Gonzaga Bulldogs open as No. 1 in AP Top 25 college basketball preseason poll

Just about the only thing Gonzaga basketball has left to accomplish under Mark Few is win a national championship.

The Zags scratched another first off the list Monday: They will open the season at No. 1.

Despite losing West Coast Conference Player of the Year Filip Petrusev, the Bulldogs received 28 first-place votes and 1,541 points from a 64-member national media panel. That was just enough to edge Baylor (24 first-place votes) by a single point for the top spot in the college basketball preseason Associated Press Top 25 heading toward the delayed Nov. 25 start of the season.

“It’s a great honor to be selected No. 1,” Few said. “We understand that it is more a reflection of what our program has accomplished over the years and hope to play up to that standard as we start our season.”

Villanova received 11 first-place votes and was third, followed by Virginia with the remaining first-place vote. Iowa was picked fifth behind national Player of the Year front-runner Luka Garza, its highest preseason ranking in school history.

Then came a wave of blue bloods with Kansas, Wisconsin , Illinois, Duke and Kentucky completing the top 10.

The Bulldogs spent four weeks at No. 1 last season before finishing second to the Jayhawks in the final poll, which was taken when the NCAA tournament was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Petrusev’s choice to play professionally in Serbia and then enter the draft was a blow, but the Bulldogs still have the pieces to win it all. Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi provide scoring punch and the arrival of potential one-and-done guard Jalen Suggs should steady their backcourt.

The Zags certainly scheduled like title contenders. They open Oct. 26 against Kansas at the Fort Myers Tip-Off, where they also will play Auburn, and face Baylor in Indianapolis and Iowa in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Bears, who also have their highest preseason ranking, spent five weeks at No. 1 last season and lost only one starter, big man Freddie Gillespie. But coach Scott Drew could have the nation’s best backcourt in Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague, the best defender in Mark Vital and depth behind top-100 recruit L.J. Cryer and transfer Adam Flagler.

The Bears also built a brutal schedule, playing Illinois and potentially Villanova in the Empire Classic along with Gonzaga.

“I think it starts with experience,” Drew said. “Whenever you return a lot of players that were successful, in a season that got moved back and a short summer, you’re definitely benefited from having guys that have college experience.”

The Wildcats, who matched their highest preseason ranking at No. 3 in 1995-96, harbored hope that Saddiq Bey would return for another season. But despite losing the versatile forward to the NBA, coach Jay Wright still has standout guard Collin Gillespie, double-double…