Head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has the Houston Cougars 5-0 and ranked sixth in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Houston was named the preseason favorite to win the American Athletic Conference back in October.

Sampson likes what he has with his team, but he also likes what the AAC as a whole brings to the table. One team he's keeping an eye on is the SMU Mustangs -- a team that boasts a matching 5-0 record.

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In a discussion with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Sampson gave his thoughts on the Mustangs. Last season, Houston and SMU split in two matchups, with the second game finishing with an Emmanuel Bandoumel 3-pointer to give SMU a 73-72 overtime win at Moody Coliseum.

"You know who I think's a good team people are sleeping on? SMU," Sampson said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast. They just got that Yor Anei kid eligible, who I think is a difference-maker defensively, for sure. He had 18 against us one game."

Anei, a 6-10 transfer from Oklahoma State, had 18 points and eight rebounds in helping the Cowboys beat Houston, 61-55, last December. Add him to the mix of an already-talented SMU roster, and Sampson believes the race for an AAC championship is far from a runaway for his program.

"Kendric Davis, Feron Hunt, [Ethan] Chargois ... they've got a good team," Sampson said of SMU. "They won at Dayton. Winning at Dayton might not be the cachet win as winning at Florida State, but they just beat Ole Miss, and Ole Miss has a good team."

Rothstein puts out his own national top 45. He has Houston ranked No. 4, but he also has SMU ranked No. 44. The Mustangs are shooting 48% from the field and 80% from the free throw line, and they're averaging 85.2 points per game, which ranks No. 1 in the AAC.

Four Mustangs are averaging in double figures in scoring. Davis leads the team with 20.4 points and an AAC-best 7.6 assists per contest. He's the second-leading scorer in the conference behind UCF guard Brandon Mahan, who is averaging 21.7 points through three games entering Tuesday.

The Mustangs and Cougars will meet Jan. 3 at Moody Coliseum. Before that, SMU has to worry about its first conference road matchup Dec. 30 at Temple.