FiveThirtyEight: Gonzaga Is Dominating With Speed And Defensive Disruption
There's a cohort in the country that only knows the Gonzaga Bulldogs as college basketball royalty.
There's a cohort in the country that only knows the Gonzaga Bulldogs as college basketball royalty.
Gonzaga, Baylor and Villanova hold steady atop the AP Top 25 poll, but Michigan, which is currently on pause for two weeks due to COVID-19 concerns, has moved up to No. 4.
Houston, Alabama, Virginia and Florida State are climbing the rankings, but Gonzaga and Baylor are still in another echelon.
— Drew Timme scored 22 points and freshman Jalen Suggs came close to a triple-double as top-ranked and undefeated Gonzaga crushed Pacific 95-49 on Saturday night for its 19th consecutive victory dating to last season.
Seth Greenberg and Dan Dakich tip off the podcast discussing Kim Mulkey’s comments about playing college basketball during a pandemic, if there’s a home court advantage this season, not panicking over Michigan’s loss, Auburn’s Sharife Cooper bursting onto the scene, Gonzaga Watch and Iowa’s roster construction. Then, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann joins the show to talk about Kyle Young’s throwback style, an update on Seth Towns, Dakich wanting to take a bullet for Holtmann, Jae’Sean Tate making an impact with the Rockets and the happiest he’s ever seen his team. Later, quick hitters on Baylor, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas Tech.
Gonzaga and Baylor maintained their grip on the top two spots in The Associated Press men's basketball poll, while Duke fell out of the rankings for the first time since 2016.
Gonzaga and Baylor are in their own tiers atop men's college basketball. Everyone else, it seems, is fighting for No. 3.
ESPN.com's college basketball experts make predictions for Michigan-Minnesota, Baylor-Texas Tech and other top games of the weekend.
— Corey Kispert had 23 points and eight rebounds as top-ranked and undefeated Gonzaga beat Pepperdine 95-70 on Thursday for its 17th consecutive victory over the last two seasons.
Four Gonzaga starters make the updated rankings, but Iowa's Luka Garza still leads the way.
Gonzaga and Baylor remain atop The Associated Press men's basketball poll for the seventh consecutive week in the regular season, while UConn returns to the rankings for the first time since 2016-17, at No. 25.
Juwan Howard and the Wolverines are carrying the banner for the rugged Big Ten, while USC and UCLA had big weeks out west.
— Joel Ayayi posted the first triple-double in Gonzaga history and the top-ranked Bulldogs routed Portland 116-88 Saturday for their 16th straight win.
— Corey Kispert scored 23 points as top-ranked Gonzaga beat rival BYU 86-69 on Thursday in a hastily scheduled game after both teams lost their original opponents to COVID-19 issues.
Gonzaga's Jalen Suggs, Louisville's Carlik Jones and West Virginia's Derek Culver were added to the midseason watch list for the 2021 Wooden Award, which was also reduced from 50 players to 25.
From Baylor to Winthrop, there are more undefeated teams than usual for this time of year. They'll probably all lose at some point. But when?
Gonzaga will face BYU on Thursday after the Bulldogs' game against Santa Clara was postponed.
In a college basketball season like no other, these are the teams, players and coaches causing eyebrows to raise throughout the sport.
TEAM | CONF | GB | OVR |
---|---|---|---|
Gonzaga | 6-0 | - | 15-0 |
BYU | 4-1 | 1.5 | 13-3 |
Santa Clara | 3-2 | 2.5 | 9-4 |
San Francisco | 4-4 | 3 | 10-8 |
Loyola Marymount | 3-3 | 3 | 8-6 |
Pacific | 2-2 | 3 | 5-3 |
Pepperdine | 2-2 | 3 | 6-7 |
Saint Mary's | 2-3 | 3.5 | 11-5 |
San Diego | 1-3 | 4 | 2-6 |
Portland | 0-7 | 6.5 | 6-10 |
AP | COACHES |
---|---|
1 | 1 |
NAME | POS | STATUS | GRADE |
---|---|---|---|
Ben Gregg | PF | Signed | 85 |
Kaden Perry | PF | Signed | 84 |
Final Fours | 1 |
Tournament Record | 34-22 |
Championship Seasons | None |
Tournament Appearances | 22 |