AP basketball top 25 poll: Luke DeCock's Week 14 ballot | News & Observer

I promised last week.

I will say this: Villanova has two tough home games (Creighton, Seton Hall) and Virginia has a tough home game (Louisville) and a sneaky tough road game (Syracuse) this week. I don’t think both teams will go 2-0, but if they do, the road win would be enough to move Virginia to No. 1. The margins are that small here.

It’ll stay that way, too, if both teams keep winning; Virginia’s trip to Florida State is tougher than anything Villanova has this week. And so it will go, week to week, until someone loses or there’s a major shift to either resume because of tectonic shifts elsewhere.

Apropos of nothing: I’m so disappointed in Wichita State. I still think that can be a Final Four team, but it’s certainly not a top-25 team right now.

Losses people think are bad but really aren’t: Arizona at Washington; Oklahoma at Texas; Kentucky at Missouri; North Carolina at Clemson. I’m not going to hold any of those teams too accountable for losing road games to teams that, while they may not be top-25 caliber in some cases, are objectively good teams that are tough to beat at home. Even Duke at St. John’s is one of those by the raw numbers, even if it’s brutal in every other way.

Another team that fits into that category? N.C. State, which still isn’t among the top 25 teams in the country in my mind (yet) but won’t surprise anyone at this point if it beats the Tar Heels in Raleigh on Saturday. If N.C. State can win at Virginia Tech and beat North Carolina for a second time, then the Wolfpack would get my vote. Another promise for next week.

PAST BALLOTS

Week 1 (Preseason) Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13

MY TOP 25

1. Virginia (Last week: 2)

2. Villanova (1)

3. Purdue (3)

4. Michigan State (5)

5. Xavier (6)

6. Cincinnati (8)

7. Auburn (9)

8. Duke (4)

9. Texas Tech (10)

10. Gonzaga (12)

11. Tennessee (13)

12. Kansas (7)

13. Ohio State (14)

14. Clemson (19)

15. St Mary’s (16)

16. Arizona (11)

17. Oklahoma (15)

18. Kentucky (17)

19. Michigan (NR)

20. Butler (NR)

21. West Virginia (20)

22. North Carolina (21)

23. Rhode Island (25)

24. Creighton (22)

25. Miami (NR)

OUT Florida (18), Florida State (23) Wichita State (24)