Monday Night Will Feature A Super Rare No. 1 Vs. No. 1 Matchup

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Being that the NFL regular season, NBA regular season, and college football bowl season have all been in full swing recently, it’s understandable if non-hardcore fans haven’t been paying full attention to the college basketball thus far this year. Still, if you want to get a jump start on who to pick come your March Madness brackets, now is a good time to hop on board.

The season of random non-conference tournaments and cupcake games are over, and we have now officially reached the point in the college basketball season where, for major conference teams, every game is a test.

Unlike last year, there isn’t one or two dominant teams in college basketball this season. In fact, it appears to be more wide open than it has been at any point in recent memory. Preseason favorites like North Carolina, Kentucky, and Duke have stumbled out of the gate a bit, and injuries have hurt teams hurt teams like Gonzaga and Michigan State. Nearly everyone has lost at least one game heading into the conference schedule. In fact, there are only three unbeaten teams remaining: Oklahoma, SMU, and South Carolina. SMU is not eligible to play in the postseason this year due to the sanctions against Larry Brown, and while South Carolina is a pleasant surprise out of the SEC, they haven’t played anyone as of yet that is truly impressive.

That leaves the Oklahoma Sooners as the best unblemished team in the country, and after Michigan State lost its first game of the year to Iowa last week, the Sooners took over the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll that came Monday after pulling out a tough win against No. 11 Iowa State to stay undefeated.

In the AP poll, however, Kansas, which at 12-1 lost only a neutral site game against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden, has claimed the top spot. Kansas has been looking great as of late, as well, as they dropped triple digits on a ranked team in Baylor in a win on Saturday.

So, all this means that when Oklahoma takes on Kansas at 9 p.m. ET on Monday night, it will be No. 1 vs. No. 1. It will be the first meeting between two top-ranked teams since 2007, when Ohio State and Greg Oden faced Wisconsin.

The game should be electric, as both Oklahoma and Kansas have explosive offenses that like to get up and down the floor and shoot from deep. Oklahoma is led by Buddy Hield, a legitimate national player of the year candidate and the fourth leading scorer in college basketball at 24.7 points per-game. Hield opted not to go pro last season, and he has improved his game dramatically, changing his game from being primarily just a three-point shooter, to one of the best all-around offensive threats.

Behind him, Oklahoma has two excellent guards in Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard who can stroke it from deep and do a great job of controlling the tempo without turning it over. OU ranks eighth in the country with 87 points per-game, and they rank third at 45 percent shooting from three. In short, Oklahoma can score on you at will if you don’t slow the pace down and force them to run their sets.

On the other hand, Kansas likes to get out and run just as much. Bill Self’s group actually shoots it better than Oklahoma from deep (46.3 percent, second in the nation behind St. Mary’s), and scores more than 88 points per-game.

Senior Perry Ellis (who is one of those guys who feels like he’s been in college for 10 years) leads the way for Kansas, but the Jayhawks are an incredibly deep and balanced veteran team. Wayne Selden Jr., and Frank Mason III are two juniors who are thriving in their third seasons, while Devonte’ Graham and Brannen Greene are more than capable role players. And that hasn’t even mentioned Cheick Diallo yet, who was one of the premiere recruits in the country this season, but has yet to play up to expectations.

It’s too early to tell if either Oklahoma or Kansas will be No. 1 seeds who will be favorites to win a national championship, but they both appear to be potential final four teams at the least. If you’re just looking to get into the college basketball season, you won’t find a much better place to start than the two current best teams in the country facing off in a conference showdown.

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