Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 6
I feel like every year there’s at least one “What do we do with North Carolina?” ballot, although usually it’s because the Tar Heels underlying analytics are stronger than a bad week or two in the ACC, in large part because North Carolina typically salts away a foundation of big wins during a tough nonconference schedule.
This year, it’s the reverse: Not only did the Tar Heels have a miserable week, their underlying analytics are not great: 22nd in KenPom (how good we think they are) and 34th in Wins Above Bubble (how good they have actually been). That’s a fringe top-25 resume. But it’s still a top-25 resume, despite the appeal of dropping North Carolina from 10th to out based on how bad the Tar Heels looked in both games.
Kansas leapfrogs Virginia (which followed an ugly road loss to a good Purdue team with an ugly home win over UNC) and Michigan (which lost on the road to the No. 1 team) but the top six remains intact otherwise.
San Diego State, Dayton and Marquette all enter the ballot, with much stronger resumes than the other finalists, Purdue, Houston and LSU. Purdue would normally be the best three-loss team in the country; with Michigan State losing to Duke on Tuesday, Purdue isn’t even the best three-loss team in its conference.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Louisville (Last week: 1)
2. Maryland (2)
3. Ohio State (3)
4. Kansas (6)
5. Virginia (4)
6. Michigan (5)
7. Baylor (8)
8. Gonzaga (11)
9. Kentucky (9)
10. Duke (14)
11. Arizona (7)
12. Auburn (13)
13. Memphis (15)
14. Butler (18)
15. Michigan State (12)
16. Villanova (19)
17. Tennessee (20)
18. Florida State (16)
19. Oregon (21)
20. Xavier (23)
21. North Carolina (10)
22. Utah State (24)
23. San Diego State (NR)
24. Dayton (NR)
25. Marquette (NR)
OUT St. Mary’s (17), Seton Hall (22), Florida (25).
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 8:58 AM.
