The Zags posted a huge “upset” win over No. 13/16 St. Mary’s last Thursday. Saturday they followed with a stellar performance against a tough LMU team. Those two games landed them in this week’s AP and USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll at the No. 24 spot.

While it is great for GU to be back in the Top 25, it is interesting to see how the polls unfold. When GU lost to SMC, in mid-January, they dropped out of the ranks. St. Mary’s sits at No. 16/21 in the polls now and their only real quality win of the season is over Gonzaga—a month ago. The Gaels do have two victories over BYU, but the Cougars’ high status ended with a Sweet Sixteen loss to Florida last March. Based on their season, St. Mary’s just isn’t deserving of that high of a ranking, especially after the Zags took it to them last week.

Also, in the AP poll, Notre Dame is ranked ahead of GU at No. 23. It is true that the Irish have posted some good wins, and are in arguably the toughest basketball conference in the nation, but when ND came to Spokane in November, GU destroyed them. It was a 20 point victory for the Bulldogs, so there should be no reason to have the Fighting Irish ahead of the Zags in the ranks.

There are seven NCAA Division I schools that have both their men’s and women’s teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Gonzaga is one of them.

After losing to St. Mary’s on January 12^th, the men dropped out of the rankings, but have finally returned this week at No. 24. The Zags have rallied together four straight wins to rank among the elite teams in the nation.

The women continue to climb the polls as they remain tied with BYU at the top of the WCC and earned a spot at No. 20 in the AP standings. BYU sits at 22 in the polls. The two teams face off on February 9^th in Provo for the first time this season to potentially determine the conference leader.

Both the men’s and women’s teams have several similarities in their success this season. Each team has a 17-3 record for the season and one conference loss to St. Mary’s. The talent level on both teams is very broad and there isn’t one superstar that really controls the game like both programs have had in the past.

However, the height and depth in the post position, along with very gifted guards, has enabled both teams to grab victories on the court.

Kayla Standish, Kelly Bowen, and Katelan Redmon are the Big Three for the ladies, as they are all over six feet tall. Freshman Sunny Greinacher stands atop all of them at 6’4” and brings great height off the bench.

The guys have a similar situation, with Elias Harris, Rob Sacre, and Sam Dower bringing size and experience to the post. Ryan Spangler is the freshman coming off the bench and producing good minutes.

The men's basketball team

The Lady Zags

At guard for the women, Haiden Palmer, Taelor Karr, and Jazmine Redmon have contributed in various roles with much success. Two first year Zags (Palmer and Karr both transferred) and a sophomore make up the trio who rotate constantly throughout the game. Both Karr and Palmer are shooting very well from the perimeter.

On the men’s side, Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell Jr., and David Stockton share the most minutes on the court for the one and two positions. Pangos and Bell are first year players at GU and Stockton is a sophomore. Bell Jr. and Pangos are also incredible three point shooters.

It is interesting to see the parallels between the two squads. They are both very talented teams with a diverse array of players in various positions. Look out for both the men and women to make a run come March.

After crawling back into the elite bunch of teams that mark the nation’s best collegiate basketball squads over the past few weeks, Gonzaga dropped out of both the ESPN/USA Today and AP Polls Monday morning. The Zags spent two weeks back in the rankings as the No. 23 & No. 21 seeded team.

Zags fell from the AP and ESPN/USA Today Polls this week

Yet, a 20 plus point loss to conference rival St. Mary’s on Thursday resulted in the Gaels surging into the Top 25 and GU sliding out of the ranks. When a mid-major program suffers a loss, it is typically a challenge for them to remain a highly regarded team—especially during league play when their opponents aren’t always as tough.

If it had been a close game with SMC on Thursday, GU may have had a chance at staying in the top tier of teams; however, the lop-sided loss was enough to persuade voters to kick the Zags out of the rankings and nominated the Gaels for a seeded position.

Hopefully the Bulldogs can run the table against the rest of the WCC and capture a 12^th straight regular season title, while earning the right to return to the Top 25.

After three weeks of being unranked, Gonzaga has resurfaced into the polls as a ranked team. The AP results that came out on Monday declared GU the No. 25 team.

The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll seeded the Zags just outside of the rankings as the 26^th highest team, but after the Bulldogs’ big win over Xavier Saturday, an 11-2 record—including six straight wins—Gonzaga deserved to move up into the top 25 again.

Here is a link to the polls and their weekly votes on espn.go.com: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/year/2012/week/9/seasontype/2