Gabe_i_guess's Week 3 Ballot

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Purdue	They have what I'd consider the best win in the country with a win at Alabama, and arguably the most talent with one of the best coaches
2	Houston	Huge win vs Auburn. I think Houston and Purdue are (for now) in their own tier of the ranking, with them just seeming like the obvious title contenders so far
3	UConn	Got a big win vs BYU in Boston. They seem to be much closer in terms of performance (so far) to the two title teams than last year's team was
4	Arizona	Amazing wins vs Florida and UCLA. So far, they look like a legit title contender
5	Louisville	Have looked strong so far and just picked up a huge win this week vs a very good Kentucky team
6	Duke
7	Michigan	They've looked kind of iffy vs Wake Forest and TCU, but they pulled both of them off. If they keep getting scares like that, it will be a problem, but for now I believe it mainly shows resilience
8	Michigan State
9	Gonzaga	They've looked dominant so far against a lot of high-major competition, though I'm unsure how good Creighton, Oklahoma, and especially Arizona State truly are, so we'll see
10	Alabama	One of the best wins in the country at St. John's, and played Purdue extremely close. Alabama seems to be a Final Four contender again this year
11	BYU	AJ Dybantsa looks legit and BYU seems like they can be scary, but the loss of Kennard Davis could be rough on the team if it's long term
12	Kentucky	Took a road loss to a very strong Louisville team. Still some question marks, but the talent and coaching seems there for a potentially great team
13	Florida	They started slow with a loss to Arizona and near loss at FSU, but they took care of Miami. Still want to see a lot of growth, but I think this Florida team is still really good
14	Illinois	Got a huge win vs Texas Tech while both teams has some injuries. They've just looked good so far, and could be even better healthy
15	St. John's	They have the loss to Alabama and I still have a lot of question marks with them, but I think they still have a very high ceiling
16	Iowa State
17	Tennessee
18	Texas Tech	Took a loss to a pretty good Illinois team on the road, and they've been struggling with injuries. Seems like a good team that could be even better if healthy
19	Arkansas	They got a scare from a solid Samford team. Some concerns are popping up for the team, but they're still young, so there is plenty of time for it to get worked out
20	Wisconsin
21	NC State
22	North Carolina
23	Kansas
24	Oklahoma State
25	Auburn	I was honestly very low on Auburn before that Houston game, and now I think maybe I was wrong. The Tigers seem to be on the right path, even without Bruce Pearl

Overall Rationale

Heavily reliant on what has happened so far this season, as well as still resembling my preseason ranking in some ways (and not at all in others). Teams with huge wins are rewarded, as those are very hard to come by this early in the season. We're yet to see a lot of teams play many (if any) games against strong competition, so there are still so many guesses in this ranking. It's still to early to tell for most teams, but I try my best to piece it together with a mix of what we've seen so far, the talent we know of on the rosters, and how reliable the coaching staffs have been in the past. Also in case anyone is wondering, UCLA is out because I believe they played Eastern Washington, Pepperdine, and even (to a lesser extent) West Georgia way closer than a top 25 team should, though they looked better in the Arizona loss. Still plenty of room to grow, but UCLA needs to prove it with some strong wins first.