Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard, Graham Ike named to Naismith Trophy watch list

Bulldogs duo will start off the 2024-25 season in contention for one of the most prestigious honors in college basketball

Cole Forsman | Oct 30, 2024

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

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Gonzaga Bulldogs

By the end of last season, Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard were the bread-and-butter for one of the most efficient offenses in all of college basketball.

Many expect the All-WCC duo to continue that trend into the 2024-25 season, as the pair of Gonzaga men’s basketball players were tabbed to the 50-player watch list for the 2025 Naismith Trophy on Wednesday. It’s the second notable watch list that features either one of the Zags, as Nembhard is also an early contender for the Bob Cousy Award, which honors the top point in the country, while Ike is up for the NABC Player of the Year award.

Gonzaga was one of a few schools with multiple players on the Naismith watch list. Kansas, headlined by All-American center Hunter Dickinson, and Baylor tied for the most representatives on the list with three apiece, while UConn, Alabama, Duke, Houston and Rutgers each had two players. The Big 12 led all conferences with 12 players, followed by the Big 12 and Big Ten at 10 each.

After a brief adjustment period to his new surroundings, Nembhard finished top 10 in the country in total assists and guided Gonzaga to its ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance while breaking the program record for assists in a single season in 2023-24. The Canadian led the West Coast Conference in assists per game (6.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9, 4.0 in WCC play). He was in the top 15 in the conference with 12.6 points per game and was sixth in the league at 1.4 steals per WCC game.

Coming off a foot injury the year prior, Ike went through some growing pains as well early on last year, though the 6-foot-9 forward eventually rose to one of the best low-post scorers in the country by season’s end. He put up 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 71.5% at the rim, per hoop-math.com. According to KenPom.com, Ike’s 123.0 offensive rating was second-best in the country behind Zach Edey (128.8).

A pair of former Zags in Indiana's Oumar Ballo and Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis are in contention for the Naismith Trophy as well to start the season. Gonzaga could see Ballo and the Hoosiers in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament over Thanksgiving break.

2024-25 NAISMITH TROPHY MEN'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Robbie Avila (Saint Louis)
Ace Bailey (Rutgers)
Ace Baldwin Jr. (Penn State)
Oumar Ballo (Indiana)
Johni Broome (Auburn)
Markus Burton (Notre Dame)
Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida)
L.J. Cryer (Houston)
RJ Davis (North Carolina)
Johnell Davis (Arkansas)
Tyson Degenhart (Boise State)
Tucker DeVries (West Virginia)
Hunter Dickinson (Kansas)
Eric Dixon (Villanova)
VJ Edgecombe (Baylor)
Cooper Flagg (Duke)
Dawson Garcia (Minnesota)
Tyon Grant-Foster (Grand Canyon)
Dylan Harper (Rutgers)
Dajuan Harris (Kansas)
Coleman Hawkins (Kansas State)
Bryce Hopkins (Providence)
Graham Ike (Gonzaga)
Tre Johnson (Texas)
Kam Jones (Marquette)
Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton)
Alex Karaban (UConn)
Kon Knueppel (Duke)
Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB)
Tamin Lipsey (Iowa State)
Caleb Love (Arizona)
Liam McNeeley (UConn)
Matthew Murrell (Ole Miss)
Grant Nelson (Alabama)
Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga)
Norchad Omier (Baylor)
Great Osobor (Washington)
Kadary Richmond (St. John's)
Jeremy Roach (Baylor)
J'Wan Roberts (Houston)
Jaxson Robinson (Kentucky)
Hunter Sallis (Wake Forest)
Payton Sandfort (Iowa)
Mark Sears (Alabama)
Jackson Shelstad (Oregon)
Braden Smith (Purdue)
AJ Storr (Kansas)
Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M)
Bruce Thornton (Ohio State)
Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee)