Gonzaga debuts at No. 20 in preseason USA Today Coaches Poll

Division I coaches seem to be higher on Gonzaga than Associated Press Top 25 voters entering the 2025-26 college basketball season.

Just slightly.

A panel of coaches that vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll ranked the Zags No. 20 in Wednesday’s preseason rankings, just one spot higher than where AP voters slotted Mark Few’s team on Oct. 13.

Similar to the AP rankings, the Coaches Poll started with Purdue at No. 1, followed by No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 UConn. Spots 6-10 were slightly different, occupied by Duke, St. John’s, Michigan, BYU, Kentucky and Louisville.

Gonzaga’s opening 2025-26 precisely where it ended the 2024-25 season in the Coaches Poll. The Zags debuted at No. 7 in the preseason rankings last year, dropped out by mid-January and climbed their way back in late in the season, landing at No. 20 after a narrow NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss to top-seeded Houston.

Gonzaga will come across a number of Coaches Poll Top 25 teams during nonconference play, including dates with No. 9 Kentucky, No. 12 UCLA, No. 16 Alabama and No. 23 Creighton. The Zags’ nonconference finale will come against an Oregon team that received votes in the Coaches Poll. Oklahoma, the first marquee opponent on GU’s nonleague schedule, received votes in the AP poll but not the USA Today version.

The only other WCC team to appear in the “receiving votes” section was Saint Mary’s, which collected three points in the poll.

Arizona, coached by former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd, cracked the top 15 of the USA Today rankings, debuting at No. 13.