Memphis is the first No. 1 team outside of the major conferences since St. Joe’s back in 2004. To get that top billing, the Tigers had to wait for the North Carolina Tar Heels to lose – which they finally did two weeks ago to Maryland (+18).

The Heels weren’t the only victims that week. The UCLA Bruins (-12) lost to USC, while Texas A&M (-9) was stunned by Baylor in five overtimes. Bad things do happen to good teams sometimes. It has taken the Aggies some time to jell under Mark Turgeon, but he says their big 59-56 win at Oklahoma State (+1.5) was a unifying moment in his first year at College Station.

UNC happened to run into one of the best defenses in the nation, shooting 38 percent against the stingy Terps; UCLA just seemed to fall apart at the end against the Trojans. Mistakes were made, and even the best make them.