Where Gonzaga stands in NCAA Tournament projections ahead of Selection Sunday

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs battled an unprecedented amount of adversity this season, yet managed to come out of the fray with a sparkling 30-3 overall record ahead of Selection Sunday.

The Zags went 13-2 down the stretch and won the WCC Tournament despite losing star forward Braden Huff to a left knee injury after 18 games played. Gonzaga was also without WCC Player of the Year Graham Ike for three of those games, and versatile wing Jalen Warley for the final two games of the regular season.

Warley returned for the WCC Tournament, with coach Few confirming the 6'7 senior is still not 100% but that recent treatment for his quad contusion "finally worked", allowing him to play 39 minutes across both games in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Huff remains a possibility to return for the big dance, with Few indicating the redshirt junior is "jogging around and shooting" after Tuesday's win over Santa Clara.

Gonzaga's 30-win season has most prognosticators putting them as a No. 3 seed ahead of Selection Sunday, although that is far from a guarantee with plenty of action still to come among the power conference programs.

Below is a round-up of the latest bracketology projections from major media sources as of Thursday, March 12:

Joe Lunardi, ESPN: 3 Seed

Lunardi has been fairly consistent in projecting Gonzaga as a No. 3 seed, although he briefly dropped them to a No. 4 following the loss to Saint Mary's.

Now he has them back on the 3-line in the West Region, squaring off against the projected automatic qualifier in the Big West, UC-Irvine. Irvine and Hawaii are the top two seeds in the Big West Tournament, and they will not play until Friday in a format similar to the WCC.

Lunardi projected a No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup between Wisconsin and Texas, which could pit Gonzaga against one of the highest scoring teams in the country in the Badgers, or against Zag rival and former Arizona head coach Sean Miller.

Lunardi also has Saint Mary's (7 seed) and Santa Clara (10 seed) both safely in the field, making the three-bid WCC a potential reality in Gonzaga's final year in the conference.

FOX Sports, Mike DeCourcy: 3 Seed

DeCourcy also has Gonzaga as a No. 3 seed, and also squaring off against No. 14 seed UC Irvine out of the Big West. He has BYU as the No. 6 seed, which could pit the Zags not only against a former conference rival, but the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft in AJ Dybantsa. Jalen Warley - who played 39 minutes in the WCC Tournament while recovering from a quad contusion - would be critical for the Zags to keep the 6'9 wing in check.

DeCourcy also has Saint Mary's as a No. 7 seed but has Santa Clara as a No. 11.

Field of 68: 3 Seed

The folks at the Field of 68 are the third media entity to slot Gonzaga in as a No. 3 seed, and they are consistent in also matching them up against the Anteaters of UC-Irvine.

F68 also has Wisconsin as the potential No. 6 seed, with Miami OH the No. 11. Miami OH started the year 31-0 but lost on Thursday in the MAC quarterfinals to UMass, making them an interesting at-large candidate with poor metrics but a nearly spotless winning record. It's hard to imagine the committee leaving out a one-loss team - especially with how weak the bubble is - but with no quad 1 or quad 2 games on the resume, they are untested, to say the least.

Like Lunardi, Field of 68 also projects Saint Mary's and Santa Clara as seven and 10 seeds, respectively.

Basket Under Review: 3 Seed

Another bracket, another three seed, and another matchup with UC-Irvine for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. When we said there was a consensus opinion forming around coach Few's team, we weren't kidding.

Lukas Harkins of Basket Under Review has BYU and NC State as the No. 6 vs. No. 11 matchup. NC State lost to Virginia in the ACC Tournament on Thursday, which does make an 11-seed feel distinctly possible for Will Wade's club.

Harkins, like ESPN and Field of 68, slots Saint Mary's as a seven seed and Santa Clara as a ten seed on the bracket.

CBS: 4-Seed

They aren't all the same! CBS is the lone dissenter among the selected brackets, slotting Gonzaga as a No. 4 seed in the West Region and pitting them against Utah Valley, the projected automatic qualifier from the WAC. The Wolverines will play on Friday against the winner of Thursday's matchup between UT Arlington and Southern Utah, who Gonzaga beat by 72 points back in November.

North Carolina and McNeese are the projected 5 vs 12 matchup, setting up a potential rematch of the 2017 national championship between the Zags and Tar Heels.

CBS isn't only lower on Gonzaga, but all three WCC teams as well. They have Saint Mary's down at a No. 9 seed - two spots lower than almost every other major publication - and have Santa Clara still in the play-in game as an 11 seed.

Zag fans will be watching CBS to see if they are the truth tellers of this group, as that is where the Selection Sunday show will be broadcast on March 15, starting at 3:00 PM PT.