Gonzaga Basketball Ranked No. 1 In The Country For The First Time In History
Gonzaga University's basketball team is Number 1 in the country for the first time in the school's history.
On Monday Gonzaga topped the weekly USA Today coaches' poll, after earning 29 first-place votes.
Indiana is second, followed by Kansas, Duke and Georgetown. Also included in the top 10 are Louisville at No. 6 followed by Miami, Michigan, Florida and Kansas State.
Even though they just beat Arizona for a second time, UCLA continues to have trouble breaking into the coaches' top 25. The Bruins rank second this week in the list of "others receiving votes," with Middle Tennessee at the top.
Monday was an exciting day for Gonzaga even though college basketball polls are purely ceremonial, used as a way to hold the public's interest during the regular season.
"They are a very good basketball team without any weaknesses," University of Portland coach Eric Reveno said. "They should be No. 1." Reveno's team was defeated by Gonzaga 81-52 on Saturday.
What is more important is whether Gonzaga will be able to secure one of four top seedings in the NCAA Tournament, a decision made by the NCAA selection committee, which considers computer rankings and the difficulty of the team's schedule.
Gonzaga is 29-2 overall and just completed a 16-0 regular season in the West Coast Conference. The team's two defeats were to Butler and Illinois. However, the WCC is only ranked No. 10 out of all the leagues in the nation.
Gonzaga has reportedly played only the nation's 60th strongest schedule in the country.
Generally, the NCAA selection committee likes to reward mid-major schools that have gone against a lot of tough out-of-conference opponents, and Gonzaga has done just that. This season they have defeated five Big 12 schools.
Gonzaga had previously been best known as the school that produced Hall of Fame guard John Stockton before rising to prominence by making the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament three straight times between 1999 to 2001.
The Bulldogs have been to the NCAA tournament every year since. The only schools with longer streaks are Duke, Kansas and Michigan.