College basketball rankings: Tennessee jumps up to No. 1 in Top 25 And 1 after losses by Kansas, Auburn

A running bit on the Eye On College Basketball Podcast is me talking about buildings I trust and buildings I don’t trust as it pertains to providing home-court advantages that move the needle. There are lots of them out there. And, on Wednesday, we were all reminded that the CHI Health Center is definitely one of them.

Final score: Creighton 76, Kansas 63.

Did Kansas enter undefeated, ranked No. 1 and with wins over Duke, Michigan State and North Carolina? Yes. Did Creighton enter 5-3, unranked with no great wins and multiple losses to unranked teams? Yes.

But none of that mattered in Omaha.

Sparked by an impactful crowd, Creighton shot 47.2% from the field, 41.4% from 3 and 82.4% from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Kansas was 11.5 percentage points worse from the field, 6.6 percentage points worse from 3 and 20.2 percentage points worse from the free throw line. Consequently, the Jayhawks fell behind 2-0 and were never even tied again as Creighton led wire-to-wire en route to a 13-point victory.

“I thought we did some good things — considering we weren’t very good and they were really good,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “I thought we could have put some real game-pressure on them, and we never really did that.”

So who should be No. 1 now? That’s the question, right?

There’s no easy answer. But I talked myself through it. And, if you have a couple of minutes, I’ll walk you through my thought-process.

Let’s start at the top.

Kansas was the preseason No. 1 and, in my opinion, a reasonable option to keep No. 1 as long as the Jayhawks kept a zero in the loss-column. But that’s over now. So KU can’t be No. 1. And I’ve been doing this long enough to know that if you try to move No. 2 to No. 1 immediately after a loss, even after an expected loss, it rarely makes sense and, even when it does, almost nobody understands it, which means Auburn — No. 2 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 on Wednesday morning before losing at Duke, 84-78, on Wednesday night — can’t be No. 1 either.

(Let’s keep moving down the list.)

Next up, at No. 3 here on Wednesday morning, is Iowa State. The Cyclones beat Marquette, 81-70, on Wednesday night. Great victory. But all that means is that Iowa State is now 6-1 with a best-win over Marquette and neutral-court loss to Auburn while Auburn is 7-1 with wins over Iowa State, Houston, Memphis and North Carolina — and a lone loss at Duke. Simply put, I can’t make sense of having Auburn behind an ISU team it beat on a neutral — especially when Auburn also has better wins and the same number of losses. So the Cyclones can’t be No. 1, either. I kept them at No. 3, one spot behind Auburn.

(Let’s keep moving down the list.)

I already told you the Cyclones just beat Marquette by 11. So, obviously, I can’t move Marquette from No. 4 to No. 1 after a double-digit loss at Iowa State. That’s why I kept Marquette at No. 4.

(Let’s keep moving down the list.)

Which brings me to Tennessee!

UT, ranked fifth here on Wednesday morning, is 8-0 with all eight victories coming by at least 15 points. The Vols won at Louisville by 22. They smacked Syracuse by 26 at home. They beat Baylor by 15 on a neutral. Based on that resume, and while considering everything else that’s happened this season, Tennessee is the best option for No.1, right now, if you’re looking for a team that’s undefeated, in possession of good (and overwhelming) wins and strong computer numbers. So Rick Barnes’ Vols are the new No. 1 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. According to KenPom.com, they’re projected as favorites in their next 11 games. So, in theory, they could be here for a while.