After collecting a recently rare Bay Area sweep, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have jumped back into the Associated Press rankings at No. 23. Mark Few's club had fallen out of the rankings following a road loss to Portland back in early January but a six-game winning streak, including a very convincing win over BYU, has put them back in the top-25.
While week-to-week rankings mean very little, it is hard not to be impressed with how this team has responded since falling to Portland. I doubt anyone would describe the style of basketball as 'pretty' but the Zags have won in a variety of ways which has been something this program has struggled with in the past. Against San Diego and Santa Clara, they scored less than 60 points but still collected wins whereas against BYU and LMU they scored over 80 to win a couple shootouts.
While the new and shiny ranking is nice, the Zags have a big week which could weigh heavily on their postseason seeding. On Wednesday, the Zags welcome the Portland Pilots and on Saturday, they will head to Memphis to take on Josh Pastner at the Tigers in a crucial nonconference game. The Pilots will obviously not come in intimidated by the Bulldogs and Memphis has dominated the short historical series between these two programs.
Full rankings are below:
Rank | Team | Record | Pts | Previous |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Syracuse Orange (65) | 21-0 | 1625 | 2 |
2 | Arizona Wildcats | 21-1 | 1517 | 1 |
3 | Florida Gators | 19-2 | 1482 | 3 |
4 | Wichita St. Shockers | 23-0 | 1447 | 4 |
5 | San Diego St. Aztecs | 19-1 | 1370 | 5 |
6 | Villanova Wildcats | 19-2 | 1252 | 9 |
7 | Cincinnati Bearcats | 21-2 | 1182 | 13 |
8 | Kansas Jayhawks | 16-5 | 1141 | 6 |
9 | Michigan St. Spartans | 19-3 | 1136 | 7 |
10 | Michigan Wolverines | 16-5 | 949 | 10 |
11 | Duke Blue Devils | 17-5 | 940 | 17 |
12 | Creighton Bluejays | 18-3 | 790 | 20 |
13 | Saint Louis Billikens | 20-2 | 728 | 19 |
14 | Louisville Cardinals | 18-4 | 723 | 12 |
15 | Texas Longhorns | 17-4 | 719 | 25 |
16 | Iowa St. Cyclones | 16-4 | 717 | 16 |
17 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 17-5 | 669 | 15 |
18 | Kentucky Wildcats | 16-5 | 653 | 11 |
19 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 16-5 | 420 | 8 |
20 | Virginia Cavaliers | 17-5 | 364 | 29 |
21 | Oklahoma Sooners | 17-5 | 361 | 23 |
22 | Connecticut Huskies | 17-4 | 252 | 26 |
23 | Gonzaga Bulldogs | 20-3 | 237 | 27 |
24 | Memphis Tigers | 16-5 | 114 | 22 |
25 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 18-4 | 110 | 18 |
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 79, Ohio State 45, VCU 44, SMU 15, New Mexico 12, California 9, UCLA 9, Harvard 4, George Washington 3, LSU 3, Tennessee 2, American University 1, Southern Miss 1 |