The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
No. 1 Zags: Gonzaga begins season atop Top 25 for 1st time
Just about the only thing Gonzaga has left to accomplish under Mark Few is win a national championship.
The ’Zags scratched another first off the list Monday: They will open the season at No. 1.
Despite losing West Coast Conference player of the year Filip Petrusev, the Bulldogs received 28 first-place votes and 1,541 points from a 64-member national media panel. That was just enough to edge Baylor (24 first-place vote) by a single point for the top spot in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 heading toward the delayed Nov. 25 start of the season.
“It’s a great honor to be selected No. 1,” Few said. “We understand that it is more a reflection of what our program has accomplished over the years and hope to play up to that standard as we start our season.”
Villanova received 11 first-place votes and was third, followed by Virginia with the remaining first-place vote. Iowa was picked fifth behind national player of the year front-runner Luka Garza, its highest preseason ranking in school history.
Then came a wave of bluebloods with Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Duke and Kentucky completing the top 10.
The Bulldogs spent four weeks at No. 1 last season before finishing second to the Jayhawks in the final poll, which was taken when the NCAA Tournament was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petrusev’s choice to play professionally in Serbia and then enter the draft was a blow, but the Bulldogs still have the pieces to win it all. Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi provide scoring punch and the arrival of potential one-and-done guard Jalen Suggs should steady their backcourt.
The ’Zags certainly scheduled like title contenders. They open Nov. 26 against Kansas at the Fort Myers Tip-Off, where they also will play Auburn, and face Baylor in Indianapolis and Iowa in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
THE SECOND FIVE
The Jayhawks lost Devon Dotson and
Udoka Azubuike from a team that was the likely No. 1 overall seed had the NCAA Tournament been played, but they return enough firepower to give Baylor a challenge in the Big 12.
Wisconsin and Illinois join the Hawkeyes in giving the Big Ten some fresh flavor atop the poll. Young and rebuilding Duke and Kentucky could take some lumps early in the season but could be championship contenders by March.
THE REST OF THE POLL
Creighton lost Ty-Shon Alexander to the NBA and Davion Mintz to Kentucky but still landed the highest preseason ranking in school history at No. 11, followed by Tennessee, Michigan State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
North Carolina was next with Houston at No. 17, its highest preseason ranking since the final Phi Slama Jama team of Hakeem Olajuwon began the 1983-84 season at No. 3. Arizona State, Texas and Oregon finish the first 20 with Florida State, UCLA, Ohio State, Rutgers and Michigan rounding out the Top 25.
ON THE DOORSTEP
LSU was the first team outside the rankings, followed by Memphis, Florida, Alabama and Indiana. San Diego State got six votes after finishing No. 6 in the final poll last season but losing Mountain West player of the year Malachi Flynn and two other elite producers. Louisville and Seton Hall also are unranked after finishing in the top 15 last season.
IZZO POSITIVE FOR COVID
Tom Izzo has been an advocate for wearing masks and social distancing, hoping to use his platform at Michigan State as a Basketball Hall of Fame coach to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Despite practicing what he preached, Izzo tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. It was just the latest example of the challenges facing college basketball to have a season during the pandemic.
“It’s going to be a headache,” Izzo said to reporters on a Zoom call. “I tell my team every day, ‘How we handle adversity will determine who the champion is going to be — and that includes me.’”