| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|
| 1 |   Arizona | Undefeated with a road win @Duke |
| 2 |  Kansas | Solid wins with a neutral court loss to a good Marquette team |
| 3 |  Houston | Undefeated, could go anywhere in the top 5 imo |
| 4 |  Purdue | Still have their Maui invitational, but they drop slightly with the loss |
| 5 |  UConn | A loss at Allen Fieldhouse doesn't hurt much |
| 6 |  Baylor | Undefeated, still looking for a marquee win |
| 7 |  Marquette | Good wins, but the 2nd loss keeps them out of the top 6 |
| 8 |  Gonzaga | Bounced back nicely from a tough draw in Maui |
| 9 |  Creighton | Big win on the road in Lincoln |
| 10 |  Florida Atlantic | That Bradley loss is bad... but this is a much better team than that performance |
| 11 |  North Carolina | Picked up a couple nice wins against Arkansas and Tenn after a tough OT loss |
| 12 |  Miami (FL) | Still looking for a high quality win, but Rupp is a tough place to play |
| 13 |  Tennessee | 3 losses this early hurts, but they've played a gauntlet, and their win @Wisconsin is looking better and better |
| 14 |  BYU | Undefeated and putting up huge offensive numbers |
| 15 |  Texas | The loss to Uconn is fine, but that has been they're only chance at a marquee win |
| 16 |  Colorado State | Undefeated and playing some great ball |
| 17 |  Kentucky | The loss to Wilmington hurts, but the Wildcats will be just fine |
| 18 |  Texas A&M | They have Memphis and Houston coming up, Wade Taylor vs. the Guards for Houston should be fun to watch |
| 19 |  Duke | I think they'll be better than they have played so far, but the losses are piling up for a Duke team in early December |
| 20 |  James Madison | Undefeated with a win @Michigan State, but they'll need to keep winning with their schedule |
| 21 |  Illinois | Huge week for the Illini, they could win both or lose both |
| 22 |  Oklahoma | Undefeated, hasn't played the toughest non-con schedule |
| 23 |  Clemson | Undefeated with a nice win @Alabama |
| 24 |  Ohio State | 6 game winning steak and a well-balanced team |
| 25 |  Virginia | Tough loss to Wisconsin, but Wisconsin has looked good lately. Headed in the right direction |
