Despite a 15-3 record and the best defense in college basketball, at least one college basketball reporter thinks the Houston Cougars are overrated.

Houston hammered Utah 70-36 on Wednesday night for its 11th consecutive victory. The Cougars are now 7-0 in the Big 12, all alone in first place and ranked No. 3 in the country in the NCAA NET Rankings.

But CBS Sports college basketball columnist and TV analyst Gary Parrish has Houston ranked No. 18 in his latest Top 25 And 1 national rankings.

Why does he have the Cougars so low?

“Heading into the weekend, Iowa State and Arizona are tied for second in the Big 12 standings with 6-1 league records. They both trail only Houston, which is 14-3 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12 — but just 0-3 in Quadrant 1 with zero wins over teams currently ranked in the Top 25 And 1,” wrote Parrish. “Is Houston really good again? Yes, I think so.

“But if you’re one of the people who have noticed that I have the Cougars 11 spots lower in the Top 25 And 1 than where they are in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, please read the last part of that description of Houston’s body of work two paragraphs above.”

Houston Needs More Quad 1 Wins

While it’s true Houston is 0-3 in Quad 1 games, two of those losses were last-minute defeats to two of the best teams in the country — No. 1 Auburn and No. 7 Alabama. And the third loss was to San Diego State in overtime at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. The Cougars have not lost a game since that heartbreaker on Nov. 30.

That 0-3 record could easily be 3-3 by next weekend. Houston’s next three games are all Quad 1 opportunities, starting with a road game at Kansas on Saturday. A Quad 1 game is a home matchup against a top 30 team in the NET Rankings, or a road game against a top 50 team in the NET. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses the NET as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament.

In addition to being ranked No. 3 in the NET, Houston is also ranked No. 3 in KenPom’s ratings, in large part because the Cougars defense is rated as the most efficient defense in the country.

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