An unbeaten week against a pair of middle- to lower-tier West Coast Conference opponents didn’t necessarily help Gonzaga’s chances of returning to the Associated Press Top 25, nor did it impact the Zags in various metrics or analytic rankings that’ll be used in a month’s time to select the NCAA Tournament field.
The Zags, who beat Loyola Marymount 73-53 at home on Thursday before winning 78-61 at Pacific on Saturday, are unranked in the AP Top 25 for the fourth consecutive week. Gonzaga received five points in Monday’s poll, fewer than the 11 they earned last week, and now sit last among the 10 teams in the “receiving votes” category.
WCC rival Saint Mary’s didn’t help its chances of earning a Top 25 ranking prior to a second meeting with Gonzaga, losing 65-64 at San Francisco on Thursday and only earning 20 points on Monday after receiving 136 last week.
Despite losing Saturday, Auburn held onto the No. 1 ranking, followed by Alabama at No. 2, Florida and Duke at No. 3, Tennessee at No. 5, Houston at No. 6, Purdue at No. 7, Texas A&M at No. 8, St. John’s at No. 9 and Iowa State at No. 10.
Arizona, led by former GU assistant Tommy Lloyd, experienced the biggest bump by any team in Monday’s rankings, climbing seven spots to No. 13 after a Big 12 sweep of BYU and Texas Tech. The Wildcats have won six straight Big 12 games and 13 of their last 14.
After dropping to No. 13 in the NET rankings after last Saturday’s loss at Saint Mary, Gonzaga only slipped one more spot, to No. 14, on Monday morning after beating LMU and Pacific teams respectively ranked No. 148 and 304.
The Zags own a 2-6 record in “Quad 1” games, are 3-1 in “Quad 2” and a combined 13-0 in “Quad 3/4” games. Three of GU’s next four games will likely come in the first two quadrants with a Q2 home test against No. 61 San Francisco on Thursday, a Q2 road test against No. 101 Washington State next Wednesday and a Q1 home test against No. 21 Saint Mary’s next Saturday.
Those games, along with GU’s final WCC regular-season contests — Q1 road tests against Santa Clara and San Francisco — should go a long way toward determining if the Zags earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, and where they’re seeded come Selection Sunday.
In bracket projections released Monday morning, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm penciled Gonzaga in as a No. 10 seed opening the tournament against No. 7 Oregon in Wichita, Kansas. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi hadn’t updated his own projections as of Monday, but Lunardi’s latest bracket projects No. 8 Gonzaga opening against No. 9 Ohio State in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Zags still have work to do in the AP poll, but other analytics-based websites and rankings systems consider them a top-15 team with three weeks left in the regular season.
GU is ranked No. 13 at KenPom.com, No. 9 at EvanMiya.com and No. 20 at BartTorvik.com.
The Zags are still receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, earning seven points on Monday while sitting seventh among teams in the receiving votes column.
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