Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 8
Updated 12:15 p.m. Monday with AP poll results
We’re back after a three-week hiatus, sort of. I’ve been voting the whole time, but taking some time off work and not posting these weekly semi-analyses. Not a ton has changed. Gonzaga is still No. 1. Baylor is still No. 2. Undefeated Winthrop got a vote (and not just from me).
But it’s a good day to be back, because Monday made history with neither Duke nor North Carolina in the top 25 for the first time in 38 years -- since Dec. 27, 1982, per ESPN’s Bryan Ives, a span of 702 polls. North Carolina has been gone for three weeks and Duke has been hanging on, but the loss at Virginia Tech on Tuesday was the final straw.
The Blue Devils appeared on only 10 of 64 ballots, with enough points to rank 31st; the Tar Heels received none.
The Blue Devils were 15th on my ballot and 19th in the actual poll last week. Normally, a road loss to a top-25 caliber team (Virginia Tech, while still not on my ballot, was ranked 20th last week) wouldn’t drop a team out of the poll. But Duke is now 5-3 with its best win at 4-8 Notre Dame and has meanwhile lost to every other decent team it has played (Michigan State, Illinois, VT). The only thing about Duke’s resume at this point that screams “top 25” is the name.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Gonzaga (last week: 1)
2. Baylor (2)
3. Iowa (6)
4. Villanova (4)
5. Texas (3)
6. Tennessee (11)
7. Michigan (5)
8. Kansas (7)
9. Houston (9)
10. Wisconsin (8)
11. Ohio State (21)
12. UCLA (20)
13. Virginia (17)
14. West Virginia (14)
15. USC (22)
16. Connecticut (23)
17. Texas Tech (16)
18. Creighton (12)
19. Florida State (19)
20. Illinois (13)
21. Clemson (10)
22. Colorado (NR)
23. Minnesota (NR)
24. Drake (24)
25. Winthrop (25)
OUT Duke (15), Louisville (18)
This story was originally published January 18, 2021 at 8:31 AM.
