There aren’t many better ways to begin the college basketball season than a matchup of the top-ranked team in the nation and last year’s season-ending No. 1, ranked sixth to start this one. No matter who the teams are.

One non-student-athlete member of Gonzaga’s travel party tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19 and two other non-student-athletes identified through contact tracing are in isolation in separate Fort Myers, Florida, hotel rooms, according to a release from tournament officials.

Drew Timme scored 25 points, Jalen Suggs had 24 and Corey Kispert added 23 and the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs beat the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks 102-90 on Thursday in Fort Myers, Florida.

With three NCAA Tournament titles under their belt, the Kansas Jayhawks are one of college basketball's established "blue blood" programs alongside Duke, North Carolina and UCLA. But how do the Gonzaga Bulldogs stack up against the 15-time Final Four participants ahead of their Thanksgiving Day season-opening showdown?

Both teams would have preferred a few dress rehearsals, as Kansas coach Bill Self put it, but everyone involved in the Thanksgiving Day contest is just thankful to be playing with the pandemic rewriting schedules across the country.

They are two of the most-respected programs in all of college athletics, yet Kansas and Gonzaga couldn’t be more different.

You can’t go wrong with any of the five matchups on the court, but we have to pick one so we’ll go with the big men: Gonzaga sophomore Drew Timme and Kansas junior David McCormack.

The former Zag point guard vividly describes the scene inside Phog Allen Fieldhouse and details from a competitive contest that Gonzaga led for long stretches. “My standard line is I think we were up at half, I think I scored 19 at half,” he said, “and then they Rock Chalk Jayhawked us in the second half.”

An expected change in COVID-19 recommendations from the CDC will help college sports

Erase No. 12 Tennessee, write in No. 15 West Virginia on Gonzaga’s basketball schedule.

For as much success as the Gonzaga men’s basketball team has experienced in the last two decades, the Zags would still need many years to match the historical accomplishments of the great men’s college basketball programs in the country. Still, with 21 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the fifth-longest active streak, the Zags are far from their Cinderella days.

Evan Manning is in his first season as a graduate assistant with the top-ranked Zags, who open the season Thursday against No. 6 Kansas in Fort Myers, Florida. “It’s crazy to me,” the 27-year-old laughed. “First game, Kansas, of course, but it’s been really cool.”

The University of Idaho men's basketball games this week at the U.S. Bank Portland Invitational against Seattle University (Nov. 25), University of Portland (Nov. 27), and William Jessup (Nov. 28) have been canceled in conjunction with Oregon state policies/protocols relating to COVID-19.

Two days before its season opener against Kansas, Gonzaga’s backcourt just got a whole lot better and whole lot deeper. Gonzaga guard Andrew Nembhard, a transfer from Florida, was granted a waiver by the NCAA.

The rising number of college basketball games canceled by COVID-19 concerns reached Gonzaga when Tennessee announced it will not travel to Indianapolis for a Dec. 2 date with the top-ranked Zags.

Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert is one of 20 players on the preseason watch list for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Player of the Year Award.

Few is one win from reaching another career milestone, joining a short list of coaches with 600 career wins. Few, at 599-124 entering his 22nd season, is already considered one of the game’s elite coaches with his winning percentage (82.8) is tops among active coaches.

Four days after he was drafted in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington State forward CJ Elleby received more affirmation his decision to leave school early was the correct one.

Chinese native Fanbo Zeng has orally committed to Gonzaga, which has prospered over the years with contributions from the likes of Rui Hachimura (Japan), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Przemek Karnowski (Poland) and Kelly Olynyk (Canada), thanks in large part to assistant coach Tommy Lloyd’s international recruiting efforts.