Gonzaga projected No. 2 seed in 2025 NCAA Tournament bracketology

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi forecasts a three-bid West Coast Conference in 2025

March 12, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (13) shoots the ball over Saint Mary's center Mitchell Saxen / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Gonzaga’s rising tide continues to lift the rest of the boats in the West Coast Conference. At least that’s the early expectation for the 2024-25 college basketball season.

In ESPN’s first bracketology of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Joe Lunardi has three teams from the WCC qualifying for the 68-team field: the Bulldogs (2-seed), Saint Mary’s (4-seed) and San Francisco (11-seed, last four in team). No other mid-major conference is projected to have more than two bids, including the mighty Mountain West Conference, which sent a league-record six teams to last season’s tournament. If that were the case, it would be the fourth time the WCC received three NCAA Tournament bids since 1997 and the second such instance in the last four years.

The Zags and Gaels being projected as top-16 seeds is in accordance with most of the way-too-early top 25 polls and rankings out there. Mark Few is expected to return six of his top seven scorers while adding Steele Venters and Michael Ajayi to a team fresh off another Sweet 16 appearance. Randy Bennett is also expecting a lot of familiar faces back next fall, namely his All-WCC backcourt in Aidan Mahaney and Augustas Marciulionis, in addition to reigning WCC Defensive Player of the Year in Mitchell Saxen.

Lunardi projecting the Dons, who have been to the NCAA Tournament once since 2000, as one of the last four teams to make the 2025 field is likely based on the assumption that Jonathan Mogbo, Marcus Williams and Malik Thomas will all return to the Hilltop for their senior seasons. Chris Gerlufsen will likely have to replace some of his depth from last season’s 23-11 squad, but potentially returning the team’s top five scorers is a good recipe for success in the WCC. A few pieces in the transfer portal could take San Francisco to the next level.

The SEC and Big Ten lead the way with nine teams in Luanrdi’s field, followed by the Big 12 (eight) and the ACC (seven). The top four seeds feature Duke, Houston, Kansas and Alabama. The reigning two-time national champion UConn and last season’s runner-up in Purdue fall on the 3-seed line.

The Zags will face the Huskies on Dec. 14 in Madison Square Garden. The Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas includes four teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament: Arizona, Creighton, Indiana and Gonzaga. Kentucky and San Diego State are also locked into the 2024-25 nonconference schedule, though neither is featured in Lunardi’s latest bracketology.