Gonzaga's national championship window remains wide open: 2024-25 WCC team preview

Boasting depth, continuity, experience and talent, the Bulldogs appear well-equipped to make another deep NCAA Tournament run

Cole Forsman | 3 Hours Ago

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Gonzaga Bulldogs

The International Olympic Committee doesn’t recognize Olympic head coaches or their assistants with medals at the Games.

If they did, Mark Few would probably hang his up somewhere among the stacked collection of coaching hardware he’s collected over his decorated 25 years at the helm of the Gonzaga men’s basketball program.

Medal or not, the future hall-of-fame coach certainly helped guide Team USA on its march toward its 15th consecutive gold medal at the Paris Games this past summer. The path wasn’t always smooth for the star-studded Americans — they had to fend off a frisky Australian squad before surviving a nearly catastrophic upset to South Sudan, then had to squeak out a win against a talented Germany team that won last summer’s FIBA World Cup — all in exhibition play alone. The rest of the basketball world has started to catch up with the U.S., and it looked like Serbia was going to be the one to knock the Americans off their path before LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant led a 17-point comeback against Nikola Jokic and company to keep the U.S. on course.

Reaching the final destination didn’t come without some sort of drama, of course. Analysts and fans wanted explanations every time Jayson Tatum didn’t play a minute off the bench, or why his Boston Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown was left off the Olympic roster. Lineup choices and substitutions were criticized when the team wasn’t beating its opponent by 30 points. Some of that outside noise comes with the territory of having 12 NBA All-Stars (and almost as many future hall-of-famers) on one team.

“Just telling everybody that probably the biggest thing is nobody will really remember who the leading scorer was on this team,” Few said of the team’s mentality during training camp in July. “We're all just going to be judged on how we finish. I mean, I would take it a step further and not even worry about that. If we could just tap out everything and get this entire group, if we could all play together and everybody brings their best, I mean, this thing would be pretty incredible.”

Few and his coaching staff back in Spokane could echo a similar message across to the 2024-25 Bulldogs. Not that they need to — Gonzaga brought back 81.4% of its minutes played from last season, which means in theory only four other teams in the country boast more continuity than it does, per Barttorvik.com. Most of the roles have been defined, but there are still some new faces to incorporate into the mix.

As Seth Davis likes to say, Zags got dudes. A lot of them, in fact. In their first game against another opponent, Few and company went 11 players deep into their rotation as they tried to experiment with as many five-man combinations as they possibly could in the 40-minute exhibition with USC. It was more of the same in the next friendly against Warner Pacific, as some of the team’s walk-ons received minutes in the blowout win as well.

“We were shuffling guys in and out of there,” Few said after the USC game. “Just trying to get certain guys minutes, Nolan was playing good … it’s what you need to do in an exhibition, man. We’ll figure it out. It’ll change throughout this year, we have a bunch of guys who are kinda all … bunched together, in the same [tier], not head-and-shoulders above each other. So there’ll be a bunch of that.”

If the puzzle pieces come together for Gonzaga, Few could be in for another moment on the champion’s podium this spring. The Bulldogs enter the season No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and in the top 10 across notable advanced metric sites like EvanMiya.com (No. 2), Torvik (No. 8), haslametrics.com (No. 8) and KenPom.com (No. 9).

Here’s a look at the Zags’ 2024-25 roster and schedule breakdown.

GUARDS:

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At the helm of the projected No. 2 offense in the country (according to KenPom) is senior guard Ryan Nembhard. The Canadian floor general is featured on a few prominent award watch lists heading into the season after helping navigate the Zags to their ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance last season. Despite an adjustment phase early on, Nembhard had Gonzaga playing its best basketball at the right time, as he set the program record for assists in a single season (243) and improved his 3-point shooting during West Coast Conference play.

“This summer I feel like we’ve really been working on trying to get fouled,” Nembhard said in July. “Improve my 2-point scoring at the rim, improve my at-the-rim finishing and stuff like that and then, getting fouled. Coach Few is always talking about foul pressure and just how, if you get in the bonus early it’s probably gonna be easy for the rest of the night so, that’s been one of my main focuses.”

Senior guard Nolan Hickman is back to help stir the pot on offense. The Seattle native is coming off a career year in which he put up 14.0 points per game and shot 41.3% from 3-point range. He also led the team by far in made 3-pointers with 78 (Ben Gregg was second with 40).

Hickman was also instrumental in the development of some of the team’s younger talents like Dusty Stromer and Braden Huff, as both sophomores looked up to their veteran for guidance throughout their first year of college basketball.

“He was a great mentor to the two freshmen,” Gonzaga assistant coach Brian Michaelson said of Hickman. ”He was a voice we heard a lot more, but especially I know those freshmen adjusting to college basketball and helping bring them along … that’s so valuable to our program.”

Depth was a concern in the backcourt last season, as Hickman and Nembhard ranked near the top of the league in minutes due to injuries and inexperience elsewhere at the position. That shouldn’t be an issue this season after the Zags added high-scoring guard Khalif Battle, a 6-foot-5 grad transfer from Arkansas who’s entering his sixth season of college hoops. The New Jersey native scored over 1,300 points across his previous three stops (Butler, Temple, Arkansas), though none of those points have come in an NCAA Tournament game.

