Ted_Lavie's Week 18 Ballot

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Houston	0 - Won in Memphis in the toughest test the AAC can offer. They're a really good team
2	Alabama	0 - They're playing a lot worse than they did a couple of weeks ago. But their body of work still is pretty great.
3	Kansas	0 - Didn't look good in Texas but they stay put.
4	UCLA	+4 - They've been really good for a while but their best win was against Maryland or Kentucky until this week. Great win against Arizona for a potential #1 seed
5	Texas	+1 - Tough loss at TCU before a big win against Kansas. That's life in the Big 12.
6	Purdue	-2 - Didn't do anything wrong this week, but their recent form has them at the mercy of teams like UCLA or Texas getting big W
7	Baylor	-2 - Probably aren't looking forward to a third matchup against Iowa St
8	Marquette	-1 - I think Marquette should be in good shape to get a #2 seed with a decent tournament
9	Arizona	0 - @USC and @UCLA is as tough a week as it gets in the P12, and there's no shame going 1-1. But they missed an opportunity against UCLA to contend for a higher seed
10	Gonzaga	+1 - Nothing new for this week.
11	Tennessee	-1 - Their last decent road win is in mid January in Starkville. Since then, they lost in Florida, Vandy, UK, A&M and now Auburn.
12	Kansas State	0 - A loss in WV, a win at home against OU. Nothing to write home about.
13	Virginia	0 - Winning against Clemson was needed after their awful last week.
14	UConn	+1 - Winning at a red-hot Nova by 12 is more impressive than it looks, and that potential semifinal between UConn and Marquette in the BE tournament looks interesting
15	Indiana	-1 - Huge loss to Iowa and an OT win against Michigan? Indiana doesn't look as sharp as a month ago.
16	TCU	0 - Huge win against Texas, almost immediately ruined by a loss in OU.
17	Saint Mary's	+1 - Nothing new for this week.
18	San Diego State	+1 - Losing at Boise St isn't anything to be ashamed about. They still look like they will be a tough out in the Big Dance
19	Miami (FL)	+1 - Winning against Pitt put Miami back on track. That loss to FSU amidst 8 ACC wins really keep getting weirder.
20	Iowa State	-3 - Though they got a nice win in Baylor, they're really not playing like a top 20 team in the country these last few weeks. They need to pick it up really soon
21	Duke	+2 - A win against NC St and inflicting a huge loss to UNC in Chapel Hill is as good as it gets for Duke. They just keep on winning against teams they should beat
22	Illinois	-1 - Illinois is a really talented team but they're so inconsistent. They were able to win against Michigan in 2OT to still being ranked here
23	Xavier	+2 - Solid week with a win at Providence to note.
24	Texas A&M	NEW - I'm a coward, but I had to rank A&M. What a 2023 year they're having.
25	Northwestern	-1 - As I'm writing this, they still haven't played Rutgers

Overall Rationale

Missed the cut: Maryland, NC St, Missouri and Kentucky