Duke University Logobyzantiums's Ballot for Week 4 of 2021-22

Submitted on Monday, November 29, 2021 at 9:40AM EST
RankTeamReason
1 Duke University Logo Duke +6. Easily the best set of two wins in the country. Unless you're hung up on poll inertia or the Campbell game, this is the pick.
2 Purdue University Logo Purdue +1. Has looked dominant against weak opponents and solid against good ones. Victim of unlucky scheduling.
3 Gonzaga University Logo Gonzaga -2. Could still be the best team in the country, but they're a lot sloppier than a year ago and don't have the same killer instincts.
4 Baylor University Logo Baylor +2. Kendell Brown is the best freshman in the country outside of Banchero/Holmgren/Smith, and I'm not sold that he's far behind Holmgren.
5 Villanova University Logo Villanova =. Had a better week than Kansas or UCLA by avoiding playing a game. Needs to find some depth.
6 University of Arizona Logo Arizona +3. Was high on them last week and nothing happened to change that. Koloko/Tubelis/Mathurin is one of the best trios in the nation.
7 University of Kentucky Logo Kentucky +4. Haven't played a good team since the Champions Classic, but look dominant against everyone they play.
8 University of Kansas Logo Kansas -6. One loss shouldn't kill a team. But Kansas has serious defensive issues and David McCormack has taken a huge step back from last year.
9 University of California, Los Angeles Logo UCLA -5. Flawed team that's going to stay that way unless Cody Riley is a first team all-American. Too many top teams have great frontcourts.
10 Brigham Young University Logo BYU +8. I had them too low last week, this is a great basketball team.
11 University of Texas at Austin Logo Texas +2. Marcus Carr? Really bad at basketball. Timmy Allen? Really good at basketball.
12 University of Arkansas Logo Arkansas +2. Three unconvincing wins in a row, but they're still wins!
13 University of Tennessee Logo Tennessee +3. Uneventful week, took care of business.
14 University of Southern California Logo USC NEW. Soft schedule so far but this team plays great defense. And Chevez Goodwin is a revelation.
15 University of Wisconsin-Madison Logo Wisconsin NEW. Is this too high? I debated going even higher. Had the best week in the country aside from Duke.
16 University of Florida Logo Florida +6. When do we start talking about whether Colin Castleton is better than Hunter Dickinson?
17 University of Houston Logo Houston +4. Metrics love them but I'm not quite there. They beat up on bad Virginia and Oregon teams and lost to the only good team they've played.
18 University of Alabama Logo Alabama -6. Looked awful against Iona and pretty bad against Drake. Maybe the worst early-season coaching job outside of Memphis.
19 Iowa State University Logo Iowa State NEW. The greatest turnaround in college basketball history.
20 St. Bonaventure University Logo St. Bonaventure -3. Hey Bonnies, you know the game starts in the first half right?
21 Auburn University Logo Auburn NEW. Jabari Smith might be the most impressive freshman in the country right now, ahead of Banchero.
22 Louisiana State University Logo LSU NEW. Darius Days.
23 University of Memphis Logo Memphis -15. This team almost convinced me it could overcome Penny. It can't. His inability to use Jalen Duren properly is pathetic.
24 Seton Hall University Logo Seton Hall NEW. Dropped out: Virginia Tech (19), UConn (20), Michigan (15), Illinois (10), Maryland (24), Oregon (23), Xavier (25).
25 Ohio State University Logo Ohio State NEW. Also considered: Michigan State, Iowa, Utah State, Colorado State.