willweaverrva's Week 6 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa State | This was going to be Tennessee, but Iowa State has a more impressive win (a dominant win over Marquette), so the Cyclones take the top spot this week. |
| 2 | Tennessee | Rocky Top is SO CLOSE to being at the top, and they stand a great chance of getting there, especially if they can get past Illinois on Saturday. |
| 3 | Duke | Jon Scheyer continues to have the Blue Devils playing at a high level with some impressive wins - including over #1 Auburn, and their two losses were close ones against very strong opponents. |
| 4 | Alabama | Take a lot of what I just said about Duke and stick it right here. Alabama's only losses are relatively close losses to strong opponents. They should be well positioned to compete in SEC play. |
| 5 | Auburn | Auburn is not invincible, but losing to Duke isn't that big of a deal because Duke is VERY good. The metrics still love Auburn and they're still an offensive powerhouse. |
| 6 | Kentucky | A close loss to Clemson on the road doesn't really hurt as much as it should, especially after Kentucky followed it up with a win over Gonzaga in an absolute nailbiter of a game. |
| 7 | Gonzaga | The Zags lost an absolute thriller to Kentucky, but they get to stay fairly high in the rankings - they're 7-2 in an absolute meat grinder of a schedule, and they get a resurgent UConn on Saturday. |
| 8 | Marquette | Iowa State is probably the most well-balanced team in the country, so that loss doesn't hurt much. Shaka Smart will return to UD Arena in a battle of former VCU coaches, though, and it'll be tough. |
| 9 | Houston | The metrics still love Houston, but I can't have them any higher than this with three losses, even if all three are to ranked teams. Still the Coogs seem well positioned to compete in the Big 12. |
| 10 | Kansas | Not a great week for Kansas with two tough losses to a resurgent Creighton and an underrated Mizzou. |
| 11 | Purdue | Mike Rhoades and Penn State showed us all that Purdue has a lot of work to do. The Boilermakers also struggled to beat Maryland, and things only get tougher from here. |
| 12 | Florida | I had Florida severely underrated in previous polls, but the Gators really have yet to be tested. Tough games against Arizona State and UNC loom. |
| 13 | Clemson | New to ballot. Clemson has been quite good during the past couple of weeks, and a strong win against Kentucky vaults them from "almost famous" all the way to lucky #13. |
| 14 | Michigan | New to ballot. Michigan has really kicked it into gear with three strong wins in their last three games, including a gutsy win over Iowa. |
| 15 | Illinois | The loss to an inconsistent Northwestern is a bit of a headscratcher, and Illinois is going to have to figure out what went wrong fast as they have three really tough games coming up. |
| 16 | Oregon | The Ducks opened Big Ten play 1-1 against the two other west coast teams in the conference, but the loss was a squeaker to a very strong UCLA team. Oregon is still for real. |
| 17 | Texas A&M | The Buzz remains palpable in College Station, but the Aggies came close to stumbling against Texas Tech, winning by 5 on a neutral court. |
| 18 | Creighton | New to ballot, thanks to a stunning win over Kansas. Can the Bluejays keep this up? They're gonna have to find some consistency real soon. |
| 19 | San Diego State | Not much to say here. A lot of higher teams lost and the Aztecs didn't, so up they go. Strong metrics and dominating wins over the cupcakes they faced keep them here. |
| 20 | UConn | New to ballot. Never make Dan Hurley angry. After squeaking by Baylor, UConn thrashed Texas. Still, I'll hold my opinion on whether UConn is "back" until they face Gonzaga this weekend. |
| 21 | Baylor | Baylor fell victim to an angry Dan Hurley out to prove that UConn is still relevant, and they lost in a close one. Unfortunately, after this week they go idle until December 27th. |
| 22 | UCLA | New to ballot. UCLA is a lot tougher than they look, and they gutted out a great win over Oregon. That being said, they have a way easier schedule and I can't put them any higher than this...for now. |
| 23 | Penn State | New. I'm a VCU fan, but I must give Mike Rhoades his due. The Nittany Lions are playing extremely well and Ace Baldwin & co. thoroughly exposed Purdue. This could be their best season in a long time. |
| 24 | Mississippi State | New to ballot. Mississippi State has one of the best offenses I've seen so far, and they haven't scored any less than 77 points in a single game, and they absolutely obliterated Pitt. |
| 25 | St. John's | New to ballot. I don't think St. John's is quite as good as the metrics suggest, but Kansas State is no slouch, and I think that win is better than most of the others by teams close to being ranked. |
Overall Rationale
NEW TO BALLOT: Clemson, Michigan, UConn, Creighton, UCLA, Penn State, Mississippi State, St. John's. DROPPED FROM BALLOT: Texas (10), Cincinnati (16), Wisconsin (17), Pittsburgh (19), Drake (22), Oklahoma (23), Arizona State (24), Dayton (25). ALMOST FAMOUS: Dayton, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Drake, Arizona State. Some teams dropped by no fault of their own, they were simply leapfrogged by teams that had stronger wins.