Gonzaga is No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' preseason top 25 rankings released this morning. Here's an article and a list of the top 25. North Carolina is No. 1, followed by Kentucky and Ohio State.

GU will face No. 15 Xavier and No. 16 Arizona. Other GU foes in the receiving votes category: Michigan State (28th with 73 votes), Butler (31st with 25), Saint Mary's 5, Notre Dame 1 and BYU 1 (thought Cougars would be on the cusp of top 25). Long Beach State, under the direction of ex-Zags coach Dan Monson, received 2 votes.

The Zags are picked to win the WCC, followed by BYU and Saint Mary's, by Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg.