2017-18 record: 32-5, 17-1 in the West Coast Conference
Head coach: Mark Few
Tenure at Gonzaga: 20th season
Career coaching record: 535-118
Home court: McCarthey Athletic Center
Starters: G Josh Perkins, G Zach Norvell Jr., F Rui Hachimura, F Killian Tillie, F Brandon Clarke
Bench: G Geno Crandall, F Corey Kispert, F Jeremy Jones
Overview: Gonzaga is one of the most proven, experienced teams in the nation, earning the No. 3 spot in the AP preseason poll, and remains well-positioned for its second Final Four run in three years. A potential matchup between the Bulldogs and Duke in the Maui Invitational championship could be the most intriguing early-season showdown of the year.
Although Gonzaga lost forward Johnathan Williams to graduation and the NBA, four of its five double-digit scorers return from last year's Sweet 16 squad. Rui Hachimura is likely to slide from the sixth man role into the starting lineup, and the Bulldogs will also be bolstered by San Jose State transfer Brandon Clarke in the frontcourt and graduate transfer Geno Crandall, a second-team All-Big Sky guard at North Dakota last season.
Clarke should be Gonzaga's primary presence in the post, though he is just 6-foot-8, and Josh Perkins, Zach Norvell Jr. and Geno Crandall are dangerous long-distance shooters.
As usual, the Bulldogs will play a fierce nonconference schedule with the Maui Invitational and games against No. 6 Tennessee, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 25 Washington and Texas A&M. They will play all those games without 6-foot-10 forward Killian Tillie, who can stretch the floor from 3-point range but will miss eight weeks due to a stress fracture in his ankle. When Tillie returns, expect Gonzaga to breeze through the West Coast Conference once again en route to another high seed in the NCAA tournament.
One thing that needs to go right: All of the Bulldogs' scorers come together to form the best offense in the country with too many weapons for defenses to focus on, and their season ends with the program's elusive first national championship.
One thing that could go wrong: Gonzaga gets stuck with a tough, physical matchup early in the NCAA tournament after months of succeeding against softer conference competition and struggles to defend bigger bodies in the post on its way to a disappointing exit.
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