Gonzaga University Logo206-Ginge's Ballot for Week 11 of 2016-17

Submitted on Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 10:18PM EST
RankTeamReason
1 Villanova University Logo Villanova Back on top after pounding Xavier and travelling to SJU for a win. The country might have punished them a little too much last week.
2 University of Kansas Logo Kansas Still looking very shaky at home against not-great teams. If the AP goes the way it's expected to, we might see our second straight #1 loss
3 Gonzaga University Logo Gonzaga Can you say "statement"? Of course I'm biased here, since I was in attendance, but my Zags look ready to run with anyone all of a sudden.
4 Baylor University Logo Baylor 29 turnovers. Sure, it was against the toughest press they'll ever see, but that's a high number. Circle 2/1 on your calendars now, though.
5 University of Kentucky Logo Kentucky They haven't looked like KENTUCKY quite yet in SEC play, but damn are they top 10 play regulars at this point. Go for the jugular more often
6 University of California, Los Angeles Logo UCLA They're going to run into a team soon (*cough* Zona *cough*) that will slow down their offense enough to take advantage of their terrible D.
7 West Virginia University Logo West Virginia Might be the best home team in the Big XII, but if their energy on D comes from the crowd they'll continue to struggle away from Morgantown.
8 Creighton University Logo Creighton Not sure why they decided to play a D-II opponent this weekend, but they looked great against Butler. Road game against Xavier coming up
9 University of Louisville Logo Louisville Somehow the first ACC team in my top 10. They need a solid road win on their resume like a baby needs milk.
10 Duke University Logo Duke Tough week for them, missing the crap out of Amile Jefferson. Freshmen are being shaky in his stead. Are things already falling apart?
11 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Logo North Carolina I was wrong about North Carolina. In my defense, they did have a porous resume, but a Florida State win puts to bed a lot of question marks.
12 Florida State University Logo Florida State Smack dab in the middle of one of the toughest gauntlets you'll see a team face this year, and so far they're 3-1. Next up ND and Louisville
13 University of Virginia Logo Virginia It took me until #9 to rank an ACC team, then suddenly there's five of them in a row. That tells you a lot about that conference this year.
14 University of Arizona Logo Arizona They're locking down on defense these days, which makes their upcoming road game against UCLA very, very interesting.
15 University of Notre Dame Logo Notre Dame Excited to see how they do against Florida State, the computers hate this team because of their D but their resume is hard to argue with.
16 University of Oregon Logo Oregon So far, they've gone through their Pac-12 schedule like scissors through paper, and I'm not sure that'll change until February.
17 University of Wisconsin-Madison Logo Wisconsin I don't know what to make of the Big 10 right now. It's not the ACC or Big XII, but I do think it's better than the SEC and maybe the Pac-12
18 Butler University Logo Butler I'm not convinced their going to win any away games against top-50 opponents this year. Hinkle is helping them a lot.
19 Purdue University Logo Purdue Iowa isn't a terrible loss at the end of the day, in all honesty. Still, they're probably not a tournament team, so it looks bad on a resume
20 University of Cincinnati Logo Cincinnati The top of the American, but what does that do for you? SMU is their only serious competition for the title. Xavier coming up in a OOC tilt.
21 Xavier University Logo Xavier Speaking of Xavier. They had a tough week on the road, but it also represented an opportunity to really solidify their resume.
22 University of Florida Logo Florida #13 in KenPom. #14 in Sagarin. #3 in RPI. Yet it seems like most voters barely want to rank them. This is what "missed opportunities" means.
23 Texas Christian University Logo TCU So here's where we play the "who want to be ranked this week" game. TCU wasn't even on my radar last week, but are 14-3 against a solid SOS.
24 Saint Mary's College of California Logo Saint Mary's They'll probably drop out of the AP poll for their loss @Gonzaga, but who's going to replace them? Only mediocre teams are left.
25 University of South Carolina Logo South Carolina They need a resume-defining win, but are 3-2 against top-50 opponents. Don't think they'll challenge Kentucky, but maybe Florida.