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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga climbs back into No. 2 ranking in AP basketball poll

By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Gonzaga moved up to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 and more importantly in the NCAA’s NET rankings.

The Bulldogs maintained their grip on a No. 1 seed with a 2-0 week, capped by an 86-76 victory over Saint Mary’s in Saturday’s regular-season finale.

No. 1 Kansas, which outlasted Kansas State 62-58 on Saturday, received all 64 first-place votes from the AP media panel and have an 86-point cushion over the Zags (29-2).

Baylor, which was upset by TCU on Saturday, slipped from second to fourth. Dayton climbed into the third spot, 61 points behind Gonzaga, and San Diego State remained at No. 5.

Kentucky, Florida State, Seton Hall, Maryland and Louisville completed the top 10.

BYU moved up from 17th to 15th. The Gaels’ performance Saturday impressed a couple of voters as they picked up two points after having zero last week.

Nine top 25 teams dropped games to unranked opponents last week.

The Zags won’t play before the release of next Monday’s rankings. Gonzaga opens the WCC Tournament in the semifinals Monday night in Las Vegas. Kansas entertains TCU on Wednesday before visiting Texas Tech on Saturday. The Red Raiders fell from No. 22 into the receiving votes category.

Kansas also holds down the top spot in the NET rankings, one of the tools used to select and seed the NCAA Tournament field. The Zags moved up one spot to second after being third last Monday.

BYU is No. 9 and Saint Mary’s remained at No. 31. San Francisco is No. 97 and Pacific is No. 106.

Gonzaga remains entrenched as the top seed in the West Region opening the NCAA Tournament at the Spokane Arena, according to numerous bracket projections. ESPN.com and CBSsports.com have the Zags facing the winner of Prairie View A&M and Siena. NBCsports.com projects Radford as the West’s 16th seed.

CBSsports.com lists BYU as a five seed while most other brackets have the Cougars as a six. All three brackets put Saint Mary’s as an eight seed.

Gonzaga jumped up two spots to No. 2 in the USA Today poll. The Zags are a single point in front of No. 3 Dayton. Kansas received all 32 first-place votes. Baylor slipped from second to fourth.

BYU improved three spots to No. 15 while Saint Mary’s received 13 points.

Kansas is favored to win the national championship, according to BetOnLine’s latest odds. The Jayhawks are 6/1, followed by Gonzaga at 7/1. Dayton is 10/1 and Baylor 12/1.