Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll: Jerry Carino's ballot
1. Baylor (13-0)
2. Duke (11-1)
3. Purdue (12-1)
4. Gonzaga (11-2)
5. UCLA (8-1)
6. Kansas (11-1)
7. Southern Cal (12-0)
8. Iowa St. (12-1)
9. Arizona (11-1)
10. Michigan St. (12-2)
11. Auburn (12-1)
12. Houston (12-2)
13. Ohio St. (9-2)
14. Texas (11-2)
15. Providence (13-1)
16. Villanova (9-4)
17. Tennessee (9-3)
18. Seton Hall (9-3)
RELATED: Why Seton Hall-Villanova is the Big East's best series
19. Kentucky (11-2)
20. Colorado St. (10-0)
21. Xavier (11-2)
22. Wisconsin (10-2)
23. Alabama (10-3)
24. LSU (12-1)
25. Texas Tech (10-2)
Also considered: Loyola-Chicago (9-2), Illinois (9-3).
Dropped out: None.
Entered: None.
Analysis: The question of the week for voters will be how to rank No. 15 Seton Hall after the Pirates, playing without two key big men, dropped two close games to ranked foes. If you follow my ballot closely, you know I don't penalize teams much for losing close games to ranked opponents — I’ve been consistent with that. Plus, in this case, mitigating circumstances have to be considered. Providence and Villanova should move ahead of the Hall (remember, Nova was missing a key player and also gets credit for winning in a tough road environment), but beyond that, there really isn’t a reason to drop the Pirates much further. Compare their resume to Kentucky’s, which has a neutral-court romp of North Carolina and losses to Duke and Notre Dame. It’s clearly better.
The same principle applies to Tennessee, which lost a five-point verdict at Alabama without two key players due to COVID.
By conference: Big 12 (5), SEC (5), Big Ten (4), Big East (4), Pac-12 (3), ACC (1), American (1), West Coast (1), Mountain West (1).
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll: Jerry Carino's ballot
