Bracketology 2022: Duke, Gonzaga, UCLA among early big winners

Gonzaga

Expectations are often high at the beginning of the season, relative to what exactly is the floor or ceiling for a program. Last season, expectations were sky high for Gonzaga and they almost delivered, marching all the way to the national title game with an unblemished mark before losing to a very talented Baylor squad for the championship. This season, the expectations are just as high, if not higher, and so far the Bulldogs are passing the test.

The season began without much drama, winning by 34 points over Dixie State in an expected result, but a much anticipated debut for Chet Holmgren and others on this talented lineup. The first real test of Gonzaga’s challenging nonconference schedule came Saturday night as they picked up a 12-point win over #5 Texas. They led the Longhorns by 20 at halftime and proved to the nation that Gonzaga is more than deserving of that #1 ranking.

Gonzaga is going to be a 1-seed yet again, and it wouldn’t surprise a lot of people to see them clinging to that unbeaten mark deep into the season once more. As you may have been able to guess from this article, the road will be difficult, as Gonzaga plays a challenging slate in the nonconference, with UCLA, Duke, and Alabama the biggest highlights. For now, this is clearly the best team in college basketball, and this win over Texas only helped cement their status.

We’ve taken a look at five bracketology winners from this past week, though these certainly aren’t the only teams that took a nice step forward in the opening week of the season. Who do you think will stand out next week?