Gonzaga finishes No. 18 in AP poll, No. 10 in NET rankings

Gonzaga slipped six spots to No. 18 in the final Associated Press college basketball poll after going 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament.

The Zags were 12th in the previous AP rankings released in mid -March after Gonzaga downed Oregon State and Santa Clara to win the West Coast Conference Tournament title at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Third-seeded Gonzaga held off No. 14 Kennesaw State 73-64 before falling to No. 11 Texas 74-68 in the round of 32 in Portland, resulting in a loss of 370 points and six spots in the final AP poll released Tuesday.

The Zags (31-4) finished closer to where they started out: No. 21 in the preseason poll and No. 19 in the first regular-season poll on Nov. 10th. GU stayed comfortably inside the top 20 in every poll this season, reaching a high of No. 6 in early February.

National champion Michigan, which clobbered Gonzaga 101-61 in November at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, received all 57 first-place votes from the media panel.

Runner-up UConn was second and Arizona, led by former Zags assistant coach Tommy Lloyd, was third. Duke, which entered March Madness ranked No. 1 and the No. 1 overall seed, finished fourth.

Illinois was fifth, followed by Purdue, Houston, Iowa State, Florida and St. John’s.

Gonzaga’s other losses came against Texas, which was No. 22 in the final AP rankings, Portland and Saint Mary’s. GU and Saint Mary’s split the regular-season series and shared the WCC title, but the Zags earned the top seed in the conference tournament via tiebreaker with a 2-0 record against Santa Clara.

The Gaels cracked the top 25 after knocking off GU 70-59 in Moraga in the regular-season finale, but they lost to Santa Clara in the WCC Tournament semifinals and fell to Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Saint Mary’s received seven points in the closing poll.

GU’s best win by AP ranking was against Alabama, which climbed up two spots to No. 16 after going 2-1 in March Madness. The Crimson Tide lost 90-77 to eventual champion Michigan in the Sweet 16.

The Zags defeated four teams that were ranked at the time – No. 23 Creighton, No. 25 UCLA and No. 18 Kentucky. UCLA finished 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament and received 51 points, 19 points from making the top 25. Kentucky, also 1-1 in the tourney, received 14 points.

The Big Ten led all conferences with seven ranked teams, followed by the SEC (six) and Big 12 (five). Gonzaga was the only nonpower conference team in the top 25.

The Zags checked in at No. 10 in the final NET rankings, one spot below runner-up UConn. Gonzaga finished 7-3 in Quad 1, 4-0 in Quad 2, 12-1 in Quad 3 and 8-0 in Quad 4.

Michigan, Duke, Arizona, Florida and Illinois held down the top five positions, followed by Houston, Iowa State and Purdue.

Saint Mary’s was No. 24 and Santa Clara, which lost its NCAA Tournament opener against Kentucky in heartbreaking fashion, was No. 42. Pacific was the next highest WCC team at 114.

Gonzaga joins Washington State, No. 144 in the final NET rankings, and No. 172 Oregon State in the reconstructed Pac-12 next season. Other Pac-12 basketball members include No. 25 Utah State, No. 48 San Diego State, No. 60 Boise State, No. 88 Colorado State, No. 151 Fresno State and No. 237 Texas State.

Gonzaga also finished No. 18 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. Saint Mary’s was five spots outside of the top 25 with 16 points.