SPOKANE, Wash — The streak has ended. After 143 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP top 25, the Gonzaga men's basketball team is unranked in this week's poll.
It marks the end of the longest active streak in college basketball and will go down as the tenth-longest run in the history of the AP poll.
The last time Gonzaga was not ranked in the AP poll was March 14, 2016.
Nothing has gone right for the Zags this season, dating all the way back to the offseason.
GU expected to have Marcus Adams Jr., Alex Toohey, Kaden Perry and Steele Venters as contributors for this year's team.
Before the season even started, Adams and Toohey both decommitted from the school and Perry was forced to retire from basketball due to a lingering back injury.
Then, in one of the first practices of the season, Venters tore his ACL, dealing a hellacious blow to Mark Few's small depth chart.
Due to Venters' injury, freshman guard Dusty Stromer was forced into the starting lineup, speeding up his timeline.
As if those were not enough issues to deal with, freshman guard Luka Krajnovic broke his hand in practice and has been out for a month.
The Zags have lost every game against ranked teams this season, as well as a loss to San Diego State at home and an inexplicable loss on the road at Santa Clara.
All season long, Gonzaga has been plagued by rough three-point shooting without Venters.
Guards Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard are playing heavy minutes, and fatigue may be a factor in the Zags' struggles.
Despite all of this, Gonzaga still should be deemed the favorite to win the West Coast Conference and make another appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
With that being said, GU's nemesis, Saint Mary's, is on a five-game winning streak and just blew out Santa Clara on Saturday.
The Zags still have a major opportunity to gain some confidence on February 10th when they head to Lexington to face No. 8 Kentucky.
A win on the road at Kentucky would give the Zags a signature win and some solid momentum heading into March and the upcoming WCC tournament.
A loss would likely mean the Zags would need to win the WCC tournament in order to guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga has a great chance to regain some positive momentum on Thursday night in Malibu when they face Pepperdine. A win would gift Mark Few his 700th career victory.