NCAA basketball rankings: Gonzaga, Villanova, Virginia headline Top 25

1. Gonzaga

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the best team in college basketball, at least before games have been played. Mark Few is once again looking for Gonzaga’s first championship. The Bulldogs made the NCAA Tournament every year since 1998, and three times as a No. 1 seed. Still, they are looking for that elusive title.

This season could be their best shot yet. Filip Petrusev needs to return for them to be the favorites, but since he’s in the NBA Draft process without hiring an agent, expect the West Coast Conference player of the year to return. The Serbian native scored 17.5 points per game and got close to eight rebounds per game. That kind of production will be hard to lose, and it sounds like he’s worried about next season’s uncertainty, but the hope is he’ll be back.

They welcome in five-star guard Jalen Suggs as a freshman. He becomes the highest-rated recruit to ever sign on with the Zags, ranking No. 5 overall on ESPN’s list.  The Minnesota point guard is a player with a championship-winning mentality. He’s won three straight state titles, and the fourth was canceled due to a pandemic. Adding him to a deep roster will make the Zags extremely potent.

Five other players averaged ten points per game last season, with three of them likely leaving the program. Still, adding Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi to Petrusev and Suggs will make the Bulldogs the team to beat in 2020-21.

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