College basketball rankings: Gonzaga rolls in final WCC opener before heading to Pac-12 next season
The Zags are 13-1 overall and No. 7 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 after defeating Pepperdine
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
Mark Few has won 22 West Coast Conference regular-season championships in his first 26 years as Gonzaga's coach. Barring a surprise, he'll add one more this season before taking his program to the new Pac-12.
Certainly nothing that happened Sunday suggested otherwise, as the Zags dominated Pepperdine in a 96-56 victory that pushed them to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in league play heading into Tuesday's game at San Diego. It was Gonzaga's 50th straight win over the Waves.
"That's just a crazy stat," Few told The Spokesman-Review's Theo Lawson. "I had no idea. My first years as a head coach, they were our fiercest rival."
Not so much anymore. The last time Gonzaga lost to Pepperdine was Jan. 18, 2002. Zags freshman Davis Fogle was still more than four years from birth on that day. He scored 15 points in 16 minutes against the Waves on Sunday.
None of this should be interpreted as a shot at Pepperdine, necessarily. Truth is, nobody in the WCC -- other than Saint Mary's, kinda -- has proven capable of challenging the Zags in any sort of meaningful way for decades. Furthermore, Gonzaga appears to be one of the small handful of programs operating outside of the traditional power structure that's been able to maintain its place in the sport while revenue-sharing and big NIL deals have largely grown the divide between the haves and have-nots. It's a testament to Few and why he'll someday be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
Gonzaga is No. 7 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Michigan remains No. 1 for the 20th consecutive day. KenPom.com currently projects the Zags to finish 17-1 in league games in their final season in the WCC. That projection would have them winning the conference by three games and in position to perhaps secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for what would be a sixth time in program history.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Aday Mara finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday's 102-50 win over La Salle. The Wolverines' next game is Monday against McNeese. | -- | 11-0 |
| 2 |  | Brayden Burries finished with 20 points and four assists in Monday's 107-71 win over Bethune Cookman. The Wildcats' next game is Monday against South Dakota State. | -- | 12-0 |
| 3 |  | Milan Momcilovic finished with 27 points and three rebounds in Sunday's 91-60 win over Long Beach State. The Cyclones' next game is Monday against Houston Christian. | -- | 12-0 |
| 4 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 21 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 72-54 win at DePaul. The Huskies' next game is Wednesday at Xavier. | -- | 12-1 |
| 5 |  | AJ Dybantsa finished with 33 points and 10 assists in Monday's 109-81 win over Eastern Washington. The Cougars' next game is Saturday at Kansas State. | -- | 12-1 |
| 6 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 88-60 win over Auburn. The Boilermakers' next game is Monday against Kent State. | -- | 11-1 |
| 7 |  | Tyon Grant-Foster finished with 18 points and four blocks in Sunday's 96-56 win over Pepperdine. The Zags' next game is Tuesday at San Diego. | -- | 13-1 |
| 8 |  | Nikolas Khamenia missed five of the eight shots he attempted in Saturday's 82-81 loss to Texas Tech. The Blue Devils' next game is Wednesday against Georgia Tech. | -- | 11-1 |
| 9 |  | Coen Carr finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 79-70 win over Oakland. The Spartans' next game is Monday against Cornell. | -- | 11-1 |
| 10 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's 99-51 win over East Carolina. The Tar Heels' next game is Tuesday against Florida State. | -- | 12-1 |
| 11 |  | Flory Bidunga finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 90-61 win over Davidson. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday at UCF. | -- | 10-3 |
| 12 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 21 points and five assists in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Middle Tennessee. | -- | 11-1 |
| 13 |  | Braden Frager finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Sunday's 78-55 win over North Dakota. The Cornhuskers' next game is Tuesday against New Hampshire. | -- | 12-0 |
| 14 |  | Tyler Nickel finished with 26 points and three blocks in Sunday's 98-67 win at Wake Forest. The Commodores' next game is Monday against New Haven. | -- | 12-0 |
| 15 |  | Aiden Sherrell finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's 92-81 win over Kennesaw State. The Crimson Tide's next game is Monday against Yale. | -- | 9-3 |
| 16 |  | Karter Knox missed five of the six shots he attempted in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Razorbacks' next game is Monday against James Madison. | -- | 9-3 |
| 17 |  | Keaton Wagler finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 91-48 win over Missouri. The Illini's next game is Monday against Southern. | -- | 9-3 |
| 18 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 29 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 87-57 win over Winthrop. The Red Raiders' next game is Saturday against Oklahoma State. | -- | 10-3 |
| 19 |  | Ja'Kobi Gillespie finished with 15 points and nine assists in Sunday's 94-52 win over Gardner-Webb. The Vols' next game is Tuesday against South Carolina State. | -- | 9-3 |
| 20 |  | Sananda Fru finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 94-54 win over Montana. The Cardinals' next game is Tuesday against Cal. | -- | 10-2 |
| 21 |  | Kam Williams finished with 26 points and one steal in Tuesday's 99-85 win over Bellarmine. The Wildcats' next game is Saturday at Alabama. | -- | 9-4 |
| 22 |  | Alvaro Folgueiras finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 94-39 win over Bucknell. The Hawkeyes' next game is Monday against UMass Lowell. | -- | 10-2 |
| 23 |  | Thijs De Ridder finished with 27 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 95-51 win over American. The Cavaliers' next game is Wednesday at Virginia Tech. | -- | 11-1 |
| 24 |  | Marquel Sutton finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 78-65 win over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Prairie View A&M. | -- | 11-1 |
| 25 |  | Kevin Overton missed 10 of the 18 shots he attempted in Saturday's 88-60 loss to Purdue. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Queens. | -- | 8-4 |
| 26 |  | Zuby Ejiofor finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 85-59 win over Harvard. The Red Storm's next game is Wednesday at Georgetown. | -- | 8-4 |
