Di9ForLife's Week 5 Ballot
| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | Dominated EVERYONE in Vegas. Absolutely scary. |
| 2 | Duke | Good win over Arkansas in Chicago, great resolve. |
| 3 | UConn | Great win over Illinois in MSG. That banked 4-point play was ridiculous |
| 4 | Purdue | Easy blowout over EIU. Looking solid. |
| 5 | Gonzaga | Blown out by Michigan but picked up some nice wins beforehand. Zags are really good |
| 6 | Arizona | Nothing against them but everyone above them had far more impressive wins than them this week. |
| 7 | Louisville | Ditto to Arizona |
| 8 | Iowa State | Made a statement in Vegas |
| 9 | Michigan State | Just controlled the game against UNC for the majority of the time. |
| 10 | Tennessee | GREAT win over Houston. Tough loss to KU. Still looked good against great competition. |
| 11 | Houston | Lucky to only lose once over the Players Era. Need to execute better down the stretch. |
| 12 | Alabama | Had a solid showing in the Player’s Era, loss to Gonzaga aside |
| 13 | Vanderbilt | Their offense is absolutely legit. Battle 4 Atlantis champs. |
| 14 | BYU | Played pretty close by Dayton and Miami but pulled both games out. |
| 15 | Illinois | Lost to UConn in what was basically a road game, not too much shame in that. |
| 16 | Kentucky | Casual 50 point win over Tennessee Tech after a slow start. Please give me a big win this week, Pope. |
| 17 | Indiana | Ho hum week for IU overall. |
| 18 | Iowa | Iowa’s really won me over. Super convincing win over Ole Miss during feast week. Gonna have their chance to really prove themselves against Michigan State. |
| 19 | Kansas | 3/3 in Vegas including a win over Tennessee. KU can hold their own without DP. |
| 20 | North Carolina | Got manhandled by Michigan State, surprisingly. |
| 21 | Auburn | Blown out by Michigan but otherwise had a pretty good showing in Vegas. |
| 22 | Florida | Something is just missing with this Florida team. Lost to TCU on Thursday and looked sorta uninspiring against a bad Providence team. |
| 23 | USC | Maui champs, definitely impressive to win it over Arizona State even without Rodney Rice too. |
| 24 | Utah State | Utah State looks like an offensive wagon to start the year. |
| 25 | Oklahoma State | Didn’t think I’d be ranking Oklahoma State but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from them so far. Good win over Northwestern in what was basically a road game. |
Overall Rationale
HM: LSU, Saint Mary’s, St. John’s, Baylor, Clemson, SMU, Santa Clara