Gonzaga ranks No. 23 in last Associated Press Top 25 poll of 2024-25

The Bulldogs moved up one spot from where they ranked at the start of the NCAA Tournament

Gonzaga and Saint Mary's were ranked in the final AP poll of the 2024-25 college basketball season. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

As the Associated Press released its final college basketball poll of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see the Gonzaga Bulldogs featured among the top 25 teams in the sport at the end of the year.

It's been nearly a decade, in fact, since the Zags weren't ranked in the final media poll. From the 2015-16 campaign on, they've finished inside the top 10 of the AP poll all but twice during that span, including back-to-back No. 1 finishes to cap off 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Prognosticators and fans had reason to assume history would continue to repeat itself for Gonzaga as it headed into November ranked No. 6 in the media's preseason poll. With a roster teeming of experience, continuity and depth, the Bulldogs rattled off a few big-time wins in nonleague play, climbing as high as No. 3 in the Week 4 edition of the poll that released Nov. 25. Some of the more well-know predictive metrics websites had the Zags near the top of their respective rankings as well heading into December — and then things started to get bumpy for Mark Few and company, and it looked like perhaps their streak of AP poll finishes was put into jeopardy.

An overtime loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in Seattle, followed by two more narrow defeats to the UConn Huskies and the UCLA Bruins, knocked Gonzaga down a few pegs in the polls heading into West Coast Conference play. The Bulldogs torpedoed their way out of the AP poll entirely after back-to-back letdowns against the Oregon State Beavers and Santa Clara Broncos, compounded by the nonconference losses just enough to squeeze Gonzaga out of the polls by mid-January.

The Zags got close to cracking the Top 25 over the eight weeks that followed, and it was evident by the time they re-entered the poll at No. 24 heading into the NCAA Tournament that they were playing their best brand of basketball at the right time. After clinching the West Coast Conference tournament championship over the Saint Mary's Gaels, the Bulldogs went into March Madness ranked top-10 in the NET rankings while having won 11 of their past 13 games.

Even though Gonzaga couldn't keep its Sweet 16 streak alive after it fell 81-76 to the Houston Cougars in the second round, the unfortunate reality of being on the 8-seed line is essentially unavoidable, even for a team that was as hot as the Zags were going into the tournament. Over their final 15 games of the season, the Bulldogs were one of two teams in the country to rank in the top 20 for both effective field goal percentage (56.7%, No. 19) and effective field goal percentage allowed on defense (45.5%, No. 9) during that span. The only other team that was that efficient on both ends of the floor to end the season was the Duke Blue Devils.

As another college basketball season wraps up, the AP revealed its final poll following Monday night's national championship game, with Gonzaga checking in at No. 23. Here's a look at the rest of the poll.

AP Top 25 poll (Final):

1. Florida (35-4, 14-4 SEC)
2. Houston (35-4, 19-1 Big 12)
3. Duke (35-4, 19-1 ACC)
4. Auburn (32-6, 15-3 SEC)
5. Tennessee (30-8, 12-6 SEC)
6. Alabama (28-9, 13-5 SEC)
7. Michigan State (30-7, 17-3 Big Ten)
8. Texas Tech (28-9, 15-5 Big 12)
9. Maryland (27-9, 14-6 Big Ten)
10. Michigan (27-10, 14-6 Big Ten)
11. St. John's (31-5, 18-2 Big East)
12. Kentucky (24-12, 10-8 SEC)
13. BYU (26-10, 14-6 Big 12)
14. Purdue (24-12, 13-7 Big Ten)
15. Arizona (24-13, 14-6 Big 12)
16. Wisconsin (27-10, 13-7 Big Ten)
17. Iowa State (25-10, 13-7 Big 12)
18. Ole Miss (24-12, 10-8 SEC)
19. Texas A&M (23-11, 11-7 SEC)
20. Arkansas (22-14, 8-10 SEC)
21. Louisville (27-8, 18-2 ACC)
22. Clemson (27-7, 18-2 ACC)
23. Gonzaga (26-9, 14-4 WCC)
24. Saint Mary's (29-6, 17-1 WCC)
25. Memphis (29-6, 16-2 AAC)

Others receiving votes:

Drake 122, Oregon 105, Illinois 80, UConn 76, Creighton 60, Colorado St. 49, UCLA 36, McNeese St. 17, Missouri 16, New Mexico 10, UC San Diego 6, Kansas 5, Marquette 2.

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