Here is our preliminary week 6 ballot, Al Skinner approved (not really). No changes at the top, a big ol' "what to do with Michigan State and Texas" question, and two new teams this week. I've been informed by management that I absolutely can't vote this week until the games are done tonight, so that gives everyone an opportunity to weigh in on this ballot.
That also means I'll be scoreboard-watching the following games:
- Connecticut at Syracuse - Happy 6 OT anniversary!
- Duke at North Carolina (sadly)
- Ohio State at Indiana
- New Mexico at UNLV
| Rank | Team | Record | Conference | Delta |
| 1 | Kansas |
23-1 | Big 12 |
-- |
| 2 | Syracuse | 23-1 | Big East |
-- |
| 3 | Purdue |
20-3 | Big Ten |
 2 |
| 4 | Kentucky |
22-1 | SEC |
2 |
| 5 | Georgetown | 18-5 | Big East |
3 |
| 6 | Duke |
19-4 | ACC |
3 |
| 7 | Kansas State |
19-4 | Big 12 |
3 |
| 8 | Villanova |
21-2 | Big East |
 5 |
| 9 | West Virginia |
19-4 | Big East |
2 |
| 10 | Ohio State |
18-6 | Big Ten |
2 |
| 11 | New Mexico |
21-3 | Mountain West |
4 |
| 12 | Butler |
21-4 | Horizon |
2 |
| 13 | Wake Forest |
17-5 | ACC | NEW |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 18-6 | Big Ten |
1 |
| 15 | Michigan State |
19-6 | Big Ten |
11 |
| 16 | Gonzaga |
19-4 | West Coast |
NEW |
Thoughts:
- For the second straight week, Kansas and Syracuse run 1-2 in our ballot. Move along, nothing to see here.
- Two Big East teams take a tumble this week - Villanova and West Virginia - after West Virginia beat Nova on Big Monday and Georgetown dropped 100+ on the Wildcats during Saturday's mid-Atlantic snowpocalypse
- Wake Forest joins the party as our second ACC team. The Deacs took down UVA in OT on Saturday, and then had a dunkfest on BC yesterday. The rest of the ACC schedule sets up prettty, prettttty, pretttttty good for Wake. Now if they can learn to close out teams down the stretch, this team can easily make it through the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
- Michigan State and Texas, a team that beat Sparty back in December, are both in crazy, Connecticut Huskies-esque tailspins. (OK, I partially take that back. The Huskies beat DePaul on Saturday. Mea culpa.) The Spartans have now dropped three straight games to Wisconsin, Illinois and Purdue, while the Longhorns have lost their last 2 and five of their last seven games. I keep MSU in this week since they lost to 2 teams in our ballot. Texas, on the other hand, has sustained losing for much longer and gets the boot this week.
- Gonzaga, welcome to the show. An overtime, upset loss to San Franciso is the only blemish on the Zags WCC resume, while their only non-conference losses came to teams on this ballot - Duke, Wake, Michigan State. The Bulldogs will likely sleepwalk through the rest of their WCC schedule and won't be tested again until tournament time.
Dropped Out: Texas (#11), Vanderbilt (#16)
Welcome: Wake Forest (#13), Gonzaga (#16)
Maybe Next Week: Texas, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Brigham Young
By Conference: Big East 4, Big Ten 4, Big 12 2, ACC 2, SEC 1, Horizon 1, Mountain West 1, West Coast 1
Your thoughts?