Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 17
With the win over Baylor, Kansas takes what is really its rightful place atop the ballot. The Jayhawks have been the No. 1 team analytically for weeks by just about every metric and in a topsy-turvy season have consistently been the best team. But Baylor hadn’t done anything to deserve to be demoted, which created the usual poll inertia.
That was in keeping with the rest of the turmoil at the top of the ballot. The No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 8 teams on last week’s ballot all lost. Everyone but Kansas, basically. But the case that top six can make is still stronger than Dayton at No. 7 or anyone else, so this just becomes an occasion for a reshuffling of those six into the correct order, which is how Gonzaga ends up moving up in a week when the Zags lost (to a very good BYU team).
There was an equal amount of turmoil at the bottom, with six (6!) teams dropping off the ballot. That’s Week 2 kind of stuff..
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Kansas (Last week: 2)
2. Baylor (1)
3. Gonzaga (4)
4. San Diego State (3)
5. Duke (5)
6. Maryland (6)
7. Dayton (7)
8. Creighton (10)
9. Louisville (12)
10. Florida State (9)
11. Villanova (11)
12. Seton Hall (13)
13. Iowa (18)
14. BYU (17)
15. West Virginia (14)
16. Kentucky (19)
17. Penn State (8)
18. Michigan (NR)
19. Michigan State (NR)
20. Colorado (15)
21. Texas Tech (NR)
22. Wisconsin (NR)
23. Arizona State (NR)
24. Ohio State (23)
25. East Tennessee State (NR)
OUT Auburn (16), Butler (20), Marquette (21), Houston (22), Oregon (24), Rhode Island (25).
This story was originally published February 24, 2020 at 8:32 AM.
