2025 NCAA Tournament Bracketology: Gonzaga clings to top seed in West Region

A loss to West Virginia couldn't knock the Bulldogs off the 1-seed line in the latest ESPN Bracketology

Gonzaga Bulldogs senior guard Nolan Hickman. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Saturday's highly-anticipated top 10 showdown with No. 4 Kentucky might not be the only trip No. 7 Gonzaga makes to Climate Pledge Arena this season.

That's because the Bulldogs (7-1) have put themselves on track early for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament through the first month of the college basketball season. That certainly wasn't the case a year ago, though Spokane hasn't had to worry about much during nonconference play. Outside of one blemish to West Virginia in an overtime loss, the Zags have taken care of business and built a solid postseason foundation with victories over Baylor, Arizona State, San Diego State and Indiana — four teams that could make the 68-team field this March according to the latest ESPN Bracketology update from Joe Lunardi.

After coming in at No. 3 in the first NET Rankings of the season, the Zags remained on the 1-seed line in Lunardi's updated forecast of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, which included seven new teams that weren't featured in the last version. Three of those newbies have appeared on Gonzaga's nonleague schedule already: West Virginia (11 seed, Last Four In), San Diego State (9 seed) and Arizona State (11 seed). The road win over the Aztecs has aged well after they beat Houston (4 seed) in overtime on Saturday, just days after beating Creighton (First Four Out), while the Sun Devils earned victories over Grand Canyon (12 seed), New Mexico (Next Four Out) and Saint Mary's (10 seed) since their defeat in Spokane last month.

Auburn has claimed Lunardi's top overall seed following its Maui Invitational championship last week. Kansas and Tennessee remain on the 1-seed line, while Duke, Marquette, Kentucky and Iowa State occupied the 2-seed lines.

The Zags haven't budged from their position in Lunardi's NCAA Tournament forecast for the last few weeks, even despite their 8-point loss to the Mountaineers in the Battle 4 Atlantis opener. Mark Few and company bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 16-point win over Indiana (11 seed) before handling Davidson, 90-65, to close out the three-day event from the Bahamas. Ben Gregg led the way with a career-high 24 points off the bench while Ryan Nembhard set a new personal best with 14 assists in the victory over the Wildcats.

The top three finishers from the Battle 4 Atlantis — Oklahoma, Louisville and West Virginia — entered the at-large bid conversation after pulling off upsets over the three ranked teams that were in the field. Meanwhile, four losses in its last five games has dropped Arizona all the way to the "First Four Out" group.

From sandy beaches to a wet metropolis, the Bulldogs are set to face an entirely different challenge when they meet Kentucky in Seattle. The new-look Wildcats under Mark Pope boast the highest-scoring offense in the country at 96.7 points per game, with six players putting up double-digit scoring averages. Led by fifth-year senior Amari Williams (10.0 rebounds per game), Kentucky is also among the five best rebounding teams at 45.0 boards per game.

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

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• Gonzaga's Ismaila Diagne suffers sprained MCL

• What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after win vs. Indiana in Battle 4 Atlantis

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