Gonzaga slipped a few spots in the NET rankings and another spot or two in several NCAA Tournament bracket projections after Saturday’s West Coast Conference loss to Saint Mary’s.
The Zags were 15th in the NET last Monday and moved up to No. 11 after Tuesday’s 98-60 rout over Oregon State. They were No. 13 in Monday’s NET rankings, an evaluation tool used by the NCAA to select and seed tournament teams, following a 62-58 to the Gaels.
GU (16-7 overall, 7-3 WCC) absorbed their sixth consecutive Quad 1 loss after opening the season 2-0 in that category with victories over Baylor and San Diego State.
Saint Mary’s, No. 21 entering Saturday’s game vs. GU, is No. 22. The Gaels (20-3, 10-0) are 3-1 in Quad 1 — their neutral-court victory over Nebraska in November became Q1 with the Cornhuskers climbing to No. 50 — and 4-2 in Quad 2.
Gonzaga entertains Loyola Marymount (No. 136, Quad 3) on Thursday before a road date against Pacific (306, Quad 4) on Saturday.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports projects Gonzaga as a 10 seed in the Midwest Region with the Gaels a nine seed in the South. On3.com has eighth-seeded GU facing No. 9 Baylor in a rematch of the season opener won by the Zags 101-63.
The Zags project as an 8 seed, according to Bracketmatrix.com. Teamrankings.com lists GU as the last nine seed.
Gonzaga will have several chances in its regular-season closing six-game stretch to move up or down the seed lines.
The Zags’ last six games include two Quad 2 matchups (Feb. 13 vs. No. 67 San Francisco, Feb. 19 at No. 96 Washington State) and ends with three consecutive Quad 1s (Feb. 22 vs. Saint Mary’s, Feb. 25 at No. 61 Santa Clara, March 1 vs. San Francisco at the Chase Center).
The Zags, who dropped out of the AP poll a couple of weeks ago after losses to Oregon State and Santa Clara, received 11 points in Monday’s rankings, down from 34 points a week ago. Saint Mary’s moved closer to cracking the top 25 with 136 points, second behind Clemson in the receiving votes category.
Auburn and Duke remained 1-2 in the rankings, followed by Alabama, Tennessee, Houston, Florida, Purdue, Iowa State, Michigan State and Texas A&M. Arizona, led by former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd, returned to the rankings for the first time since November at No. 20.
Gonzaga is 0-2 vs. current top 25 teams, falling to No. 14 Kentucky and No. 19 UConn. The Zags are 1-2 vs. teams receiving votes with a win over Baylor and losses to UCLA and Saint Mary’s.
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