Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 4
How many games could Gonzaga lose right now and stay in the No. 1 spot? Or, given that Baylor is right on the Zags’ heels, maybe a better question is, how many games could the Zags lose and stay in the top two? Because no one has beaten better teams than Gonzaga, and it’s not even that close. West Virginia has a sneaky good collection of mid-tier wins, but the Mountaineers have one loss … to Gonzaga.
Gonzaga has played four games and beaten three teams they’re likely to see again in the Final Four, if there is one: Iowa on Saturday was the latest, following Kansas and West Virginia. Postseason-banned Auburn is the fourth. Alas, we never did get that Gonzaga-Baylor game.
So one loss and they’re staying at No. 1 at this point. Two losses would probably see them drop only below Baylor. Gonzaga losing three games in short succession would do it, in part because it would be a pretty bold indication the Zags aren’t the dominant operation they appear to be at this moment.
Other than Gonzaga, this was the first week where it felt like there were a bunch of real surprises. Just when we thought we knew who some of these teams were (Michigan State and Florida State to name just two) they turned out to be substantially more vulnerable than it seemed a week ago.
Florida, Michigan and Virginia all move up despite not playing, which is less than ideal but just how things worked out this week. Remember when Kentucky was a top-25 team? Good times.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Gonzaga (last week: 1)
2. Baylor (2)
3. Kansas (4)
4. Villanova (5)
5. West Virginia (11)
6. Texas (6)
7. Iowa (3)
8. Houston (9)
9. Texas Tech (7)
10. Wisconsin (14)
11. Tennessee (15)
12. Florida (17)
13. Michigan (18)
14. Virginia (19)
15. Duke (20)
16. North Carolina (21)
17. Florida State (10)
18. Illinois (12)
19. Michigan State (8)
20. Rutgers (NR)
21. Creighton (13)
22. Ohio State (16)
23. Indiana (NR)
24. Clemson (23)
25. Missouri (25)
OUT Louisville (22), San Diego State (24).
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 8:39 AM.
