Virginia Commonwealth University LogoMatthewSulls's Ballot for Week 14 of 2017-18

Submitted on Sunday, February 4, 2018 at 5:26PM EST
RankTeamReason
1 University of Virginia Logo Virginia UPDATED FROM TWO WEEKS AGO. Was busy last weekend so that's why there are some huge gaps.
2 Villanova University Logo Villanova (-) Nova and UVA are in a league of their own, but UVA edges out Nova as the better team based on defense.
3 Purdue University Logo Purdue (+1) Purdue has had some close calls, but is still a fantastic team. They will stay in third unless Nova or UVA loses.
4 University of Cincinnati Logo Cincinnati (+2) Cincinnati may have one of the easier top 10 schedules, but this team has yet to disappoint.
5 Xavier University Logo Xavier (+2) Xavier's recent shaky wins have made me nervous about putting them any higher than five, but they continue I could see them moving up.
6 Michigan State University Logo Michigan State (+3) As long as MSU keeps winning, I'll keep them here. However, they haven't been good enough to pass Xavier or Cincy.
7 Duke University Logo Duke (-4) Duke's loss to UVA wasn't a huge deal for me, I actually had only dropped them to 4th from it, the loss to SJU is worse to me.
8 Texas Tech University Logo Texas Tech (+13) My largest mistake two weeks ago was assuming the two losses in a row signified a downward spiral, but TTU has recovered very nicely.
9 Auburn University Logo Auburn (+7) I underrated Auburn a bit last ranking, their one loss in conference play was not bad at all, and at the moment no one can touch them.
10 University of Kansas Logo Kansas (-5) Kansas is still a really good team. Going down five spots after two losses since my last ranking is generous.
11 University of Rhode Island Logo URI (+8) This team is much better than I expected, I won't raise them much higher but the jump is mostly due to underrating last time.
12 Clemson University Logo Clemson (+2) Clemson losing @ the best team in the country doesn't make me think poorer of them, they are still one of the few rising teams.
13 Saint Mary's College of California Logo Saint Mary's (+2) As long as they don't lose they're going to stay in, if they do that will most likely change.
14 Gonzaga University Logo Gonzaga (+6) Zaga has completely brushed off the loss and is continuing to outdo the other teams in the teens in the rankings.
15 University of Oklahoma Logo Oklahoma (-4) I still find the Trae Youngs to be one of the better teams here, but their losses are starting to pile up.
16 University of Arizona Logo Arizona (-4) Both Zona and OU are great teams, I just consider OU's wins to be stronger and their losses to be more quality.
17 Ohio State University Logo Ohio State (-4) OSU's loss to PSU is going to reflect poorly, but how they do @Purdue may change a lot.
18 University of Tennessee Logo Tennessee (NR) Tennessee is one of the recent teams that hasn't been losing their games, which is enough for me.
19 West Virginia University Logo West Virginia (-11) WVU has lost five of their last seven, two being at home.
20 University of Michigan Logo Michigan (NR) Michigan has started winning again, after one bad loss to Nebraska and giving Purdue a run for their money.
21 University of Houston Logo Houston (NR) Houston is one of my riskier choices, with two bad losses and a few good wins, I think they're ready to join the top 25.
22 University of Washington Logo Washington (NR) Washington wasn't even on my radar until they defeated Arizona, they have wins against three ranked teams and only a few bad losses.
23 University of Miami (Florida) Logo Miami (FL) (NR) Miami slowly floated back to the rankings after everyone else just kept doing worse.
24 New Mexico State University Logo New Mexico State (+1) (Others being considered: FSU, Creighton, Wichita State, Arizona State, Seton Hall, Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas State, Nevada)
25 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Logo North Carolina (-15) (DROPPED: LOUISVILLE (17); CREIGHTON (19); KANSAS STATE (22); NEVADA (23); WICHITA STATE (24)