Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 15
Seton Hall (from 13 to 10) and Penn State (from 15 to 12) took relatively big jumps in a week where the top nine all won, putting themselves in the elite conversation. Baylor stays No. 1 and Northern Iowa and Rhode Island join the group for the first time at 24 and 25 respectively. Michigan State stays in at No. 23 in a week when many voters will, I think, drop the Spartans entirely after a run of five losses in eight games. The Spartans’ analytics are still strong, and four of the five losses were on the road. Their margin for error is zero, now, though. It’s a similar calculus to early season Kentucky, which had a very questionable resume but eventually righted the ship.
I had to ask myself this week, why do I seem to be consistently higher on Marquette (back on the ballot at No. 18 this week) than anyone else? So I did a little self-analysis to back-check my work, and I guess I’ll just have to live with it. The Golden Eagles have only one bad loss (at home to Providence) against a bunch of quietly good wins (Purdue, at Kansas State, at Georgetown, at Xavier) and are 22nd in KenPom, 18th in WAB, 17th in SOR. That’s a top-25 resume by my criteria.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Baylor (Last week: 1)
2. Kansas (2)
3. San Diego State (3)
4. Gonzaga (4)
5. Duke (5)
6. Dayton (6)
7. Louisville (7)
8. Maryland (8)
9. Florida State (9)
10. Seton Hall (13)
11. Auburn (11)
12. Penn State (15)
13. West Virginia (10)
14. Colorado (22)
15. Houston (24)
16. Butler (14)
17. Iowa (16)
18. Marquette (NR)
19. Villanova (12)
20. Creighton (19)
21. BYU (NR)
22. Kentucky (25)
23. Michigan State (18)
24. Northern Iowa (NR)
25. Rhode Island (NR)
OUT LSU (17), Oregon (20), Arizona (21), Illinois (23).
This story was originally published February 10, 2020 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 15."
