Gonzaga cracks top 10 in KenPom’s 2024-25 preseason rankings

Bulldogs rank No. 9 on KenPom to start the new college basketball season

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

In the weeks leading up to Gonzaga’s highly-anticipated matchup against Baylor to tip-off the 2024-25 college basketball campaign, perhaps the most popular website for all advanced metrics and efficiency rankings related to the sport released its first projections for the new season.

KenPom.com ranked Mark Few and the Bulldogs at No. 9 in the country to start the season. The site, operated by Ken Pomeroy and trusted by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, had Houston atop the rankings at No. 1, followed by Duke, Auburn, Alabama and UConn in the top five. Three Big 12 schools — No. 6 Kansas, No. 7 Iowa State and No. 8 Arizona — were ahead of the Zags. Purdue rounded out the top 10.

Gonzaga was atop KenPom’s projected order of finish in the West Coast Conference standings, as the Bulldogs are the computer’s current favorite to take the league’s regular season crown. KenPom projects the Zags will finish 16-2 in conference play. Saint Mary’s was next at 14-4, then San Francisco and Santa Clara in a tie for third place at 11-7 each. WCC newcomer Washington State was projected to finish 10-8 in the school’s first year as an affiliate, which means five teams would be heading into the conference tournament with at least 10 victories in league play. That’s only happened twice since 1997 (2015 and 2017).

Nationally, the Gaels ranked No. 34 to start the season after finishing the 2023-24 campaign at No. 20. The Dons sat at No. 85 in the preseason rankings, while the Broncos snuck in the top 100 at No. 95. Three other WCC schools made the top 150: WSU (No. 111), Loyola Marymount (No. 131) and Oregon State (No. 144). As a whole the WCC ranked ninth out of 31 Division-I conferences in the country.

The Zags will enter the season No. 2 in adjusted offensive efficiency at 116.1, which is a rating that’s based on points scored per 100 possessions. Gonzaga has finished top-five nationally in that category in each of the past six seasons. Only Alabama (117.2) has a higher offensive efficiency rating heading into the 2024-25 campaign.

On the other end of the floor, the Zags are projected to be a slightly better unit defensively than last season when they finished 51st in the country in defensive efficiency. After adding some key pieces in the offseason, Gonzaga is No. 45 in that category heading into 2024-25. 

Based on KenPom’s preseason forecast, the Bulldogs will face at least five top-50 teams — with the potential to see two more at the Battle 4 Atlantis event — during nonconference play. After the season-opener against the Bears (No. 11), the Zags also have a road game at No. 48 San Diego State (Nov. 18), a juicy neutral site matchup against No. 42 Kentucky (Dec. 7) and another against back-to-back champion UConn (Dec. 14), which was ranked No. 5 to start its quest for a three-peat. Gonzaga ends nonconference action against No. 26 UCLA at the Intuit Dome on Dec. 28.

No. 39 Indiana could be the Bulldogs’ opponent on day two of the Bahamas tournament. Depending on how the bracket plays out, Gonzaga could be set up for a top-10 KenPom showdown with No. 8 Arizona for the Atlantis championship. 

The SEC, while boasting six teams in KenPom’s preseason top 25, slightly edged out the Big 12 as the No. 1 conference in the country heading into 2024-25. The WCC was ranked the fourth-best mid-major league.