Weekly Zag Briefing

Gonzaga is back on top of the rankings and doing its thing in the WCC by demonstrating just how big a gap there still is to the other top teams with the 26 point lambasting of BYU last week. USF, who established themselves as a firm Top 4 team in the conference, is up to bat and will aim to bring the Zags back to the pack.

• It’s only January, but this is also the time when resumes for the NCAA Tournament are made. For the WCC’s aspirations of sending four teams to the dance, San Francisco and Saint Mary’s have some work to do to shore up their positions while BYU looks to be safely in at the moment.
• The conversation around Gonzaga hasn’t been as intense this season as last year’s undefeated circus. Dana O’Neil, in her column with Brian Hamilton, highlights the Zags as a team everyone should be keeping top of mind considering the fact that they are still improving while separating themselves against a stronger WCC.
• Seth Davis provides some analysis on his AP Poll vote this week in which he was one of the voters who placed Gonzaga ahead of Auburn in light of the higher quality of their best wins, and despite the fact that Auburn defeated a common opponent in Alabama.
• ESPN’s Jeff Borzello identifies Drew Timme as his player of the week, which I think is fully deserved considering the absurd performances Timme strung together averages of 31.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while shooting 84.4% from the field in last week’s games. It doesn’t get much better than that. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to get Gonzaga back in the top spot of his power rankings, which is currently occupied by Auburn. That’s probably deserved too.