Ranking nation's top 68 teams

Indiana No. 1? Louisville over Duke? Zags over Illini? Let the debating begin

Updated: December 12, 2012, 11:10 AM ET

By Jay Bilas | ESPN Insider

Duke is rolling and rolled Temple. Indiana started ahead of Duke and keeps winning against a lesser slate. Kentucky has suffered an unimaginable home loss, the first in John Calipari's tenure ruling over Big Blue Nation. Texas can guard but can't score. Illinois is unbeaten and surging in the polls. How does one make sense of it all? How should we properly value the true merit of each team in the gigantic and unwieldy mess known as Division I?

The Bilas Index, that's how. Notwithstanding the super-cranial sophistication of The Bilastrator, we (the Royal we) do not fully comprehend the horrible inconsistency of weekly polls. Such baffling inconsistency is one of the countless reasons to fully embrace the genius, and we don't use that word lightly but rather with great force and conviction, of The Bilas Index. The Bilas Index is a barometer that incorporates a wide variety of data from KenPom.com, Sagarin, Basketball Prospectus and ESPN's incredible Basketball Power Index ("BPI"), as well as the most powerful tool of basketball analytics ever imagined by man, the powerful brain and hoop experience of The Bilastrator himself.

With the Deep Blue-like ability to process so much data into the perfect ranking of the nation's 68 best teams based on performance and potential, in a word, The Bilas Index is "trillicious." As always, you're welcome.

Coming in: Charlotte 49ers, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, Bucknell Bison, Wyoming Cowboys, Iowa Hawkeyes, Boise State Broncos.

Moving out: Clemson Tigers, Northern Iowa Panthers, USC Trojans, Arkansas Razorbacks, Seton Hall Pirates, Oklahoma Sooners.

Largest move up: Wichita State Shockers (No. 50 to No. 29).

Largest fall down: Tennessee Volunteers (No. 42 to No. 58).

1. Indiana Hoosiers (Last Week: 1)

Indiana has not played the toughest slate, with the weakest overall schedule of any team in the top 25 of The Bilas Index. However, it has beaten Georgia, Georgetown and North Carolina. With the exception of Butler this weekend, the Hoosiers should not be pushed until they play Minnesota on Jan. 12. Indiana remains the top-rated offensive team in the country, according to KenPom.com. What makes Indiana No. 1 in The Bilas Index is the steady improvement of the IU defense, which is top 10 in the nation. Victor Oladipo!

2. Louisville Cardinals (Last Week: 2)