ItsAesthus's Ballot for Week 12 of 2020-21
Submitted on Sunday, February 7, 2021 at 7:16PM EST
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Baylor
|
17-0 | Baylor gained on #1 rival Gonzaga for a third straight week, doing so most emphatically with a win on the road over Texas. |
| 2 |
Gonzaga
|
17-0 | It’s possible the Bulldogs’ reign at the top has come to an end, but they still managed to beat Pacific by 18 with a late run. |
| 3 |
Michigan
|
12-1 | The COVID pause helped Michigan rise to the top of the non-Baylor/Gonzaga rankings, but can they stay there as they return to play? |
| 4 |
Florida State
|
10-3 | A blazing hot take? Perhaps, but FSU’s the best three-loss team out there, with wins over Indiana, UF, UNC, Louisville, and Clemson. |
| 5 |
Missouri
|
12-3 | Missouri hadn’t been playing to the level of fellow top-of-the-SEC competition for a while, but stunned Bama for a statement win. |
| 6 |
Villanova
|
12-2 | The Wildcats had been walking on eggshells all year long, and St. John’s finally stunned them for a first conference loss. |
| 7 |
Houston
|
15-2 | Houston was another high-profile victim on an upset-laden Wednesday, going down at ECU for their second AAC defeat. |
| 8 |
Ohio State
|
15-4 | The Buckeyes lead the four-loss teams, having won four straight including a road thriller against Big Ten rival Iowa. |
| 9 |
USC
|
15-3 | And you thought #4 FSU was the hot take! USC’s also got four straight, including a huge win against top conference rival UCLA. |
| 10 |
Texas Tech
|
14-5 | The Red Raiders eked out a home win over OU and took care of business against K-State. Next up: a testing stretch of WVU and Baylor. |
| 11 |
Virginia
|
13-3 | Virginia had a fine bounce-back weak from a Commonwealth Cup loss, taking down mid-table foes in NC State and Pitt. |
| 12 |
Oklahoma
|
12-5 | Doing my best to set aside bias as an Oklahoma State fan here: losing at TTU and beating ISU close just ain’t pretty. |
| 13 |
Alabama
|
15-5 | Alabama’s dominant SEC run came to an end on Saturday with a Mizzou loss, but they’re still three games ahead of the pack. |
| 14 |
Virginia Tech
|
14-4 | Virginia Tech following up a huge win over Virginia with a loss to Pitt and near-loss to Miami pretty much sums up the ACC. |
| 15 |
Illinois
|
13-5 | I’ve been an Illinois skeptic all year, but they’ve finally hit their stride with wins vs Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin all in a row. |
| 16 |
Tennessee
|
13-4 | That was...not a good week for Tennessee to follow their big KU win. A loss at Ole Miss and tough win over UK drop them quite a bit. |
| 17 |
Texas
|
11-5 | Texas finally came back to earth, returning to the half (!) of the Big 12 on five losses by dropping games vs Baylor and at Okla St. |
| 18 |
West Virginia
|
13-5 | Beating ISU by four was pretty ugly, but WVU recovered from that struggle by taking down a spiralling Kansas with little trouble. |
| 19 |
Louisville
|
11-4 | Strange as it may seem, Louisville technically did play this week (a 74-58 win over GT). Next up: Pitt and a huge showdown with VT. |
| 20 |
Iowa
|
13-6 | While still a competitor in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes are straying dangerously close to a profile highlighted only by quality losses. |
| 21 |
UCLA
|
13-4 | So...#UnrankAllBluebloods is fun and all, but even with a USC loss, the Bruins have a decent resume and no truly bad losses. |
| 22 |
Oklahoma State
|
12-5 | Before the Arkansas-TCU-Texas stretch, I said I’d feel good about the Cowboys if they won two of three. Well...they did, I suppose. |
| 23 |
Xavier
|
11-2 | Xavier’s rise into the top 25 is all about other teams falling—that, and the 22-point OU win having aged pretty well. |
| 24 |
Rutgers
|
11-6 | Rutgers has overcome an early five-game losing streak in Big Ten play to take four in a row, including Thursday’s win over Minnesota. |
| 25 |
Colorado State
|
14-4 | CSU is a bit of a wild card, but they’re 4-1 in their last five and swept Wyoming on the road this week to close on the MW lead. |