Gonzaga, Baylor still top two teams

Gonzaga and Baylor were the top two teams in The Associated Press preseason men’s college basketball poll. After eight weeks of twists and turns, that hasn’t changed.

The Bulldogs received 63 of 64 first-place votes from a national media panel in the poll released Monday and the Bears had the other one. Villanova, Texas and Iowa rounded out a top five that remained the same from last week.

Gonzaga and Baylor split most of the first-place votes in the preseason AP Top 25, but the Bulldogs have become the clear-cut No. 1 after stringing together a series of routs.

Gonzaga (12-0) has wins over No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Kansas, No. 13 West Virginia and No. 18 Virginia, the closest game a five-point victory over the Mountaineers.

The Bulldogs continued the rout route last week, beating BYU 86-69 and Portland 116-88. Joel Ayayi had the first triple-double in school history against Portland, finishing with 12 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds.

Gonzaga, which had five games canceled due to covid-19 issues last month, has won 16 in a row dating to last season.

“They come at you in waves and multiple guys that can dribble and push out,” Portland Coach Terry Porter said.

Baylor (11-0) also has yet to be seriously tested.

The Bears’ closest game was an 11-point victory over Iowa State on Jan. 2, and they won two lopsided games last week, beating Oklahoma 76-61 and TCU 67-49.

The win over Oklahoma was Coach Scott Drew’s 372nd, one more than his father, former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew.

“He’s a coach, he knows who deserves the credit, and that’s the players and the staff, administration,” Scott Drew said after a congratulatory video message from his father was played after the game. “Head coaches get to benefit from that.”

At No. 25 this week, UConn is in the AP Top 25 for the first time since reaching No. 18 in 2016-17. The Huskies (61) have had five games canceled or postponed because of covid-19 issues but have played well when they’ve been on the court.