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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga remains No. 1, Baylor back at No. 2 in AP Top 25 poll

Gonzaga's Joel Ayayi is called for a foul as he defends a shot by Brigham Young forward Gideon George in a Jan. 7 game. (By Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

After a one-week hiatus, it’s back to Gonzaga and Baylor in the top two spots of the AP college basketball poll.

That’s the way it was for the first 14 weeks of the season. The Bears slipped out of the second spot following a loss to Kansas, but they regained their form last week with wins over then-No. 6 West Virginia, No. 17 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Texas Tech.

Baylor replaced Michigan, which dropped games to Illinois and Michigan State and slipped to fourth. Illinois moved up one spot to third.

Gonzaga (24-0) was idle last week, but still strengthened its hold on No. 1 with 61 of 63 first-place votes and a 63-point edge over Baylor, which received two first-place votes.

Gonzaga received all 31 first-place votes in the USA Today poll, the first time the Zags have been a unanimous No. 1 in one of the two major polls. Gonzaga has been No. 1 in the coaches poll since Week 3.

The Zags are attempting to become the first AP No. 1 team to go wire-to-wire since Kentucky in 2015. The Wildcats were No. 1 for 18 weeks – there was no post-NCAA Tournament AP poll – and had a 31-0 record in the final poll. They finished 38-1 after losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

Iowa stayed at No. 5, followed by Alabama, Houston, Arkansas, Ohio State and West Virginia.

The Zags defeated No. 5 Iowa, No. 10 West Virginia, No. 11 Kansas and No. 16 Virginia. They have a pair of victories over BYU, which remained in the first spot outside the Top 25.

Gonzaga remains entrenched as the top overall seed and No. 1 in the NET rankings. The Zags are projected to play the North Carolina A&T/Hartford winner in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by CBS Sports. ESPN has Gonzaga facing the North Carolina A&T/Prairie View winner.

CBS Sports projects Iowa and West Virginia as two seeds, Kansas as a four and Virginia as a five. According to ESPN, Iowa is a two seed, West Virginia a three and Kansas and Virginia are on the four line.

BYU is projected as a seven seed by ESPN and an eight by CBS Sports. Both have Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan and Illinois as No. 1 seeds.

The top 10 in the NET rankings: Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan, Illinois, Houston, Iowa, Alabama, Colgate, Ohio State and Loyola Chicago. BYU is No. 19.