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Kansas Jayhawks headline first RCT Top 25 poll, ACC has most teams

Your Kansas Jayhawks are the unanimous selection for best team in the nation. The Big 12 represents well, but the ACC is even better.

Dayton sneaks into the bottom of the poll.
Dayton sneaks into the bottom of the poll.
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

It's that time of year again.  We've let enough of the basketball season pass to get a decent idea of how good each team has been.  We've rounded up most of the voters from last year, and these guys spent numerous hours weighing the pros and cons of each team's resume.

First, some notes.  The Miami that is in Florida is the only one good enough right now to be considered for the rankings.  If Miami of Ohio ever gets votes, they will be designated Miami (OH).  Also, even though SMU and Syracuse aren't eligible for the postseason, they are eligible for our poll (unlike the Coaches Poll apparently).

So without further ado, here is your first RCT Top 25 of 2016.

Rock Chalk Talk Top 25

Rank Team Points
1 Kansas(8) 200
2 Oklahoma 184
3 Michigan State 172
4 Villanova 154
5 Xavier 153
6 Maryland 147
7 Virginia 145
8 North Carolina 140
9 Miami 118
10 Arizona 117
11 Duke 112
12 Louisville 106
13 Southern Methodist 103
14 Iowa State 93
14 West Virginia 93
16 Purdue 83
17 Providence 80
18 Kentucky 74
19 Iowa 66
20 Texas A&M 52
21 South Carolina 45
22 Butler 44
23 Saint Mary's 33
24 Pittsburgh 26
25 Dayton 14
Others Receiving Votes: Indiana 9, California 5, Baylor 4, George Washington 2, Gonzaga 2, Connecticut 1

Some interesting tidbits from the poll:

  • Kansas is the unanimous #1, but Oklahoma is also the unanimous #2 among voters that actually used their own judgement.  (David) and sax solo are both using some sort of formula for their vote.
  • The ACC has the most teams in the poll with 6, followed by the Big 12, Big 10 and Big East with 4 each.  The SEC was the only other conference with multiple teams with 3 selections.
  • The only tie comes between two Big 12 teams.
  • If this poll is accurate, the ACC is going to be a beast this year, as they have 5 of the top 12 teams.  I'd expect some to drop during conference play, but there is still a very large top tier.

Rank misterbrain Hammen LAHawk (David) mikeville sax solo brendandzwierzynski FLJhawk
1 Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas Kansas
2 Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Louisville Oklahoma Villanova Oklahoma Oklahoma
3 Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Villanova Maryland Oklahoma Maryland Maryland
4 Maryland Maryland Maryland Purdue Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State
5 Xavier Virginia North Carolina Miami Xavier Virginia Arizona North Carolina
6 Villanova North Carolina Arizona Saint Mary's Arizona North Carolina Xavier Arizona
7 North Carolina Xavier Virginia Xavier Villanova Xavier Virginia Virginia
8 Louisville Providence Xavier Duke North Carolina Louisville Providence Villanova
9 Purdue Kentucky Villanova Oklahoma Virginia Duke Villanova Iowa State
10 Virginia Villanova Miami West Virginia Providence Purdue Miami Xavier
11 Southern Methodist Arizona Iowa State Michigan State Miami Miami Iowa State Providence
12 West Virginia Iowa State Duke Southern Methodist Butler Southern Methodist North Carolina Duke
13 Duke Duke Providence Virginia Louisville Iowa Duke Southern Methodist
14 Miami Southern Methodist Southern Methodist Iowa Southern Methodist Maryland Kentucky Miami
15 Iowa State Miami West Virginia Vanderbilt West Virginia Arizona Southern Methodist West Virginia
16 South Carolina West Virginia Kentucky Pittsburgh Duke West Virginia West Virginia Kentucky
17 Arizona Purdue Louisville Texas A&M Iowa State Iowa State Louisville Louisville
18 Iowa Iowa Iowa Kentucky Kentucky South Carolina Texas A&M Iowa
19 Texas A&M Texas A&M Butler North Carolina Texas A&M Saint Mary's South Carolina Butler
20 Saint Mary's Louisville South Carolina Butler Dayton Texas A&M Purdue South Carolina
21 Kentucky South Carolina Texas A&M Michigan Iowa Indiana Butler Purdue
22 Pittsburgh Butler Purdue Florida Purdue Kentucky Iowa Pittsburgh
23 Dayton Dayton Pittsburgh Iowa State South Carolina Michigan California Texas A&M
24 Indiana George Washington Dayton Indiana Baylor Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Baylor
25 Butler California Gonzaga Arizona Pittsburgh California Gonzaga Connecticut

We are ready to get our rankings ripped to shreds.  Just remember that there are plenty of ways to come up with a ranking system, so offer some evidence to back up your assertions.