Gabe_i_guess's Week 13 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona | |
| 2 | Michigan | |
| 3 | UConn | UConn survived in OT vs a decent Villanova team. The Huskies continue to look like runaway Big East winners |
| 4 | Duke | |
| 5 | Nebraska | Huge week for the Huskers, handling Washington and wins at Minnesota (a game I thought they'd drop). Then, to their fortune, teams above them lost and looked iffy, letting them jump into my top 5. |
| 6 | Gonzaga | Gonzaga barely survived vs San Francisco, letting Nebraska jump them in the rankings, but they still slide up due to Houston losing |
| 7 | Houston | The Coogs let up way more points than normal and lost at Texas Tech. It's far from a shameful loss, though it definitely felt like a game where Houston did not play like Houston |
| 8 | Michigan State | |
| 9 | Illinois | Illinois handles Maryland and upsets Purdue on the road. The Illini make a jump into the top 10 because they picked up a huge win and have now won 9 straight since losing to Nebraska |
| 10 | Texas Tech | The Red Raiders took care of Baylor and then got an upset win on Houston. Tech looks very hot and dangerous right now. |
| 11 | Iowa State | Iowa State stomped UCF and then handled Oklahoma State on the road. They managed to right the ship after a rough week last week, though they drop a spot due to Illinois and Texas Tech jumping them |
| 12 | Purdue | A very rough week for the Boilermakers, losing at UCLA and vs Illinois. They drop all the way down to #12, mostly due to losing twice in a week, once against a non-top 25 opponent. |
| 13 | BYU | |
| 14 | Saint Louis | Ok, now hear me out. I know it seems crazy, and it is. But why not? The Billikens are now 19-1 and seem likely to win a decent A-10. Saint Louis keeps not losing, and most teams aren't doing that. |
| 15 | Miami (OH) | Ok, now hear me out again. Basically my same argument for Saint Louis. Miami (OH) is now 20-0 and has some decent MAC wins. I just want to reward winning, and these two teams have |
| 16 | Arkansas | The Razorbacks stomped on Vandy and then survived vs LSU. The Razorbacks seem to have it figured out at home, but it's still to be seen if their road struggles are fixed |
| 17 | North Carolina | UNC handled Notre Dame and then cameback to win at UVA. The Tar Heels seemed to right the ship with an impressive road win this week, though I'm still not confident it won't go south later. |
| 18 | Virginia | Virginia choked away a game aginst UNC. They still seem good, but they dropped this one. |
| 19 | Kansas | Kansas survived twice vs not great teams this week. Normally that would not reward them any rankings, but so many teams above them lost, so they slide up |
| 20 | Florida | The Gators took care of LSU without problem, but then got beat pretty bad by Auburn. Florida was on a crazy roll before that, but that's a pretty not great loss |
| 21 | Vanderbilt | Vandy got destroyed at Arkansas, but then they finally ended their skid by stomping Mississippi State. The Commodores have fallen a long way, but maybe they can finally recover |
| 22 | Louisville | All the Cardinals did was take care of a decent Virginia Tech team, but due to a lot of teams losing, they slide up a few spots |
| 23 | Alabama | The Crimson Tide lost to Tennessee, and now they are 3-3 in the SEC. I'm really no longer confident the Tide are all that great, and are instead more on level with the Vols |
| 24 | Clemson | Clemson took a rough loss to NC State and then beat Georgia Tech on the road. The Tigers still look good, but that was a loss they probably shouldn't have taken at home |
| 25 | St. John's | The Red Storm beat Seton Hall and won at Xavier. Pitino picks up win 900 and I rerank the Red Storm, as they are now 15-5 and seem pretty clearly the #2 team in the Big East |
Overall Rationale
This was a very strange week. A whole lot of teams in the middle of the rankings lost, which makes it really hard to drop teams without raising others really high. This is why Saint Louis and Miami (OH) are now 14 and 15, as it didn't feel right to me to keep letting teams like Arkansas and North Carolina lose one week, and then just go 2-0 the next week and jump back over them. At a certain point, I want to reward teams who just don't lose. That being said, if teams below them get big wins or go on huge winning streaks, I will not hesitate to put them back ahead due to their more difficult schedule. Other teams considered: Georgia, UCLA (briefly), Kentucky (very briefly)