Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 6

News & Observer sports columnist Luke DeCock is serving as an Associated Press Top 25 basketball poll voter for the 2021-22 NCAA basketball season. This is his AP ballot for December 20, 2021.

It’s not December 2020. It just feels that way.

We’re back where we were a year ago, when COVID made a mockery of college basketball. Teams plan, the virus laughs.

Five of the teams on this ballot are on pause at the moment. Five teams didn’t play at all this week (not the same group, since two weren’t scheduled to play). North Carolina played Kentucky instead of UCLA, missing out on a chance for a marquee win ... not that it would have mattered the way the Tar Heels played, or didn’t play, against Kentucky. Seton Hall and Ohio State also pulled the plug.

Baylor retains the No. 1 spot with a sneaky good win at Oregon. One difference from 2020: Baylor didn’t hit the No. 1 spot until January on its way to the national title.

UConn exits, Iowa State enters. Providence needed Arizona State to beat San Francisco on Sunday to crack this ballot but the Friars are a solid 26th. Also under consideration: BYU, Iowa, Loyola-Chicago, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Not so much under consideration but on the radar: Indiana, Minnesota, Virginia Tech and ... Wake Forest.

Wake Forest.

Feels good to type that after all these years.

The Deacons have a fringe top-25 resume but still have some work to do to establish themselves as top-25 caliber. They’re on the right track and have one of the toughest ACC schedules, so they’ll get plenty of chances to prove it.

THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS

Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5

THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT

1. Baylor (Last week: 1)

2. Duke (2)

3. Gonzaga (3)

4. UCLA (4)

5. Kansas (5)

6. Arizona (6)

7. Purdue (8)

8. USC (9)

9. LSU (10)

10. Alabama (7)

11. Michigan State (11)

12. Ohio State (13)

13. Auburn (14)

14. Houston (15)

15. Tennessee (16)

16. Xavier (17)

17. Colorado State (18)

18. Seton Hall (19)

19. Illinois (22)

20. Texas (23)

21. Wisconsin (24)

22. Villanova (12)

23. Kentucky (25)

24. San Francisco (20)

25. Iowa State (NR)

OUT Connecticut (21)

This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 8:33 AM.

Luke DeCock

The News & Observer

Luke DeCock is a former journalist for the News & Observer.