Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 5

Only minor shuffling at the top this week with Gonzaga the only team among my top 10 to lose, but there’s a real interesting question further down the ballot with Wisconsin. I normally wouldn’t rank a team that hadn’t previously been on my ballot after a loss, but the Badgers were only narrowly out last week after beating Marquette and it’s hard to hold a road loss to No. 1 Arizona against them, even by 25 points. The Wildcats are feeding teams into the wood-chipper right now, even good ones.

By every metric, Wisconsin is not just a top-25 team but a top-20 team. It’s very hard to argue against. So I went against my usual house rules, so to speak, and moved the Badgers onto my ballot, even with a blowout loss. (They also won on the road at Michigan State, which had been clinging to the 25th spot on my ballot, so it only seems fair.)

I’d been carrying TCU along since the start of the year as the Horned Frogs played what had to be a scientific experiment to create the easiest possible nonconference schedule. Then they lost to the first semi-decent team they played. This is what’s known in the fantasy sports world as a “spite drop.”

Virginia and Memphis also enter the proceedings, replacing Michigan State, TCU and Texas.

This season’s ballots

Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

Luke DeCock’s Week 5 AP Top 25 basketball ballot

1. Arizona (Last week: 1)

2. Houston (2)

3. Purdue (3)

4. Kansas (4)

5. Connecticut (5)

6. Creighton (6)

7. Baylor (8)

8. Marquette (9)

9. Gonzaga (7)

10. Clemson (16)

11. Oklahoma (21)

12. North Carolina (10)

13. Tennessee (18)

14. BYU (13)

15. Colorado State (14)

16. Virginia (NR)

17. Florida Atlantic (11)

18. Wisconsin (NR)

19. Texas A&M (17)

20. San Diego State (12)

21. Kentucky (20)

22. James Madison (22)

23. Duke (24)

24. Alabama (23)

25. Memphis (NR)

OUT TCU (15), Texas (19), Michigan State (25)

Under consideration Auburn, Colorado, Iowa State, Mississippi, Northwestern, Utah

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