Gonzaga #1 For First Time

John Stockton, Dan Dickau, Blake Stepp, Ronny Turiaf, Adam Morrison; all Gonzaga greats that never felt the pleasure of a No. 1 ranking. You would think after 14 NCAA tournaments in a row, someone would.

Now, finally, Gonzaga can bask in the glow of the coveted No. 1 ranking for the first time.

Here is the story from the AP:

Gonzaga, the small Northwest school that consistently delivers big NCAA tournament wins, is on top of The Associated Press’ Top 25 for the first time.

Riding the best record in Division I at 29-2, the Bulldogs took advantage of Indiana’s loss to Minnesota last week and switched places with the Hoosiers, advancing from No. 2 and moving comfortably into the No. 1 spot Monday.

The Spokane, Wash., school best known for Bing Crosby’s croons and John Stockton’s passes received 51 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel, 44 more than Indiana.

Gonzaga becomes the 57th school to be ranked No. 1 since the AP poll began in January 1949. The Bulldogs are the fifth school to hold the top slot this season.

Indiana was the preseason No. 1 and on top for nine other weeks. Duke, which was No. 1 for five weeks, and Louisville and Michigan, which were both on top for one week, were the other No. 1s this season.

Gonzaga reached No. 2 last week, at the time its highest ranking. After Indiana’s defeat, the Bulldogs capped their West Coast Conference regular season with wins over BYU and Portland to pave the way to the one-spot leap. Their first game as a No. 1 team will be in the semifinals of the WCC tournament Saturday night.

Duke, which followed a loss to Virginia with a win over Miami, stayed third with five first-place votes. Kansas and Georgetown both jumped two spots to fourth and fifth. The Hoyas received the other two first-place votes.

Miami, Michigan, Louisville, Kansas State and Michigan State rounded out the top 10.

Virginia Commonwealth and UCLA, both ranked earlier in the season, returned to the poll at 21st and 23rd, respectively. They replaced Butler and Louisiana Tech. Butler fell out from 20th after a 32-point loss to VCU. Louisiana Tech dropped out after one week at No. 25 despite winning its two games last week by an average of 25 points.

1    Gonzaga (51)     29-2    1,607

2    Indiana (7)     25-4    1,517

3    Duke (5)     25-4    1,471

4    Kansas    25-4    1,433

5    Georgetown (2)     23-4    1,384

6    Miami (FL)    23-5    1,245

7    Michigan    24-5    1,240

8    Louisville    24-5    1,217

9    Kansas State    24-5    1,040

10    Michigan State    22-7    1,006

11    Florida    23-5    993

12    New Mexico    25-4    950

13    Oklahoma State    22-6    833

14    Ohio State    21-7    763

15    Marquette    21-7    687

16    Saint Louis    23-5    675

17    Syracuse    22-7    589

18    Arizona    23-6    394

19    Oregon    23-6    332

20    Pittsburgh    23-7    326

21    Virginia Commonwealth    23-6    277

22    Wisconsin    20-9    217

23    UCLA    22-7    196

24    Notre Dame    22-7    164

25    Memphis    25-4    149

 

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