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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga falls one spot to No. 14 following two blowout victories at home

Gonzaga’s Michael Ajayi drives against Nicholls State during the second half of GU’s win Wednesday at McCarthey Athletic Center. (TYLER TJOMSLAND/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga had mixed results in the AP college basketball poll after winning two home games by a combined 51 points.

The Zags received 757 points from the media panel, a 20-point increase from last Monday, but still dropped one spot to a season-low No. 14. Oklahoma (12-0) moved from 14 to 12 after edging Michigan 87-86 and routing Central Arkansas 89-66.

Gonzaga (9-3) was inside the top 10 in the first six polls, including No. 6 in the preseason rankings.

Tennessee (11-0) held on to the top spot with 41 first-place votes. Auburn (11-1) received 21 first-place votes to stay at No. 2. Iowa State, Duke, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Marquette, Oregon and Kentucky rounded out the top 10.

SEC teams occupy 10 spots in the top 25 with two more in the receiving votes category.

UCLA, Gonzaga’s opponent Saturday at the Intuit Dome, slipped four spots to No. 22 after losing to North Carolina.

Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule is packed with teams in the top 25 or in the receiving votes category – No. 10 Kentucky (90-89 overtime loss), No. 11 UConn (77-71 loss), No. 20 San Diego State (80-67 win), No. 25 Baylor (101-63 win), RV West Virginia (86-78 overtime loss), RV Arizona State (88-80 win) and RV Indiana (89-73 win).

Gonzaga is No. 5, down one spot from a week ago, in the NET rankings, a primary sorting tool used by the NCAA to evaluate teams. GU is behind No. 1 Auburn, Tennessee, Duke and Florida. UCLA is No. 20.

The West Coast Conference has six teams in the top 75, including affiliate member Oregon State at 40, Saint Mary’s at 55, San Francisco at 60, affiliate member Washington State at 67 and Santa Clara at 75.

Gonzaga is a four seed in the West Region opening in Seattle against No. 13 North Dakota State in Jerry Palm’s latest bracket projection for CBS Sports. Duke, Gonzaga is the lowest four seed behind Oklahoma, Memphis and West Virginia.

Oregon and Texas A&M are Palm’s top three seeds in the West. UCLA is seeded sixth in the South Region.

Top overall seed Auburn, Tennessee and Iowa State join Duke as one seeds.

The Zags fell one spot to No. 15 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. The top three stayed the same with Tennessee, Auburn and Iowa State.