Gonzaga Finally Reaches the Top, New Mexico wins MWC

The Gonzaga players and fans are finally where they want to be – No. 1 in the country. For the first time ever, the Bulldogs were voted as the top team in the nation. Gonzaga has been winning game after game with a conference record of 16-0 and just 2 losses this season.
All of the teams above them and below them in the rankings have been losing and Gonzaga finally made its way to the top. However, with that No. 1 ranking comes extra attention, scrutinizing and a great deal of added pressure.
Head Coach Mark Few told reporters he believes his players will handle the ranking well and not let it get into their heads.
Gonzaga will not play again until this weekend, as they earned two byes in the West Coast conference tournament. Time will tell how they react to their No. 1 ranking.
Regardless of how they react, the point is they have reached one of their goals this season and now will attempt their second goal, a conference tournament championship and then on to the NCAA Tournament.
Other news out west comes out of UCLA where the Bruins won two homes games against Arizona State and then 11th ranked Arizona. The win over Arizona gave UCLA a sweep of their series with the Wildcats and moved them into a tie for first place in the conference with just this weekend to play.
Many critics have found the Bruins to be inconsistent, but they average over 17 assists per game, which ranks them fifth in the nation in that category and their assist to turnovers ratio is No. 3 in the country. Their coach has taken the reins off the offense and the team’s tempo is now ranked 25th in the nation and the best in the Pac-12.
Shabazz Muhammad the freshman sensation for the Bruins has not come out and declared, but it is almost a certainty that the Bruins will lose him to the NBA after the season. With Muhammad’s offensive help, the Bruins should win the Pac-12 tournament and win one or two games in the NCAA Tournament.
In the Mountain West Conference, the New Mexico Lobos have wrapped up the championship as they have just two games left on the schedule and hold a three game lead in the conference over Colorado State and the UNLV Runnin Rebels. With their strength on both ends of the court, the Lobos are a legitimate No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament later this month and could go very deep in the tournament.