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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga climbs preseason polls, listed among title contenders

Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins (with ball) and forward Killian Tillie, shown during practice at the Staples Center prior to the NCAA Tournament game against Florida State, are two of many reasons the Zags are projected in the preseason top 10. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins (with ball) and forward Killian Tillie, shown during practice at the Staples Center prior to the NCAA Tournament game against Florida State, are two of many reasons the Zags are projected in the preseason top 10. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

The college basketball season is five months away, but Gonzaga isn’t standing still in the polls or the opinion of Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Way-too-early polls and national championship odds have been updated after the deadline passed earlier this week for players to declare their NBA Draft intentions.

The Zags have climbed as high as No. 2 in NBCSports.com’s and FanRag Sports’ latest rankings. Gonzaga is ranked No. 3 by Yahoo! Sports, No. 4 by ESPN and No. 5 by CBSsports.com.

Those five outlets have Kansas at No. 1. ESPN, CBSsports.com and Yahoo! put Duke at No. 2.

Gonzaga was projected as high as No. 5 when the first preseason polls were released shortly after Villanova defeated Michigan for the national championship in early April.

Draft decisions prompted major changes in several polls. Villanova slipped from No. 2 to No. 10 in ESPN’s poll after Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman opted to remain in the draft. Nevada jumped up three spots to No. 6 with the return of the Martin brothers, Cody and Caleb.

Gonzaga and Kentucky have the fourth-best odds, at 10-1, of winning the national championship, according to www.Bovada.lv. The Zags were 20-1 on April 3. In the ensuing eight days, forwards Killian Tillie and Rui Hachimura announced they were returning to Gonzaga.

Bovada lists Duke at 11-2, Kansas 8-1 and Villanova 9-1.