I Hope we get a #4, but there’s no telling what the AP will show.
The survey asks us to guess what others will think. Just going by the stats, RPI has us at #1 and NET puts us at #2. The “eye test,” which the AP poll mainly reflects and which is often tricked by shiny surfaces, has to account for SC, UConn, Stanford, IU, and LSU — tOSU has lost its shine so they’ll be out of the picture. so far, the AP has liked to rank LSU higher than their actual achievement. I suspect that trend will continue and we may still be a #5.
Fortunately, the AP is not as influential come March as the NET. If we win out, even with a loss to SC, we’ll likely end up a #1 seed in the tournament. Not that it matters. Even as a #2 seed, we’d probably be in the same regional.