NCAA basketball

Our list of the best players on the best West Coast Conference teams isn’t packed with future All-Americans, projected lottery picks and two-time national champions like the one we compiled months ago highlighting the top players on Gonzaga’s non-conference schedule. Do not take that to mean the WCC is down or lacks individual star power.

A few days before Gonzaga’s nonconference home swing against Nicholls State and Bucknell, Graham Ike and Braden Huff decided to get in some extra work on their short game after practice at the Volkar Center.

Gonzaga senior forward Ben Gregg is a featured fixture on televisions throughout the Northwest.

Bruins, Bulldogs face off Saturday at 1 p.m.

Gonzaga had mixed results in the AP college basketball poll after winning two home games by a combined 51 points. The Zags received 757 points from the media panel, a 20-point increase from last Monday, but still dropped one spot to a season-low No. 14.

College basketball players and the populace probably would agree: There’s just never enough time around the holidays. No. 13 Gonzaga took care of business with a pair of comfortable home victories this week and now most players are in hurry-up mode to squeeze in as much time as possible with loved ones.

From staff reports

From staff reports

It probably wasn’t everything Mark Few had on his wish list, but Gonzaga’s home nonconference finale against Bucknell served the only purpose it needed to before Bulldogs players began a brief holiday break.

PULLMAN – Every hour or two in the past few days, Washington State men’s basketball coach David Riley would get a sinking feeling in his stomach.

When he was younger, Andrew Cook got plenty of doses of what others might call “reality checks.”

Here are three observations from No. 13 Gonzaga’s 86-65 win over Bucknell on Saturday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Gonzaga and Bucknell don’t share too much in common with each other and, in a more general sense, college basketball these days. The transfer portal, as well as name, image and likeness (NIL), have changed college sports, particularly basketball and football. However, both the Zags and Bison boast loads of familiar faces and rank among NCAA Division I’s oldest teams.

Saturday marks the first meeting between Gonzaga and Bucknell, but this won’t be the first time GU standout Ryan Nembhard and Bison point guard Josh Bascoe have faced each other. Both are from Ontario, Canada, and their hometowns are separated by an hour’s drive. Bascoe is a year older, but Nembhard’s Vaughan Panthers and Bascoe’s Milton Stags, coached by Josh’s dad, Shane, tangled several times before embarking on their college careers.

Shooting betrayed the Gonzaga women’s basketball team Thursday, especially in the first half.

From staff reports

When drawing parallels between Gonzaga’s current team and the 2023-24 group that extended the program’s streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, the easiest place to start is the win-loss column.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few is on the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.