Where is Gonzaga in latest NCAA Tournament bracketology?

The Bulldogs are 2-5 in Quadrant 1 games following back-to-back losses to Oregon State and Santa Clara

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Uninspiring performances on the defensive end of the floor cost the Gonzaga men’s basketball team a pair of opportunities to add to its NCAA Tournament resume last week.

Lack of effort, toughness and execution plagued the Bulldogs (14-6, 5-2 WCC) throughout last Saturday’s 103-99 defeat to Santa Clara. 

A similar script played out just two days earlier in Corvallis, Oregon, where the Zags allowed Oregon State to knock down 58.5% of their attempts from the field in a 97-89 overtime final from Gill Coliseum. 

"We know we got to be better [on] defense,” Gonzaga redshirt sophomore Braden Huff said after the Santa Clara game. “We're Gonzaga, we don't lose two in a row in conference or in general. So we know we got to be better defensively. We got to be more physical down low. We got to know our assignments, really buy into the scouting reports and just take pride in that.”

A pair of victories over the Beavers and Broncos would’ve helped position the Bulldogs for a high seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. But now they find themselves back at the drawing board with ground to make up.

"That's a shame that we had them playing really good basketball there early, and we just didn't finish off a couple of games," Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said of his team's latest struggles. “They were playing with anybody in the country.”

Following those consecutive losses in WCC play, bracketologists have started to drop the Zags down a few seed lines in their respective forecasts. 

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Gonzaga to the 7-seed line in the Midwest Region, the same one as Saint Mary’s was projected to fall in as a No. 9 seed. Notably, the Gaels were picked to earn the WCC’s automatic bid in the latest 68-team field from Lunardi, who less than two weeks ago had the Bulldogs on the 5-seed line and on track to play their first round game at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. A 7-seed in the Midwest Region would likely send them to Wichita, Kansas, for the first weekend.

Similarly, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm had the Zags heading to Wichita, Kansas, for the first round in his latest projection of the 68-team field. Gonzaga was a No. 9 seed in Palm’s forecast, as was Saint Mary’s in the South Region.

The Bulldogs dropped to No. 19 in the NET Rankings, one of the key evaluation tools the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses to determine which teams go dancing. Gonzaga is 2-5 in Quadrant 1 games and 2-1 in Quadrant 2 games.

Though a short trip across the state for the first round of March Madness might seem unlikely for the Bulldogs, there’s still time to make up for some of the ground lost over the last week. Currently, there are four Quad 1 games and a pair of Quad 2 contests left on the regular season schedule, not including the potential matchups at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

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