kesodop's Week 2 Ballot

RankTeamReason
1 Gonzaga Beating my preseason No. 9 team by 39 points will help you stand out.
2 Auburn Decimated a perenially good Vermont program, then flew (twice) to Houston to beat the Cougars.
3Duke Neither Maine nor Army were expected to pose a threat. They didn't. More telling: 4 Blue Devils not named Flagg are averaging double figures so far.
4 Kansas Held off a feisty Tar Heels crew at the Phog. However, I'm lower on UNC than most, and that Jayhawk second half scared me.
5 Alabama Arkansas St is a good team in the Sun Belt. But they held things close with a title contender from the SEC. Sears is great, Omoruyi is very good. But the Tide need more.
6Iowa State Nice of the Cyclones to host the worst team in college hoops. Anything short of a drubbing would've been troublesome. Spoiler: Iowa St won by 39.
7 UConn What do we know? Sacred Heart and New Hampshire are bad. Dan Hurley and Alex Karaban are good.
8 Tennessee Turned Louisville's "Yum! Center" into Louisville's "Bum Center." Rick Barnes taught Pat Kelsey a couple of things about coaching in the big leagues.
9Houston Houston: we may have a problem. Jamal Shead left for the NBA last year, and we haven't seen if the Cougars have a clutch, game-winning player on this year's team. Against Auburn, this showed.
10Arizona Tommy Lloyd's squad hasn't been tested yet. Wisconsin this week, and Duke the next, will provide more answers.
11 Purdue Braden Smith has always been a good passer. Fletcher Loyer has emerged as the go-to scorer post-Edey.
12 Marquette David Joplin is averaging 20.0 pts/game. That's still 8 behind his teammate, Kam Jones. Jones may be the next household name out of the Big East.
13Creighton Kalkbrenner NPoY talk has started. Steven Ashworth will also contribute, but who else will?
14 Cincinnati Six players averaging double figures. They should be favored in every game until January.
15Texas Tech Five players averaging 10+ ppg.... Against two teams ranked worse than 300 on KenPom. The competition will improve, will Texas Tech keep it going?
16 North Carolina *Almost* won a non-conference game in Lawrence. But the fight the Tar Heels showed in the second half was encouraging.
17 Illinois Beating not-very-good teams by a large amount is not typically very telling. That's precisely what Illinois has done. In other news, Will Riley might be the next big thing in Champaign.
18 Kentucky Mark Pope's team certainly appears more fun to watch than many of Coach Cal's squads at the school. Their clash against Duke next Tuesday should be cinema.
19 Florida USF is good. Jacksonville is decent. Florida beat them both, then coach Todd Golden was accused of sexual harassment. We will see how this ends.
20St. John's Rick Pitino is back, baby. Fordham and Quinnipiac stood no chance, but New Mexico and Baylor will soon test the Red Storm.
21 Indiana It's a make-or-break year for Mike Woodson. Good thing he has Oumar Ballo and Mackenzie Mgbako.
22 Baylor Lost to Gonzaga by 3,941 points (slight hyperbole). Handed Coach Cal his first Razorback loss. Time shall reveal which of these results was more indicative.
23 Mississippi State Is this Chris Jans' best team in Starkville? Early returns indicate yes, but the schedule has been soft so far.
24 Michigan State Izzo devoured the appetizers. The main course (Kansas) awaits Tuesday night in Atlanta.
25 Oregon UC Riverside and Montana are better than you realize. However, so is Dana Altman. All the man does is win: his last losing season was 1995-96, with Creighton!

Overall Rationale

Incredibly close race at the top. The margin between Gonzaga and Auburn was razor-thin, but the Bulldog's annihilation of a very good Baylor team tops even beating the No. 1 team in my rankings (UH), as that game was significantly closer than the one in Spokane. In general, I tried to combine my preseason poll with current KenPom, EvanMiya and ESPN BPI, with a sprinkling of ESPN SoR (too early for this to really matter). Losses matter, but it helps your cause if it's a close game and/or you're away from home.