TommyTwoTaps's Week 3 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas | LW: 1 ... the Southern Utah escape is excusable given the Duke win prior |
| 2 | Texas | LW: 11 (+9) ... dominating victory over the Zags = the big jump up |
| 3 | Virginia | LW: 16 (+13) ... two ranked wins moves them ahead of others, almost considered for the top spot |
| 4 | Houston | LW: 5 (+1) ... beating Oregon and winning handily in every other game, impressively take care of business all the time in non conference games they should handle |
| 5 | North Carolina | LW: 3 (-2) ... haven't necessarily looked dominant when they should be winning more convincingly |
| 6 | Arkansas | LW: 8 (+2) ... wasn't sure about this one, could see them drop as the non conference schedule isn't that impressive |
| 7 | Gonzaga | LW: 2 (-5) ... followed up that ugly loss with a convincing win over Kentucky |
| 8 | Baylor | LW: 4 (-4) ... Good bounce back against UCLA |
| 9 | Creighton | LW: 10 (+1) ... not showing much weakness against lower level competition, offense looks strong |
| 10 | Indiana | LW: 12 (+2) ... held off Xavier and have handled everyone else thus far |
| 11 | Auburn | LW: 13 (+2) ... haven't been tested too much, will be intrigued to see what they look like then they are finally though it could be a few weeks |
| 12 | Duke | LW: 7 (-5) ... couldn't quite rally against Kansas, nothing too challenging coming up this week |
| 13 | Arizona | LW: 14 (+1) ... would like to see the defense be a little better, but offense looks sharp |
| 14 | San Diego State | LW: 16 (+2) ... a pair of good wins against BYU and Stanford thus far, not sure what I was talking about last week |
| 15 | UCLA | LW: 9 (-6) ... two losses, but competitive ones to ranked teams so the drop isn't as severe |
| 16 | Michigan State | LW: NR ... surprised BPI has them this low given a ranked win, win vs NOVA and a 1 pt loss to a top-10 team |
| 17 | Kentucky | LW: LW: 6 (-11) ... loss to Michigan St is fine in 2OT, loss to the Zags causes the big drop |
| 18 | Illinois | LW: 23 (+5) ... despite a loss, the high quality ranked win against UCLA has them up spots |
| 19 | Alabama | LW: 19 (-) ... haven't really played anyone that serious, but they've won handily |
| 20 | Texas Tech | LW: 21 (+1) ... see above for them as well |
| 21 | UConn | LW: NR ... Have been in control for much of the season |
| 22 | Saint Mary's | LW: NR ... no surprise they find their way in the rankings, appears to be another good Saint Mary's team |
| 23 | Iowa | LW: NR ... picked up a nice win against Seton Hall, defense has looked good thus far |
| 24 | Maryland | LW: NR ... so far they haven't had the usual Maryland non-conference scare against an inferior opponent. Terps have played really good, handling St Louis and Miami |
| 25 | Tennessee | LW: NR ... back into the top-25 despite playing only FGCU, probably shouldn't have dropped last week but wanted to keep it as unbeatens |
Overall Rationale
OUT: TCU (15), Dayton (18), Michigan (20), TAMU (22), UC Irvine (24), Grambling (25) Also considered: Purdue, Mississippi State, Va Tech, Ohio State, Utah State A lot of teams out after the first week of meaningful games. Figured that would be the case and likely will continue to shift a lot the next few weeks. Also considered will soon become '26-30' once things are more settled.