Battle would most certainly like to change that before his college career is wrapped up.

“Coach Few and I basically shared the same agenda. I just wanted to win and to ultimately reach the next level as my goal, to be playing in the NBA,” Battle said in July. “But I know I can’t do that unless I win. Unless I learn from someone who’s used to having those types of players.”

Battle was one of four major gets in the transfer portal for Gonzaga this offseason. Few also reeled in Colgate transfer and reigning Patriot League Player of the Year Braeden Smith, though the 6-foot-3 guard is set to redshirt this season and return with two years of eligibility in 2025-26.

Tarleton State transfer Emmanuel Innocenti, meanwhile, could play meaningful minutes right away as a versatile defender at 6-foot-5 with long arms and big hands. The Italian sophomore was WAC All-Freshman and WAC All-Defense last season.

WINGS:

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Michael Ajayi was a diamond in the rough find by Lorenzo Romar and Pepperdine. The 6-foot-7 Kent, Washington, native was an All-WCC selection after he led the league in points (17.2) and was second in rebounds (9.9) while knocking down 47.0% of his 3-point attempts. The Waves however went 13-20 and parted ways with Romar after the conference tournament, opening up a path for Ajayi to come back to the Pacific Northwest and compete for a national championship.

“I felt like [Gonzaga] was the place to be,” Ajayi said in July. “Parents can come to all the games and Mark Few is a really great coach. He takes players to the next level and that’s where I want to be.”

“He's also a guy that kind of gets to his own shots,” Few said of Ajayi after Kraziness in the Kennel. “And when you’re playing those tough, hard-nosed games where it's just hard to find buckets and guys just got to make plays and make shots, I think he's somebody that can do that.”

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Stromer in year one, though that’s to be expected from a freshman playing an old man’s game. Still, the 6-foot-7 wing carved out a role with his intensity on defense and ability to knock down open 3s. With an offseason to add to his frame and condition, look for Stromer to attack the basket more often in year two.

“Dusty this summer I think really added the ability to put the ball on the floor,” Michaelson said. “I think he’s shooting it more consistently.”

With so much talent and experience around him, it’s hard to say where Jun Seok Yeo fits into the equation heading into his junior season. He had his moments in spots last season, though inconsistencies led to a decrease in his minutes as the campaign went along.

Another season-ending injury for Eastern Washington transfer Steele Venters, who went down with an Achilles injury in the months leading up to the season, could open up minutes for Yeo on the perimeter. Though it’ll likely mean Few deploys some small-ball lineups with three guards on the floor at once.

FORWARDS/CENTERS:

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Without having to worry about a boot on his foot for the first time in two years, Graham Ike enters his senior season in the best shape of his basketball life.

Ike was an All-America honorable mention by the Associated Press after leading the Zags in scoring with 16.5 points per game last season. He had as many 20-point games as Drew Timme did in the regular season his junior year, despite the fact Ike missed some of the team’s summer workouts due to a foot injury that kept him out of the 2022-23 season at Wyoming. With his feet fully under him, Ike has been tabbed to a handful of watch lists for national awards and is expected to shoulder a bulk of the offensive workload once again.

“It was a night and day difference,” Ike said on his preparation going into this season compared to last year when he couldn’t fully partake in practice until late October. “It was a great offseason. Just constantly working my body, working my mind, my game, just working with these guys.”

Ben Gregg earned the “Ultimate Zag” title from his head coach for his toughness in the NCAA Tournament, as the 6-foot-10 forward dealt with some lower leg pain during the team’s postseason run. The minor injury temporarily setback Gregg’s offseason schedule, though the Clackamas, Oregon, native appears ready to take on another big role as the energizer and leader of this veteran group.

“He has a spirit and an energy to him that other guys rally behind,” Michaelson said in August. “The other guys really like him and him, and I had talks about that this summer, when he brings his voice and his energy, he's a great leader and he brings what we need.”

Huff showed glimpses of a bright future ahead with his uncanny knack for putting the ball in the basket as a redshirt freshman last season. The 6-foot-10 lefty could probably play significantly more minutes on a power conference program elsewhere, though Huff has trust in the Gonzaga process and will be a crucial building block for the program beyond this season.

“My whole time here I’ve just kind of been looking at the bigger picture,” Huff said. “I understand it’s a process and I think there’s definitely another jump that could be made here and I’m super excited.”

Time will tell if Few needs the services of Ismaila Diagne, a 7-foot-tall, 237-pound freshman who played for Real Madrid’s youth team prior to joining the Zags this summer. Without much rim protection on the roster, Diagne could play impactful minutes to give the Bulldogs a different look defensively.

WRAP IT UP:

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Depth, continuity, experience and NBA talent. All the tools that are supposedly needed for a Final Four run. On paper, it seems Gonzaga has each of the necessary attributes to reach San Antonio, Texas, this coming April.