Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 2
Generally speaking, you don’t want to abandon your preseason preconceptions quite yet, not until there’s more evidence to make some rational assessments. But with the more-than-welcome array of games between top teams -- and on this ballot, that includes Sunday’s Arizona-Illinois game -- there is some major reshuffling required, especially within the top 10.
Texas (with a win over Purdue) and Auburn (with solid if not flashy wins over Georgia Southern and Davidson, better than the usual nonconference opening) replace Harvard and Notre Dame in the top 25, while Kentucky makes the big jump to No. 1. I wasn’t expecting much from the Wildcats this season, but based on the (scant) evidence we have so far, they have earned the top spot.
And a reminder that I don’t take other pollsters’ votes or the previous week’s poll results into consideration, so my ballot will continue to be an outlier for a while, especially with Missouri (which is 33 in KenPom at the moment) until there’s evidence to suggest otherwise, which in Missouri’s case could be Tuesday at Xavier. So be it.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
MY TOP 25
1. Kentucky (Last week: 9)
2. Louisville (4)
3. Duke (5)
4. Michigan State (1)
5. North Carolina (7)
6. Kansas (2)
7. Florida (3)
8. Maryland (8)
9. St. Mary’s (15)
10. Gonzaga (10)
11. Ohio State (21)
12. VCU (12)
13. Missouri (13)
14. Villanova (14)
15. Memphis (16)
16. Seton Hall (17)
17. Oregon (18)
18. Virginia (22)
19. Arizona (23)
20. Baylor (11)
21. Utah State (24)
22. Purdue (6)
23. Texas (NR)
24. Auburn (NR)
25. Washington (NR)
OUT Notre Dame (19), Harvard (20), Illinois (23).
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 8:23 AM.
