The 2024-25 campaign hasn’t played out like many expected it would for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team.
One of the most consistent programs in the sport that’s led by a future hall-of-fame head coach who brought back most of his roster from a team coming off a Sweet 16 appearance entered the preseason with Final Four-level expectations from the outside. The Bulldogs checked in at No. 6 in the first Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season and boasted the sixth-best odds to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament according to BetMGM’s preseason odds.
But after coming out of the gate firing on all cylinders during the first two weeks of November, the Zags fell victim to close losses. All eight of Gonzaga’s losses this season have come by an average margin of 5.1 points, with three by way of overtime. And after being picked to win the West Coast Conference regular season title in the coaches’ preseason poll, the Bulldogs finished second in the league standings behind Saint Mary’s, which bested Gonzaga in both February matchups, for a second season in a row.
Heading into the West Coast Conference Tournament the Bulldogs’ title odds have gone up to +5000 on BetMGM, while reliable bracketologists and computer simulations have them hovering somewhere around the 8-9 seed range. That is not the reality many Gonzaga fans dreamed of coming true back in October, but with the calendar flipped to March, the unexpected nature of the NCAA Tournament and the chaos that ensures from it could play into the Bulldogs’ favor.
At least that’s what college basketball reporter Kevin Sweeney from Sports Illustrated appeared to lay out in his explanation for Gonzaga being one of the eight teams that could win the 2025 NCAA Tournament, along with Duke, Auburn, Florida, Houston, Alabama, Michigan State and Iowa State.
“The Bulldogs haven’t had the season they imagined in the preseason, but there’s plenty here that suggests they could still make a deep run,” Sweeney wrote.
“Gonzaga still has one of the best point guards in the country in Ryan Nembhard, an elite post presence in Graham Ike and a stable of older role players around them. If they can get a favorable draw (ideally staying out of the 8-vs.-9 game in the first round and dodging a strong No. 1 seed in the second round), don’t be surprised if this team really gets on a roll.”
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