This week’s AP and
USA Today Polls find Gonzaga University
as the number 6 ranked team in the country.
Kenpom has the Zags at #9. The BPI
ratings have Gonzaga at #9 while the RPI has the Zags at 12. Not great numbers, but Gonzaga has only two
losses, to Illinois and at Butler. The Zags
are going to likely end up in the discussion to be a #1 seed if they can win
out in the West Coast Conference.
If Gonzaga keeps winning and winds up as a 1 seed it will follow
some exceptional “midmajor” teams that achieved this feat. Here is a list of schools that reached a
number 1 seed as a midmajor since the committee began seeding teams in 1979.
Year Team Seed League Result
1979
Indiana State 1
Midwest Missouri Valley Lost in NCAA Final
1980
DePaul 1
West Independent Lost in 2nd
Round
1981
DePaul 1
Mideast Independent Lost in 2nd
Round
1982
DePaul 1 Midwest Independent Lost in 2nd
Round
1984
DePaul 1 Midwest Independent Lost Regional Semi
1987
UNLV 1
West Big West Lost in NCAA Semi
1988
Temple 1
East Atlantic 10 Lost in Regional Final
1990
UNLV 1
West Big West Won NCAA
Tourney
1991
UNLV 1
West Big West Lost in NCAA
Semi
1996
UMass 1 East Atlantic 10 Lost in NCAA
Semi
2002
Cinncinnati 1
West Conference USA Lost in 2nd
Round2004 St Joseph’s 1 East Atlantic 10 Lost in Regional Final
2006
Memphis 1
West Conference USA Lost in Regional Final
2008 Memphis 1 South Conference USA Lost in NCAA Final
DePaul’s four number one seeds were done while it played as an independent. UNLV received a number one seed three times out of the Big West Conference.
What makes Gonzaga’s rise to potential number 1 seed unusual
is that they are doing it outside of the Atlantic 10 or Conference USA where
St. Joe’s, Temple, and Cincinnati came from.
They aren’t UNLV or Memphis, with large NBA type arenas and metro areas
that support the program the way some cities embrace an NBA team -- making
Gonzaga's potential top seed, as a small Catholic school, in Spokane, Washington more of a true aberration than anything the
NCAA tournament has seen since Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in 1979.
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