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After South Carolina dropped its game against Seton Hall without one of its best players the field of unbeaten's is starting to dwindle.

Who's left- Villanova, UCLA, USC, Gonzaga, Creighton & Baylor.

Baylor will be 11-0 entering conference play- they have Jackson State, John Brown (Sounds like someone's name) & Texas Southern.

USC looks likely to be 12-0 entering its conference slate- Troy, Cornell & Missouri St left.

Zags have a bit of a trap game having to travel to Tennessee before 6 more cream puff games until the 1st Saint Mary's showdown. Zaga could be 17-0 entering that one.

Nova should be 13-0 heading into its road showdown with Creighton. Creighton could also be 13-0. That will be some game on New Years Eve.

UCLA has a neutral court game against an okay Ohio St team before conference play where they start on the road playing the Oregon schools.

thoughts?

@BeddieKU23

I'm too hyped up. The season has barely begun and I'm ready to fill out a bracket.

I'm trying to slow my mind down and enjoy every game this year. I don't want to be too focused on March just yet. Every game now, even if it is against Nobody State, is still a game where we experience elements of greatness while hoping our guys can sew together longer stretches of greatness in games ahead.

In the coming months there will be some of these teams pulling ahead of others. All we have to do is stay focused on our game and how we can continue to improve. If we do that, we will put ourselves in great position for March.

@BeddieKU23

I saw that.

Villanova - Legit but one Josh Hart injury away from being an average team.

UCLA - Legit. High scoring team but other than UK, the best team they have played is Michigan ranked in the 30s. 6 players have taken 3 point shots and all are shooting well over .400. Live by the 3, die by the 3.

USC - With that schedule, every Big 12 team is unbeaten.

Gonzaga - Legit, Good wins over ISU and Arizona

Creighton - Solid team with good wins over Wisconsin and other major conference teams. Marcus Foster has been a huge plus.

Baylor - Legit with big wins over several ranked teams; perhaps best record of the bunch.

Gonzaga probably carries their undefeated record the furthest. If they can get by St. Mary's at home, they could go into February unbeaten. If they get by the BYU trip, the only thing between them and a perfect regular season is probably the road game at St. Mary's (which I can't see them winning if they are still undefeated at that point).

USC will have a loss soon. I am not even sure they are a tournament team right now.

Creighton is solid, but not as good as the defending champs.

Nova, UCLA and Baylor are the best undefeated teams left, but with the way schedules are, I doubt any of those three are undefeated on January 11.

Baylor starts Big 12 play with the following - at Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, at West Virginia. If they win all four of those, get ready for a long, tough battle for the conference title.

Villanova starts Big East play like this - Depaul, at Creighton, at Butler, Marquette, Xavier. They will be hard pressed to come out of that stretch better than 3-2. If they win all five, look out.

UCLA doesn't have any outright terrifying games, but as @BeddieKU23 points out, they open conference play in Oregon, so they may have a loss fairly quickly as well.

Good comments.

I also think Gonzaga carries their unbeaten streak the furthest if they win the home game vs Saint Mary's. They will lose somewhere but it could be interesting to see how far this unbeaten streak goes.

I think the Creighton/Nova matchup is one that Creighton can win because its a home game and they score at a high rate. Creighton is shooting a staggering 54% from the field as a team and 44% from 3. It's like the entire team is shooting like Dough McDermott did his senior year. They have played 5 Power 5 squads so its not like the numbers are inflated against lower level D-1 schools. Against the #1 team they will stand a good chance of an upset. In order to do so, Creighton will have to defend. If they get past Nova, they will have a good chance of staying undefeated until mid January when they travel to Xavier.

I agree that USC will lose soon. @ Oregon seems like the first spot. They do sport decent wins against Texas A&M, BYU & SMU.. The jury is still out on this team.

I can't wait until we put a spanking on Baylor with JJ eating up their zone.

Nova played #15 Purdue early and won by 3pts.

BU won impressively over a #4 ranked Oregon. Where are they now? Not even in the top 25, very premature.

UK beat then #13 MSU. Their non-con schedule seems to be soft until they play a UCLA and their true colors shine.

MSU will be one of those Izzo teams that will be ready come conference and dance time. He always prepares and has his teams ready for March.

Let's see if UCLA can go the distance.

Unranked Tennessee gave UNC a run and lost by 2pts.

We all know the teams that will rise to the moment. I hate to say it but Dook will likely gel and make some noise in the ACC and then in March.

Let's hope the Hawks will play to their potential and ranking. I really don't care if they ever gain the #1 spot. I hope they get a #1 seed come March. I'm happy if they hang around the 3-4 spots all season. It's so very early and so much ball to play.

IU came out swinging and back down to #9 ? I have a feeling they played one of the best games of their season against KU. And KU pretty much gave them the game too.

@truehawk93

Oregon is ranked 22nd. They have a marquee game at home next week against UCLA.

UNC played Tennessee without their best player and PG- Joel Berry averages almost 15 points a game. Leads the team in 3 pointers, assists, steals, FT %, I can't imagine KU playing without Frank Mason who fills a similar role.

IU lost to Fort Wayne on the road. They also beat UNC. That's the low and high ceiling for IU, can beat the best and lose to anyone

@BeddieKU23 Oregon does not look like the same as last year - I have no idea what is going on with them.

MSU has not looked good either and is not deserving of a top 25 ranking.

Tennessee is also not a top 25 team - even without Berry, Carolina should never ever have been down double digits to them at home.

@HawkChamp

I agree that Oregon does not look the same from last year. I do see a team that has a chance to be really good by the end of the year though. Oregon is still working their best player into the lineup (Brooks) who has only played over 20 minutes in 3 of his 8 games coming back from injury. He's a big time player and will continue to get better- and the team will get better because of it.

They have also struggled at PG where last years starter Casey Benson has been replaced by Top 100 freshman Peyton Pritchard in the starting lineup. Pritchard has struggled shooting the ball but was one of the top scorers in the 16 class coming in so his struggles are surprising. Any team is going to go through some struggles working in a freshman when your experienced PG is not cutting it for you anymore.

I look for Oregon to give UCLA all they can handle in the conference opener. UCLA has played like the better team but its hard to get wins in that gym and I'm sure Oregon will be looking for the big upset.

Michigan St is no longer in the rankings and unless Izzo turns it around I don't expect they will be there much of the remaining season.

I also agree that UNC shouldn't have been in one possession game with Tennessee at home but I will give them the benefit because Joel Berry is that important to UNC. As I've said numerous times I'd hate to see how KU would do without Frank on the floor. We have Devonte- which 99% of teams in D-1 don't have as good of another option at PG as KU does. Still it would change things tremendously for KU not having our senior leader on the floor. UNC currently doesn't have a great option behind Berry. Britt is a solid role player and they have a freshman with big upside in Seventh Woods but its a lot to ask your backups to run the show for a high powered offense. UNC as they always do- rely on great point guards to run the style of play they use. UNC will need Berry back and healthy this weekend if they hope to defeat Kentucky in Las Vegas where the score could easily hit 100 for both squads