Do Gonzaga’s preseason rankings matter? “It’s about how they gel and come together”

Opening night of the 2024-25 college basketball season is less than nine weeks away, which means the first Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll is also around the corner.

Based on national media outlets’ “way too early” power rankings, the Gonzaga Bulldogs could be featured among the top 10 teams in the first AP poll of the season. If so, it would be the Zag’s sixth time in the preseason top 10 since the 2015-16 campaign.

Gonzaga was ranked No. 2 in the 2022-23 preseason poll, though it dropped to No. 18 by the fifth week of the season after its third loss of the season to Baylor on a neutral court. Drew Timme and company still made it to the Elite Eight in his senior year of college.

Behind a pair of future NBA talents, the 2020-21 and 2021-22 teams managed to start and finish the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll. Before Jalen Suggs and Chet Holmgren, however, Gonzaga had never been featured No. 1 in the AP preseason poll. However, as history would show, poll rankings in August and September haven’t meant much to Mark Few’s program over the years.

Outside expectations weren’t high for the 2016-17 season, as the Zags were ranked No. 14 in the preseason poll. It wasn’t until a 22-0 start to the season that voters decided to rank Gonzaga No. 1, which it held until a home loss to BYU on senior night dropped its ranking to No. 4 the following week. .

However, the Bulldogs advanced to the program’s first Final Four game and national championship.

Instead, the previous year’s Zags entered the 2015-16 season ranked No. 9 in the first poll before Pzremek Karnowski suffered a back injury and was forced to miss the majority of what would have been his final year. Without the Polish hammer, Gonzaga dropped out of the AP Top 25 by mid-December.

Seeded or not, the Bulldogs still went to the Sweet 16 with Domantas Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer leading the way.

Last season, Gonzaga fell out of the top 25 after a loss to Santa Clara in January. It wasn’t long before national pundits began picking the Bulldogs out of 68 teams projected for the NCAA Tournament. A 17-8 record for a team led by Few seemed like the end of the world to some fans and analysts.

Once again, the midseason rankings didn’t matter for Gonzaga. A few key wins throughout the regular season catapulted the Zags back to the Sweet 16 for their ninth straight postseason. By the end of the season, they were ranked 15th in the poll.

Most of the rotation on the 2023-24 team returned to Spokane for another deep postseason run, prompting many national media outlets to place the Zags at the top of their “much too early” rankings. But does it matter?

“How in God’s name can we sit at this point and say any team in America is going to be the number one, number two or number three team?” countered Gonzaga play-by-play commentator Greg Heister. “Especially at Gonzaga, it’s all about chemistry and building a team. We know they’re very talented, but, you know, I know – most of Gonzaga nation knows – it’s about how they mesh and how they come together.”

Heister shared his thoughts on the preseason rankings and previewed Gonzaga’s 2024-25 season with former All-American Dan Dickau in a new episode of Gonzaga Nation.

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE BELOW:

Produced by Thomas Gallagher.

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