After dominating victory over BYU, is No. 2 Gonzaga deserving of No. 1 spot in the rankings?

SPOKANE, Wash. — With No. 1 Duke falling earlier this week, No. 2 Gonzaga could become the new top-ranked team when the polls come out Monday.

The Zags certainly made their case Saturday night with a 102-68 thumping of BYU.

Does Gonzaga deserve to be the No. 1 team in the country?

"I would say yes. I'm no expert and I'm not looking at the numbers. But they have a great team," said Cougar guard McKay Cannon. "They beat Duke (earlier this season) and Duke just lost. They're the best team in the country, I believe."

"It's a really good team. They're deep, they're skilled, they're physical and they're versatile," said coach Dave Rose. "I haven't seen every team play up close but they're obviously one of the top three or four teams in the country. They're having their way right now with our league. Hopefully somebody can find a way to break it a little bit when we get to (Las) Vegas."

BYU forward Yoeli Childs said that when injured forward Killian Tillie is playing, Gonzaga is the best team in the nation.

"With Tillie healthy, yeah. I think he does a lot of good things for them," he said. "They're a different team with him. They're still really good but Tillie does a lot for them. It will be big for them to get him back for the tournament."

ZAG DOMINANCE: Going into Saturday's game, Gonzaga was outscoring its conference opponents by an average of 28 points. With Saturday's win over BYU, the Zags won their 40th consecutive game over an unranked opponent and they own the longest active win streak in the country at 18.

Going into Saturday's contest, Gonzaga was No. 1 in the nation in field goal percentage (53.1 percent), No. 1 in scoring margin (25.1), first in scoring offense (90.3), first in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8) and second with 521 total assists.

NBA SCOUTS IN THE HOUSE: Several NBA scouts were in Spokane to watch No. 2 Gonzaga and BYU Saturday, including representatives from the Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.

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