NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga, Houston lead in updated way-too-early top 25 ranking

1. Gonzaga

We won’t waste too much time talking about this, so we’ll just come out and say that Gonzaga has had some impressively talented teams in recent years. They’ve played in a pair of national title games and remain one of the best programs in the nation. It doesn’t matter that the Bulldogs play in the WCC, this team and program are for real. What’s also for real is that Gonzaga just had one of the best offseason weeks that a team could possibly have.

Though Chet Holmgren and Andrew Nembhard are indeed both gone, Gonzaga received excellent news this week with the announced returns of Drew Timme, Julian Strawther, and Rasir Bolton. All three will play important roles in the starting lineup, and all three could have left for the NBA Draft but instead return to Spokane. Additionally, the Bulldogs landed Chattanooga transfer Malachi Smith, the former SoCon Player of the Year and a very talented ball-handler and scorer. Throw in the fact that role players like Hunter Sallis and Nolan Hickman will have bigger roles and growth and this is a deep and impressive Gonzaga roster.

Once again, Gonzaga is right there, in perfect position to compete for a national championship and the heavy favorites in the WCC. Timme will almost certainly be the WCC Player of the Year and the rest of this roster is just a complement of depth and talent. Expect the Bulldogs to have one of the nation’s most efficient offenses yet again. Will this be the year Mark Few finally cuts down those nets in April?

At long last, we’ve finished our look into the state of these top 25 teams; which of these do you think is ranked too high or too low at this point in the offseason?