Mother_Boss_4140's Week 18 Ballot

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Duke	Duke continues to be dominant and has the head-to-head vs Michigan
2	Michigan	L.J. Cason tearing his ACL hurts Michigan's title chances, but Michigan destroyed a very good Illinois team
3	Arizona	Arizona vs. Michigan is a toss-up, but I think Michigan has been a little better. These are the top three teams in the country by a mile.
4	Florida	Everyone in front of them lost / won unconvincingly, and Florida has been one of the hottest teams in the country in a good conference
5	UConn	I'm not impressed with UConn, but they keep winning, even if it's not pretty. I trust this team to win no matter how ugly it is.
6	Michigan State	I hate Michigan State, but they have a very strong resume and have continued to handle business. They benefit from every team in front of them looking terrible.
7	Iowa State	They just lost to Texas Tech without Toppin, but Texas Tech is still a good team. Iowa State drops, but not much.
8	Houston	Houston handled business after dropping 3 straight (albeit to good teams). Shooting is a massive issue, and Iowa State has the head-to-head
9	Virginia	Duke absolutely destroyed this team, but I see the top-3 in a completely different stratosphere than the rest. Virginia has looked amazing the rest of the year and I am still high on this squad.
10	Alabama	Alabama is red-hot, winning 8 straight games. Although they don't play much defense, they have looked incredible recently against solid competition.
11	Texas Tech	Texas Tech has some of the best wins in the country. Although the lost J.T. Toppin, they have rebounded strongly after losing their first game without him.
12	Nebraska	Nebraska is very solid and had a very good week against bad Big 10 teams. They won while other teams lost
13	Illinois	They had a bad week (0-2), which is why they drop. This is still a good team, but they cannot guard big men.
14	Kansas	By far the most streaky team in the country. They destroyed Houston but got destroyed by Arizona. I would not want to play this team in March.
15	Purdue	Purdue cannot beat good teams. They just lost to Ohio State (a bubble team) and have lost almost every game to good teams. They are at 15 because everyone below them isn't convincing either.
16	Arkansas	This is where I see a huge drop-off. Arkansas is a good team, but Florida ran them off the court. Their impressive resumé boosts them above the teams below them, who I have no faith in.
17	St. John's	I have zero faith in this team. They cannot shoot. They are one of the hottest teams in the country, but they looked like a D2 team against UConn.
18	Saint Mary's	One of the hottest teams in the country who just plays winning basketball. Their schedule is not good, but they win convincingly and look very good. I am high on this team.
19	Gonzaga	Gonzaga has a very talented roster and has no excuse to not win every conference game they play. I can't rank this team higher when they just lost to Saint Mary's (who I like quite a lot).
20	North Carolina	UNC needs Caleb Wilson back badly, but they have been good enough to stay ranked without him. They have the best win in the country (Duke) and have won with Veesar healthy.
21	Miami (FL)	Miami has not won by a lot, but they continue to win. Tre Donaldson has impressed me, and I think Miami could get 2nd in the ACC.
22	Miami (OH)	29-0 is incredibly impressive, regardless of the schedule they play. I will break my principles to rank this team. They have a bounty on their head every game, and have not lost.
23	Missouri	7-3 in their last ten against good SEC teams. Missouri has been pretty slept on all year.
24	Tennessee	Just like Missouri, Tennessee is 7-3 in their last 10. Mizzou gets the nod with the win against Tenn.
25	Wisconsin	Wisconsin can beat anyone but lose to anyone (a pretty common trend this year). Their shooters are incredible streaky. I like this team a lot.

Overall Rationale

The rationale was the eye test, how much I trust these teams, and how much I like them in March.