Luke DeCock’s AP Top 25 basketball poll ballot: Week 4

Luke DeCock
·1 min read

A new No. 1 for the third week in a row, and Purdue has certainly earned it with wins over Villanova, Florida State, Iowa and North Carolina, the latter more impressive now than it was a week ago.

This was a difficult ballot. The pool of teams worthy of top-25 consideration was as large this week as I can ever remember, and there are a number of teams that could absolutely have been included that are not. People get angry about this, but you only get to rank 25 and this week there were only two open spots with Memphis and Michigan dropping off.

The pool of teams given deep consideration for those two open spots, but not included: Colorado State, Iowa State, Loyola-Chicago, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Providence.

There were many more given more cursory looks. Indiana, Iowa and Texas Tech all would have been in that group without a loss, and will almost certainly be next week. That’s a lot of teams, way more than a normal week. Which also means a lot of angry fans.

THIS SEASON’S BALLOTS

Preseason | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

THIS WEEK’S TOP 25 BASKETBALL BALLOT

1. Purdue (Last week: 2)

2. Baylor (3)

3. Duke (1)

4. Villanova (6)

5. Texas (5)

6. Gonzaga (4)

7. UCLA (7)

8. Kansas (8)

9. Houston (10)

10. Tennessee (11)

11. Kentucky (12)

12. Arizona (14)

13. Arkansas (15)

14. Alabama (19)

15. USC (25)

16. LSU (24)

17. Florida (13)

18. Connecticut (18)

19. Illinois (20)

20. Auburn (NR)

21. Xavier (21)

22. San Francisco (22)

23. Wisconsin (NR)

24. St. Bonaventure (23)

25. BYU (16)

OUT Michigan (9), Memphis (17)

Purdue forward Trevion Williams (50) drives on Iowa forward Josh Ogundele (23) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind., Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
Purdue forward Trevion Williams (50) drives on Iowa forward Josh Ogundele (23) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind., Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
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