BirdsBeCool's Week 14 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UConn | UConn is currently the best team in the NCAA. They're on a 10 game win streak in one of the best conferences in CBB, and I don't think there's anywhere else to rank them. |
| 2 | Purdue | Purdue had an excellent win against Wisconsin, and I think they are fitting of a #2 spot. Purdue and UConn are interchangeable at 1/2, so I'm just rolling with the previous AP rankings. |
| 3 | Kansas | When you beat the #4 team, and the teams currently ranked ahead of you lose, there's nowhere to go but up. I'm impressed with Kansas' showing this week, and I think that they should be 3rd. |
| 4 | Houston | While Houston did lose to Kansas, I can't give them much flack for it, as I now have Kansas as the number 3 team. Houston does need to pull it together for the upcoming month, though. |
| 5 | North Carolina | UNC had a rough loss against Georgia Tech this weekend, but they managed to make up for it (somewhat) with a 93-84 W over Duke. They're helped by the fact that many other teams also played poorly. |
| 6 | Marquette | Marquette can happily coast off of the misfortunes of others, as they haven't lost since January 10. As long as they can keep winning games, they'll stay in the Top 10. |
| 7 | Arizona | Arizona crushed California and beat Stanford in a bid to move up the boards, and I think they are deserving of their spot in the top 10. |
| 8 | Illinois | Illinois wrote in some wins against Ohio State and Nebraska, and they move all the way up to 8 because a lot of teams don't seem to want to win games. |
| 9 | Wisconsin | While the losses to Nebraska and Purdue are pretty rough, Wisconsin manages to stay in my Top 10. They still are a great team, but they had a pretty bad week. |
| 10 | Baylor | Baylor had a nice win against Iowa State to jump up the T25, along with a win against UCF. This is what happens when you win games, everybody. |
| 11 | Duke | Duke played fine this week, but were unfortunate enough to come across a UNC team trying to avenge its loss against Georgia Tech. |
| 12 | Tennessee | What happened here, Tennessee? Your defense keeps SC at 63 points, and you lose? At least you took advantage of a slumping Kentucky, but the way KY's lookin right now, that isn't very impressive. |
| 13 | Auburn | Auburn had some solid wins against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, and did what most other T25 teams couldn't: just win your games. |
| 14 | South Carolina | "Rank us, you cowards" rang out through Twitter after the Gamecocks beat Kentucky, and beating Tennessee only solidified that. Honestly, 14 might be too low for SC, who are now 19-3. |
| 15 | Iowa State | I can't make fun of Iowa State too much if I put the team that beat them at 10, but Iowa State needs to pull themselves together. |
| 16 | Creighton | "Meh" is the word I'd use to describe how Creighton performed. They lost to Butler by one point, and they just didn't do amazing this week. |
| 17 | Florida Atlantic | FAU destroyed Tulsa, and I think they should move to 17. |
| 18 | Dayton | While George Washington and St Bonaventure aren't anything to write home about, at least Dayton was a team that just won their games. |
| 19 | BYU | A nice win against WVU and some losses from Utah State, Texas Tech, etc, means that BYU gets to sit comfortably in the Top 25. |
| 20 | Kentucky | Now kids, when you want to be considered an elite team, do you: A) Beat Tennessee and Florida, and recover from a loss last week to SC? or B) Lose to both and fall off of a cliff? Kentucky chose B. |
| 21 | Utah State | Nice win against San Jose State, but San Diego State was a rough game. I'm not putting them lower right now, but don't lose to SDSU in the future. |
| 22 | Alabama | Good job beating Georgia and Mississippi State. |
| 23 | Texas | Good win against TCU, close loss to Houston. Texas is a Top 25 team, but they need to show more to move up. |
| 24 | San Diego State | San Diego clocked a nice win against Utah State, but their loss to Colorado State keeps them at 24. |
| 25 | TCU | TCU had an interesting week. Did the Texas Tech win or the Texas loss bear more weight? I chose neither and kept them at 25. |
Overall Rationale
This is my first ballot, so I'm basing my rankings off of: AP Top 25 Rankings from last week, Reddit Top 25 Rankings from last week, personal biases, and the events of the past week. In upcoming weeks, I'll instead shift to my previous rankings, personal biases, and the events of the week.