My AP Top 25 ballot this week

First off, we'd love to see you Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble at Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester for a book signing for Rebound!: The Incredible Story of UConn Basketball's Comeback from Defeat to Dominance. It's the story of the Huskies' run to the 2014 national title, and I think it makes a great stocking stuffer!!! (But hey, I'm a bit biased).

Speaking of potential bias, on to my Top 25 ballot this week. I wasn't going to vote for UConn, what with three losses now after Tuesday night's loss to Maryland at Madison Square Garden.

Then I was going to vote for UConn, after: a.) the Huskies' impressive win on Saturday over an admittedly not very good Ohio State team and b.) a whole bunch of teams I had surrounding the Huskies on my ballot last week (Utah, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, West Virginia) also losing. And let's face it, a pair of three-point losses to Syracuse and Gonzaga, and a 10-point loss to Maryland isn't anything to be ashamed of, right?

Well ... sorta. It's starting to look like Syracuse and (maybe) Gonzaga aren't all that great. I actually bounced the Orange from my poll after their loss to St. John's on Saturday. I also got rid of Utah, Vanderbilt, Cincy, West Virginia and ... UConn. I kept the Zags, since they beat UConn, plus their three losses have been to Texas A&M, Arizona and UCLA, which trumps Gonzaga, Syracuse and Maryland -- if that makes any sense.

Also switched a bunch of teams around, dropping some of them a few slots even if they had perfect weeks. It's still early enough to maneuver teams who have been better (or worse) than I expected at the start of the season.

1. Michigan State
2. Kansas
3. Maryland
4. Oklahoma
5. Kentucky
6. North Carolina
7. Virginia
8. Xavier
9. Iowa State
10. Duke
11. Purdue
12. Providence
13. Arizona
14. SMU
15. Butler
16. Villanova
17. Baylor
18. Miami
19. UCLA
20. George Washington
21. Texas A&M
22. Louisville
23. Gonzaga
24. Texas
25. Marquette