Gonzaga climbs to No. 3 seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are smack in the middle of a nine-day break before they resume play on Monday in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament.

However, just because the Zags aren't playing doesn't mean their standing among the top four seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament remains stagnant.

Movement between the last couple of No. 2 seeds all the way through the No. 5 seeds has been consistent over the past few weeks, as injuries and upsets have ravaged college basketball's elite programs.

All the recent movement has been good news for the Zags, who climbed back to being a projected No. 3 seed in Joe Lunardi's updated top 4 seed projections on Thursday.

Lunardi dropped Gonzaga to the No. 4 seed in the West Region when he revealed a full bracket on Tuesday, in response to the Zags falling on the road in Moraga to Saint Mary's in the WCC regular season finale.

However, Gonzaga is now back as the No. 3 seed in the West and No. 12 team overall, behind Purdue (9), Nebraska (10), and Iowa State (11).

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Erik Smith

Kansas fell to a No. 4 seed and number 15 overall after losing on the road at Arizona State on Tuesday - a team Gonzaga beat by 12 in Tempe back on Nov. 14. The Jayhawks have now lost three of their last four games, and four of their last six, and sit just 11-6 in the Big 12 and 21-9 overall.

And while Gonzaga is still behind the other three seeds as of now, they did gain serious ground on each of them - thanks to Nebraska losing at UCLA on Tuesday, Purdue losing at Ohio State on Sunday and only beating Northwestern by four on Wednesday, and Iowa State losing their second in a row on Monday in a road game against Arizona.

As if that weren't enough positivity for the Zags, the No. 4 seeds who are nipping at their heels haven't fared all that well lately either. Both Texas Tech (13) and Alabama (14) lost on Tuesday, to TCU at home and Georgia on the road, respectively, joining Kansas (15) and giving Gonzaga some separation at the moment.

Virginia (16) is the final No. 4 seed, and while they are coming off a home win over Wake Forest, they did get beaten by 26 points on the road at Duke on Saturday as well.

Lunardi has Duke, Michigan, Arizona, and UConn as the four No. 1 seeds, with Florida, Houston, Michigan State, and Illinois on the No. 2 line. While his Thursday update doesn't include a full bracket, it does show his updated bubble teams - which include Santa Clara among the last four teams in, alongside SMU, Indiana, and New Mexico. The WCC is tied with the Big East with three projected bids, ahead of the Mountain West (2) and behind the four power conferences in the SEC (10), Big Ten (10), Big 12 (8), and ACC (8).

Gonzaga's next matchup will be Monday, March 9, at 6:00 PM on ESPN+ in the WCC semifinals, and will be against the winner of Oregon State and one of No. 5 San Francisco, No. 8 Washington State, No. 9 Portland, or No. 12 Pepperdine.