LvilleCards5's Ballot for Week 5 of 2014-15
Submitted on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 9:25AM EST
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Kentucky
|
Who’s this team’s best player? Cauley-Stein? We know how deep they are but they’re also oddly balanced. |
| 2 |
Duke
|
I think they’re co-favorites and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were actually the best team in the country. Quinn Cook has been awesome. |
| 3 |
Virginia
|
This team is probably the quietest legitimate title contender in the country. In no way did I expect them to have a top ten (!) offense. |
| 4 |
Arizona
|
Beating KSU by only 4 and SDST by 2 isn’t super impressive. They'll still get 30+ wins and a final four by playing the Pac12 and West Region |
| 5 |
Louisville
|
This is the best rebounding team Louisville’s had in the Pitino era, but when they’re not forcing turnovers, they really struggle to score |
| 6 |
Villanova
|
Ennis, Pinkston, Archidiacono, and Hilliard is a good collection of talent and experience. |
| 7 |
Wisconsin
|
I know he has an ankle issue he’s dealing with, but I think the Sam Dekker hype was a little overblown. |
| 8 |
Gonzaga
|
I really think this is the best Gonzaga team Mark Few has had, but I don’t know if they have the defense to be an actual title contender. |
| 9 |
Texas
|
I don’t know if they should be punished too harshly for losing at Kentucky without Taylor. I think they’re easily the best team in the Big12 |
| 10 |
Wichita State
|
I feel like the loss at Utah isn’t bad at all. A few breaks go the other way and WSU is still undefeated, so I’m not going to drop them far. |
| 11 |
Ohio State
|
De’Angelo Russell is a problem. If he was on Kentucky or Duke, people would be calling him one of the best freshmen in the country. |
| 12 |
San Diego State
|
They strike me as a slightly less-talented Virginia. I love their defense, but I don’t think they can score enough to win a title. |
| 13 |
Maryland
|
With their only loss being to a great team in Virginia, this team has been a pleasant surprise so far |
| 14 |
Kansas
|
Yes they beat MSU and UF, but like Kansas, we really have no idea of how good those traditional powers are. |
| 15 |
Iowa State
|
Live by the three, die by the three. I don’t know if their defense is good enough to consider them to be |
| 16 |
Utah
|
I think everyone can agree that the Utes are the second best team in the Pac-12 |
| 17 |
Miami (FL)
|
Just when I was thinking that they might be the fourth best team in the ACC, they go and lose to the cheese heads. |
| 18 |
Oklahoma
|
They already have a couple losses, but sorta like Iowa St, their offense is good enough to beat any team on a given night. |
| 19 |
Illinois
|
So far their only loss is at Miami, so the Illini might be pretty good. |
| 20 |
Butler
|
It feels like Brandon Miller is the Mark Helfrich of college basketball. |
| 21 |
West Virginia
|
They only lost by one to LSU, so I found this team to be hard to rank. Staten’s been great so far at least. |
| 22 |
Arkansas
|
They got waxed by ISU, but they still remain the second best team in their conference. |
| 23 |
Oklahoma State
|
They’ve played absolutely no one, but at least they’ve won all their games comfortably. |
| 24 |
North Carolina
|
They already have a couple losses, but being #13 in kenpom and having the talent that they do, they’re probably underranked at #24. |
| 25 |
Baylor
|
With the exception of Texas, who's really good, and TCU, who really sucks, it seems like every Big 12 team is pretty decent. So is Baylor. |