Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 8
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 January 3, 2022.
We’ve reached the point where teams in the big conferences — meaning, the Power 6 minus the ACC and Pac-12 — are starting to beat up on each other. Auburn and Alabama held serve at home against LSU and Tennessee respectively, and there’s only going to be more of that.
It’s important not to overreact to road losses to good teams, especially with teams in the teens. Those aren’t games those teams would be expected to win in the first place, and also play into the fallacy that head-to-head results are a good way to judge teams. Related: Iowa State stays in the 25 slot after a loss to Baylor because Baylor would be a road favorite in about 353 gyms.
Providence replaces Seton Hall on the ballot in a week without a whole lot of movement otherwise — not because of the head-to-head win, although it was a good win — and it will be interesting to see if the Friars can stay there. Their resume is impressive, but the predictive metrics remain generally unimpressed. Seton Hall still has a fringe top-25 profile, would expect to see the Pirates again.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7
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. Purdue (6)
7. Arizona (7)
8. USC (8)
9. Michigan State (10)
10. Ohio State (11)
11. Auburn (12)
12. LSU (9)
13. Houston (13)
14. Colorado State (15)
15. Alabama (17)
16. Tennessee (14)
17. Illinois (18)
18. Xavier (19)
19. Texas (20)
20. Villanova (22)
21. Wisconsin (21)
22. Providence (NR)
23. Kentucky (23)
24. San Francisco (24)
25. Iowa State (25)
OUT Seton Hall (16)
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 7:48 AM.
