Gonzaga at No. 11 in 247 Sports Final Class of 2020 Ranking

247 Sports released their final rankings for the Class of 2020, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs come in ranked No. 11, the highest mark in school history.

Gonzaga’s Class of 2020 consists solely of the Tricky Trio, also known as Jalen Suggs (No. 8), Julian Strawther (No. 60), and Dominick Harris (No. 64). Those three recruits, combined with the level of talent returning from last season, is one of the major reasons Gonzaga is often labelled as the preseason No. 1 team in too-early rankings.

The new high beats the previous mark set by last year’s class, which ended up ranked No. 13 overall, featuring Drew Timme, Anton Watson, Pavel Zakharov, Martynas Arlauskas, Oumar Ballo, and Brock Ravet.

Timme put up consistent numbers, averaging 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game. Watson looked good when he was on the court, but shoulder issues forced him to shut his season down early, missing the final 18 games of the season. Zakharov and Arlauskas never cracked the rotation, Ballo redshirted, and Ravet left the team for personal reasons.

Each member of the class of 2020 is expected to contribute next season. Suggs will most likely be a starter, with Strawther and Harris providing support off the bench.

One could easily make the argument that the class of 2016 was Gonzaga’s top class in history. However, with a heavy emphasis on the international players (who are often under-ranked by recruiting websites), it ranked just No. 20 by 247 sports. Zach Norvell departed after two years, Zach Collins became the school’s first one-and-done, Rui Hachimura blossomed into a NBA starter, and Killian Tillie played four years at Gonzaga, each stricken by injury. Collins was the highest ranked member of the group, coming in at No. 30. Norvell, Tillie, and Hachimura were all sub-100 ranked recruits.