Here is the weekly AP ballot I filed this morning. The teams’ actual rankings in this week’s poll follows in parentheses: 

1.        Kansas (1)

2.        Texas (2)

3.        Villanova (3)

4.        Kentucky (4)

5.        Purdue (5)

6.        West Virginia (6)

7.        Syracuse (7)

8.        Tennessee (9)

9.        Duke (8)

10.  Connecticut (14)

11.  North Carolina (11)

12.  Michigan State (12)

13.  Ohio State (13)

14.  Florida (10)

15.  Gonzaga (21)

16.  Ole Miss (25)

17.  Kansas State (NR)

18.  Dayton (NR)

19.  Georgia Tech (24)

20.  Texas A&M (16)

21.  Minnesota (NR)

22.  UNLV (18)

23.  Georgetown (15)

24.  Wisconsin (20)

25.  Cincinnati (19)

Ranked but not on my ballot: Washington (17), Butler (22), Texas Tech (23). 

Skinny: It may have felt like there was a lot of activity last week, but I found it surprisingly easy to assemble my ballot. As you can see, my top seven teams were in the same order as that of my fellow voters. Just about every team in this poll has at least one loss, so it’s hard to ding teams down too much for losing, especially on the road. I actually wondered if I had overrated Duke after its loss in Madison, but instead of punishing the Devils, I thought it was better to reward Wisconsin. My colleagues obviously agreed.

I do have to wonder why Washington, which was ranked 12^th last week, did not pay more of a price for losing at Texas Tech. Yes, it was a road game that went to overtime and the Red Raiders are undefeated, but I think my colleagues have overrated Texas Tech. Keep in mind the Raiders have played exactly one game on the road, and that was against Stephen F. Austin. You should have to do more than win at home in overtime to get into the top 25. 

Otherwise, while I would not insist that Minnesota is one of the top 25 teams in the country, I still contend it is wrong to rank the Gophers behind Butler when they beat Butler on a neutral court by nine points. Minnesota’s other losses have come against Portland and Texas A&M on a neutral court, and on the road at Miami. Butler lost on a neutral court to unranked Clemson. Close call, but I wish my fellow voters would pay more heed to head-to-head results.

The other two teams that were knocking on the door of my ballot were Memphis and Richmond. The Spiders could really help their cause if they win at VCU on Saturday, while Memphis won’t have a chance to notch a rank-worthy win until it faces Tennessee at home on New Year’s Eve.