-to players in Tucker DeVries and Keyontae Johnson, respectively. Also in common? They're both on the road in games that are essentially coin-flips. Drake's at Indiana State and K-State travels to Butler. In those cases, I lean toward the home team. (But there's a really good chance at least one pulls out a win.)

Finally, New Mexico should take pride in its 6-0 start. Because winning at Saint Mary's ain't happening.

The Bear truth

Baylor is among the teams to beat (again) this season, mostly driven by their outstanding backcourt (again). Senior Adam Flagler and junior LJ Cryer, now flanked by freshman Keyonte George, form perhaps the best guard trio in the game.

All three can shoot, or run the point, though much of the lead guard responsibility falls to Flagler, who's among the D-I leaders in assist rate (he assists on nearly 40 percent of the team's assists while on the floor) and is making more than half his field-goal attempts. Not bad for a guy who originally began his career at Presbyterian in the Big South.

Q: Why did you think everyone passed on you coming out of high school?

Adam Flagler: A lot to do with athleticism. Not the tallest, not the fastest. Still could shoot the piss out of the ball back then. I went from thankfully from Presbyterian giving me a chance to winning a national championship at Baylor. I don’t even look back at it. I’m appreciative.

Q: For this team to make a deep run in March, what needs to happen?

Adam Flagler: We have to be very connected on defense. We have so many people that can score the ball in different ways. A lot of times, you can see we can become offensively motivated. We have to do things to ramp it up on defense, and that’s not what we need it to be. We need to know our identity lies in defense.

Q: What will you do after basketball?

Adam Flagler: Sports orthopedist. Initially, I wanted to be a pediatrician. I love kids, but I can’t step away from basketball and sports in general. Dealing with the injury I had last year really opened my eyes to how athletes have to deal with things and how they need a group of people.

Q: Better shooter: You or LJ Cryer? (This was asked immediately after Cryer and Flagler were both 4-8 from deep against UCLA, but Cryer finished with a game-high 28. For the season, Flagler is shooting 54 percent from deep; Cryer is at 38 percent.)

Adam Flagler: I’ll give to him just because of the game today. Ask me in a few months.

Baylor plays Marquette at 8:30 pm ET tonight and Gonzaga at 8 pm on Friday.

Now the ACC/Big Ten Challenge really begins

Apologies to Pitt, Northwestern, Minnesota and Virginia Tech, but you probably didn't even check the ACC/Big Ten openers on Monday night. If you read our primer, that was by design. Don't miss out on tonight's matchups. Unbeaten Virginia at underwhelming Michigan is the headliner — yes, the Wolverines are 5-1, but they've struggled in back-to-back games against Ohio and Jackson State — mostly because getting the Hoos at home might spur something we haven't seen thus far (9:30 pm ET, ESPN). Penn State (6-1) at Clemson (5-2) is sneaky good, too. The Tigers just gave Iowa all it could handle (7 pm ET, ESPNU). The same goes for Wake Forest (6-1) at Wisconsin (5-1) at 9 pm ET on ESPNU. Can't say I have the same feeling about Syracuse (3-3) at Illinois (5-1) or Maryland (6-0) at Louisville (0-6).

Other games to watch (All times ET)

• Baylor (5-1) at Marquette (5-2), 8:30 pm (FS1)

• Missouri (7-0) at Wichita State (4-2), 8 pm (ESPN+)

• Old Dominion (4-3) at Charleston (6-1), 7 pm

Time for overreactions

Here's a hot one from Rob Dauster: Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Michigan State aren't worthy of being ranked in the Top 25 right now.

Watch John Fanta and Terrence Oglesby pick him apart with that take, and you, dear reader, can do the same. Hit Rob on Twitter @robdauster.

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Links as you remember that it's Giving Tuesday. Help out if you can this holiday season.

• Tom Izzo is "completely upset" Michigan State got fined $100K for the football fight, and only give Michigan a public reprimand.

• How are the 5-star freshmen faring thus far? (Good for GG Jackson.)

• How athletes are being taken advantage of through NIL.

• Notre Dame is still waiting on Niagara transfer Marcus Hammond to play this season.

• Former Rhode Island player and long-time announcer Don Kaull died over the weekend.

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