NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Virginia falls, Marquette and Gonzaga rise in top 25 power rankings

10. Gonzaga Bulldogs – 25-5 (14-2 WCC)

Even since the Bulldogs lost to Saint Mary’s in overtime, they’ve been on a scoring tear, averaging nearly 100 points in the next five games. One of those was this week against San Diego at home, winning 97-72. Drew Timme led the way with 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Julian Strawther had 17 on 6/10 shooting. Forward Ben Gregg chipped in with 18 points off the bench.

But the game that mattered was at home against Saint Mary’s, which ESPN’s College Gameday was at. If the Bulldogs didn’t win the game, they would’ve not only lost the regular-season title, they likely could’ve fallen out of the protected seed range in the West Region for the NCAA Tournament.

Yet Gonzaga made sure that didn’t happen, leading by 13 points at halftime and having a commanding lead throughout. But they did allow the Gaels to come back to make it close in the second half, though the Bulldogs did pull out the 77-68 win. Timme had 19 points, while Anton Watson had 17 points and eight rebounds.

I mentioned the close comeback by the Gaels because that likely prevented their NET ranking from falling below Gonzaga’s, which was the tiebreaker to determine the seeding for the WCC Tournament. The Bulldogs will be the 2 seed, on the same side as Santa Clara and San Francisco. But first, they have Chicago State at home for Senior Night, with Timme among those being honored.