Despite injuries, Gonzaga holds steady in Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology projection

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs rolled to a pair of 21-point road victories over Washington State and Seattle last week, despite the absence of star forward Braden Huff.

Huff will be out until at least mid-February with a left knee injury and could miss the remainder of the regular season. Gonzaga got past Washington State thanks to a strong game from Graham Ike, but the 6'9 big man tweaked his ankle late in that contest and was held out of Saturday's bout with the Redhawks, a game Gonzaga won thanks to excellent defense and a strong shooting night from backup point guard Mario Saint-Supery.

Gonzaga's two leading scorers being on the shelf is certainly not ideal, but it didn't change the trajectory for this team in terms of the NCAA Tournament - at least not according to ESPN's resident bracketologist Joe Lunardi.

Lunardi kept Gonzaga as the No. 2 seed in the West region in his updated projections on Tuesday, squaring them off against No. 15 seed Long Island, the projected automatic qualifier out of the NEC.

The Sharks are 11-8 overall but off to a strong 5-1 start in conference play. They played four different power conference teams as part of their non-conference slate, losing to Notre Dame by 22, Illinois by 40, Mississippi State by four, and Georgia by 15.

Gonzaga's second-round matchup in Lunardi's latest projection would be against the winner between No. 7 seed Iowa and No. 10 seed Seton Hall. Iowa is 13-5 overall but just 3-4 in Big Ten play, losing three in a row to Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue before picking up a 17-point road win over Indiana on Saturday. Meanwhile, Seton Hall is 14-4 on the year and 4-3 in the Big East, but is currently saddled with a two-game losing streak, both at home to UConn and Butler, respectively.

Arizona remains the No. 1 overall seed, and the potential for an Elite Eight matchup between longtime friends and co-workers Mark Few and Tommy Lloyd remains, should these two teams get through their respective pods.

Jan 10, 2026; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Wildcats draw a projected second-round matchup against either No. 8 Utah State or No. 9 Saint Mary's, who dropped a seed line after a loss to Santa Clara last week ended coach Randy Bennett's undefeated start to WCC play.

That result also put Santa Clara back on the bubble as one of Lunardi's first four out, alongside Virginia Tech, Baylor, and UCLA.

The Zags have faced just two teams this season who are currently in Lunardi's field of 68 in Michigan (1 seed) and Alabama (5 seed), while the aforementioned Gaels (9 seed) are the lone tournament team still on GU's calendar.

Next up for Gonzaga is a home matchup with Pepperdine, set for Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+.

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