Our sixth nominee of the season, Gonzaga is the presumptive new No. 1 (although not on this ballot, where it’s the old reigning No. 1).
It seemed at the beginning like the No. 1 spot was going to be a revolving door and indeed it has been. Does that mean voters are bad at assessing team strength, as Ken Pomeroy suggested in a tweet? I’m biased, but I don’t think so. I think it means that the margins between good and great and great and elite — and mediocre and good — are much finer this year than they typically are, so the nature of rankings teams against each other is by necessity going to lead to greater turnover.
But maybe we’re not that good at this, collectively. Who knows.
I had Gonzaga No. 1 last week over Kansas and Baylor, and Baylor remains the only other contender for the spot at the moment. Stuck with the same 25, which meant leaving Kentucky, Tennessee and Arizona on the ballot. After examination, felt all three teams had a better case than any of the other contenders.
THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS
Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT
1. Gonzaga (Last week: 1)
2. Baylor (3)
3. Louisville (5)
4. Ohio State (7)
5. Duke (9)
6. Kansas (2)
7. Auburn (10)
8. Virginia (4)
9. Memphis (11)
10. Michigan State (12)
11. Villanova (14)
12. Butler (16)
13. Maryland (6)
14. Oregon (15)
15. Florida State (17)
16. Michigan (18)
17. San Diego State (19)
18. Marquette (21)
19. Penn State (23)
20. West Virginia (24)
21. Iowa (25)
22. Dayton (20)
23. Arizona (13)
24. Kentucky (8)
25. Tennessee (22)
OUT None
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 6:00 AM.
