Despite Saint Mary’s loss Gonzaga still near top of college basketball rankings

Posted by author February 25, 2025 Basketball

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After a disappointing 74-67 home loss to Saint Mary’s on Saturday night that gave the Gaels the outright league title (and vaulted them to No. 23 in The Associated Press Top 25), the Gonzaga men’s basketball team will be walking a fine line in the San Francisco Bay Area this week. They’ll be fighting for the No. 2 seed in the WCC tournament and to assure they’ll hear their name called on Selection Sunday for the 26th straight time, should they not win the WCC tournament.

Gonzaga (21-8, 12-4) visits Santa Clara (19-10, 11-5) on Tuesday night in its final true road game of the season. Saturday night’s finale against San Francisco (22-7, 12-4) will be played at the Chase Center, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

The Zags are tied for second place in the WCC with USF, with Santa Clara one game behind. The No. 2 seed, like regular-season champion Saint Mary’s, receives a bye into the tournament semifinals.

During the gloomy postgame news conference Saturday night, guard Ryan Nembhard, unprompted, tried to pivot to what’s ahead.

“We’ve still got a season left to play,” Nembhard said, leaning closer to the microphone. “There’s a lot to play for still, there’s a lot we can still accomplish this year. We’ll figure it out.”

NET Rankings

The Zags remained at No. 10 in the NET Rankings after their Quad 1 loss to the Gaels. Santa Clara moved up one spot to No. 52 ahead of Tuesday night’s Quad 1 game. USF dropped one rung to No. 61.

Gonzaga lost 103-99 to Santa Clara at the Kennel on Jan. 18, when the Broncos made 18 of 38 3-pointers. The Zags will be tested again from behind the arc after the Broncos set the WCC record with 23 3-pointers in a 109-79 win at Washington State on Saturday night.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses the NET Rankings as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for March Madness. Gonzaga is the only team in the nation to reach the Sweet Sixteen in the last nine seasons, but bubble talk is creeping into conversations about the Zags’ postseason fortunes.

ESPN BPI Rankings

Gonzaga moved up one spot to No. 10 in the College Basketball Power Index (BPI), which is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is.

KenPom Ratings

Gonzaga is No. 11 in the KenPom.com Ratings while Santa Clara is No. 55. KenPom is a predictive ranking system that uses advanced metrics to assess quality and efficiency.