Being in the West Coast Conference shouldn’t halt the discussion of Gonzaga being the top ranked team in the country.
Regular season success has become synonymous with Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball during Mark Few‘s tenure. They’ve never won fewer than 20 games or missed the NCAA Tournament under Few and own a ridiculous .813 winning percentage.
Although, Gonzaga has never had this type of success to start a season. The Zags are the last undefeated team in the nation at 18-0. Even when they went they went 32-3 in 2012-13, they only started 9-0.
Despite their historic start, the Associated Press has overlooked Gonzaga up to this point. This past week, the Associated Press ranked Gonzaga fourth in the nation, which is 10 spots higher than where they started the season, but the Zags still only received two first place votes.
Gonzaga only has the 64th toughest schedule, according to ESPN, but that shouldn’t knock them out of the running for being considered the best team in the nation.
Of course, based on Gonzaga’s past regular season success but dreadful play in the NCAA Tournament, everyone is waiting to see if Gonzaga can finally make the Final Four, rather than if they can run the table in the regular season.
That said, ESPN’s bracketology only projects Gonzaga as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament and three one-loss teams still rank ahead of them in the AP Top 25.
Past regular season success and disappointment should not stop Gonzaga from topping the AP Top 25, and here’s why.