Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast: Bubble talk, defensive deficiencies and what might reverse the slide

Is Gonzaga basketball back on the bubble?

Following back-to-back West Coast Conference losses, the Zags dropped out of the Top 25 on Monday, and dropped to No. 19 in the NET rankings.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm’s latest bracket projection has GU as a No. 9 seed.

In the latest Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast, longtime Spokesman-Review reporter Jim Meehan and TV analyst and former GU big man Richard Fox talk about the latest rankings, the team’s defensive deficiencies and how GU can reverse the trend.

“I don’t have a pronounced concern about them being on the bubble,” Fox said. “They’re going to have more opportunities to improve that Quad 1 record (2-5), Quad 2 record (2-1), given that the league is better than it has been.”

Gonzaga, which travels to Portland on Saturday, has a week to try to figure out some of its defensive issues, which have led to three straight opponents shooting better than 53% from the floor. 

“I remember these types of weeks as a player,” Fox said. “They were long and they were difficult and not a lot of fun – and by the time you get to Saturday you really want to take it out on somebody else because you’ve got a week to take (it) out on each other. I would imagine it’s going to be a very, very challenging week for this group.”

Catch the episode here, or find it on Apple Podcasts, and Spotify and Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.