Gonzaga #22 - ESPN's Women's college basketball's way-too-early Top 25

[TerpZag]

Women's college basketball's way-too-early Top 25...

22. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Previous ranking: 24

With two sets of twins likely to share the court for long stretches this season, forwards Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth and guards Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong, Gonzaga is going to make life difficult for both opponents and announcers. The Truongs should ease the loss of point guard Jessie Loera, Loyola transfer Abby O'Connor is a much-needed 3-point shooter and returnee Jill Townsend might be the best mid-major player in the land. -- Hays

ESPN Article Link

[ZagDad84]

Several Thoughts on the Way-To-Early Top-25.

I agree it is way to early, particularly when nobody has played a game. That being said, the climb to hosting a first round set of games is much easier when you start in the Top-25 than when you start outside the Top-25. Being in the Top-25 week after week is also great promotion for the university. Name recognition goes a long way during the recruiting process.

The Top-25 consists, as is expected, almost entirely from teams which are members of the Power-5 conferences. If you eliminate UConn which plays in the Big East but is an abnormality, the first non-Power-5 conference team is Depaul at #19, followed by Missouri State at #21 and our own Lady Zags at #22. The rest of the Top-25 consists of power-5 teams and UConn.

The ESPN article indicates that Abby O'Conner is going to play this year. My understanding was that she had to sit out this year as a redshirt. I have no idea if she was given the o'k to participate this year. Guess we will find out in a couple of weeks.

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

It wasn’t that long ago that KG thought GU WBB was at the top of their game and kind of gave that as the reason for moving on. The team’s RPI seemed to start out +or- 75. Since then CLF and her coaching staff have elevated them to the next level. With the next level comes top level players... we saw that this week with a player putting GU in her top 10 which included many top level teams including KG’s Oregon.

In a few weeks, we will get a chance to see that the Lady Zags have moved to the level of a top 25 team. They seem to be following the GU mens team in inching up the ladder.

As for Abby... maybe with giving the players an extra year, it will allow her to play this year. If so, we are loaded this year.

Go Zags!!