Pratt-and-Whitney's Week 9 Ballot

RankTeamReason
1 Auburn +0. Analytics clearly say this is the best team in the country.
2 Tennessee +0. Strong analytics, undefeated, but clearly not the #1 team right now in my opinion.
3Iowa State +0. We will really find out what this team is made of when the conference schedule starts.
4 Duke +0. Really strong analytics, best win in the country, but I have them here because they have two losses. I would understand someone ranking them as high as #2, however.
5 Florida +0. A fun team to watch with a great backcourt, undefeated; I think they’re elite, but I think the teams above them are all better as of right now. Their first two conference games will tell us a lot
6Marquette +0. I’m high on this team, mostly because of Kam Jones. They have two Quad 1 road losses, and had injury problems as well.
7 Houston +0. This is an analytics and eye test ranking—they have three extremely close losses
8 Kansas +0. They have some really strong wins, but that week where they lost to Creighton and Missouri was brutal.
9Alabama +0. I have them lower than most, because I was not impressed with how they played against North Dakota, and they didn’t play any good teams to leap the teams ahead of them.
10Kentucky +0. The Ohio State loss was brutal, and it really hurt their metrics too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them lose to Florida in Rupp
11 Oregon +0. Clearly a good, balanced team
12 Cincinnati +1. I’m higher on this team than most, but we will see how they fare in the Big 12
13UConn +1. All three losses came in a brutal one week stretch and they’ve clearly rebounded from that disaster in Maui
14 Texas A&M +1. Really good defense with a serviceable offense led by Wade Taylor
15Michigan State +2. I think a lot of people forgot about this team, but their only two losses are to some strong teams
16 Mississippi State +2. I was very impressed with the Memphis win
17 Illinois +2. The metrics like them, and they played Tennessee to the wire
18 Oklahoma +2. Undefeated, but the metrics hate them. Admittedly, I am paying attention to that and keep them low in my ballot
19 UCLA +8. Picked up the 2nd best win of the week by taking down Gonzaga
20Gonzaga -8. Maybe it’s a big drop for losing by 3 on the road to a ranked team, but that’s their fourth loss. The analytics still love them so I’m still keeping them higher than others might be (I’m guessing)
21 Baylor +2. Had some interesting noncon games (to say the least) but they also had some injury issues
22 Dayton +0. I moved Baylor over them on upon further examination.
23 St. John's +1. Strong analytics, not quite the resume to back it up yet.
24 Texas Tech +2. Two losses but really strong analytics. I moved them over Maryland because I realized they both are two loss teams that are relying on analytics, but Texas Tech is stronger there.
25 Maryland +0. Not a great resume, but some good analytics, so I put them in here.

Overall Rationale

#26 - Memphis, #27 Michigan, #28 - Utah State, #29 - San Diego State, #30 - Purdue, #31 - Arkansas, #32 - Georgia