No. 18 Creighton vs. No. 1 UConn Big East basketball odds, trends: Huskies nation's top team for first time in 15 years, Donovan Clingan may return

There is a final Associated Press Top 25 poll after the College Football Playoff title game each year. That is not the case in college basketball, however, following the NCAAA Tournament. That helps explain why defending national champion Connecticut will take the court Wednesday in Big East action against No. 18 Creighton as the AP's top-ranked team for the first time in 15 years. The Huskies are -6.5 on the SportsLine consensus and might get star 7-footer and preseason All-American Donovan Clingan back from injury.

Last week, then-No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Houston and No. 3 Kansas all lost, which opened the door for the Huskies (15-2), who were No. 4, to climb to the top spot in the poll for the first time since March 2, 2009. It's the seventh season overall in which UConn has been ranked No. 1 and the 10th different time it has made its way there. The Huskies have played a total of 50 games as the AP No. 1 and are 41-9.

"Some people don't want the target," Huskies coach Dan Hurley said last week about the potential of reaching No. 1. "I think we embrace the target at UConn."

It's hard to argue against UConn being the nation's top team right now with impressive non-conference wins over Texas, North Carolina and Gonzaga, as well as quality Big East road wins at Butler and Xavier. The Huskies' losses were at Kansas and at Seton Hall.

Clingan, an expected lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, hasn't played since Dec. 20 due to a foot injury but is a "coin flip" for Wednesday according to Hurley, who added: "This is the best he's been in terms of the physical. If not (Wednesday), I would think worst case scenario, unless there's a major setback, he's in for the weekend (at Villanova)."

The sophomore is averaging 13.9 points on 63.2% shooting along with 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in just 20.8 minutes per game. Clingan is ranked as the No. 9 overall prospect for the 2024 draft, per the CBS Sports Big Board.

What should be truly frightening to the rest of the country is that UConn has barely been whole all season. Freshman guard Stephon Castle, a consensus top-10 recruit, missed a handful of games earlier but is back now. The Huskies still rank in the top 15 in the nation in field goal percentage, scoring margin and assists per game. UConn is currently +1200 to repeat as national champion, behind only Purdue (+900) and Houston (+1000) and tied with Arizona (+1200).

No. 18 Creighton (13-4) enters on a four-game winning streak and is 1-1 vs. ranked teams this season, losing by five at No. 10 Marquette and beating No. 23 Providence by nine. The Bluejays lost their first two Big East games but have won the next four by an average of 13.3 points.

They have a splendid veteran quartet in senior forward Baylor Scheierman (18.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG), senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner (15.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.5 BPG), senior transfer Steven Ashworth (8.1 PPG, 3.6 APG) and junior guard Trey Alexander (16.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.5 APG).

Creighton has never beaten the nation's No. 1 team in six tries but has beaten a top-10 team in each of the past nine seasons. The Bluejays, who are 1-11 against defending national champions, are 6-1 all-time against UConn. All seven games have been decided by single digits and a total of just 31 points.

Creighton is first in Big East play in scoring defense (63.8) and field goal percentage defense (.386), while Connecticut leads in scoring offense (77.0) and field goal percentage (.497). The total is set at 142.5.

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