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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga ranked No. 9 in final Associated Press Top 25 poll

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nolan Hickman (11) and forward Ben Gregg (33) celebrate during the second half of a WCC tournament championship basketball game on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Gonzaga won the game 77-51.  (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

For a team that’s been as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 18, Gonzaga’s position in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the 2022-23 campaign is probably fitting.

The Bulldogs didn’t move when Monday’s rankings came out, holding down the No. 9 spot for the second consecutive week.

Unlike college football, the AP doesn’t release a postseason basketball poll following the NCAA Tournament, meaning Monday’s was the last of the current season.

Alabama overtook Houston to claim the No. 1 ranking while the Cougars, Purdue, Kansas and Texas rounded out the top five in that order. Teams ranked Nos. 6-10 were Marquette, UCLA, Arizona, Gonzaga and Connecticut.

Unlike the last two seasons, when Gonzaga didn’t slip out of the top five, the Bulldogs were all over the map in 2022-23. AP voters ranked Mark Few’s team No. 2 in a preseason poll, but nonconference losses to Texas, Purdue and Baylor dropped Gonzaga to No. 6, No. 14 and as low as No. 18 on Dec. 5.

The Zags made up ground by winning their next 11 games – including a 100-90 victory over the Crimson Tide in Birmingham – and rose as high as No. 6 in the poll before plummeting back down to No. 14 with a West Coast Conference loss to Loyola Marymount that ended their NCAA modern-day record 75-game home win streak.

Gonzaga moved up two spots before regressing to No. 16 after a 78-70 overtime loss to Saint Mary’s.

It’s been all uphill since the game in Moraga, though, and the Bulldogs carry a nine-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, matching their highest ranking in the AP poll since checking in at No. 6 on Jan. 16.

Gonzaga’s concluded each of the last seven seasons ranked inside the top 10 of the AP poll, finishing No. 1 in 2021-22 and 2020-21, No. 2 in 2019-20, No. 4 in 2018-19, No. 8 in 2017-18 and No. 2 in 2016-17. Kansas has the next-most top-10 finishes during that span with five.

The Bulldogs fell one spot to No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Poll that was released on Sunday. They moved up three spots in the NCAA NET rankings, from No. 9 to No. 6, after beating Saint Mary’s 77-51 in the WCC tournament championship game.