Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 6
Poor Tennessee. The Volunteers beat the No. 1 team in the country (No. 2 on my ballot) and are rewarded for their endeavor by … remaining at No. 7. This presents one of the difficulties of this poll: That single win is terrific, and Tennessee probably deserves to move up, but that requires one of the six teams ahead of the Volunteers to deserve to move down. And all six of those teams – Gonzaga included – remain better both in terms of predictive analytics and resume than Tennessee at this point, roughly a third of the way through the regular season.
It’s a tough fix to be in, but when you look at the season as a whole, it’s hard to move Tennessee past any of those teams. That said, the Volunteers are certainly in a position to pounce if one of those six teams stumbles – perhaps, just for example, Gonzaga at North Carolina on Saturday – and as they move through what is shaping up to be a stacked-at-the-top SEC. That win may not help Tennessee this week when it comes to my ballot, but it almost certainly will down the road.
Kentucky hangs on by its fingernails, clearly with top-25 talent but with little to show for it so far. Consider the Wildcats on double-secret probation. Houston and St. John’s were on the bubble last week and the Cougars get in but Marquette jumps its Big East rival on the strength of a home win over Wisconsin
Last two teams out: Cincinnati and Syracuse. (N.C. State isn’t far behind, before you ask.) Three new teams: Indiana, Houston, Marquette.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
MY TOP 25
1. Kansas (Last week: 1)
2. Duke (3)
3. Michigan (4)
4. Nevada (5)
5. Gonzaga (2)
6. Virginia (6)
7. Tennessee (7)
8. Auburn (8)
9. Texas Tech (9)
10. Michigan State (12)
11. North Carolina (11)
12. Buffalo (13)
13. Florida State (14)
14. Virginia Tech (15)
15. Mississippi State (17)
16. Villanova (21)
17. Ohio State (24)
18. Furman (20)
19. Wisconsin (16)
20. Oklahoma (25)
21. Arizona State (18)
22. Indiana (NR)
23. Houston (NR)
24. Marquette (NR)
25. Kentucky (10)
OUT Kansas State (19), Nebraska (22), Iowa State (23).
This story was originally published December 10, 2018 at 9:37 AM.
