Is Courtney Vandersloot the best Gonzaga basketball player of all time?
With the NBA season underway, Gonzaga fans are keeping a close eye on which former Bulldogs are finding success in the professional ranks.
But what if I told you the most impactful Gonzaga alum isn't currently playing this season, or even in the NBA at all?
A month ago, Courtney Vandersloot wrapped up her 13th year in the WNBA as a premier point guard for the championship runner-up New York Liberty. Vandersloot averaged a WNBA-best 8.1 assists and piloted the league's second-highest-scoring offense in 2023.
The 34-year-old achieved several individual feats last season, most notably surpassing Ticha Penicheiro to become No. 2 all-time in assists behind Sue Bird. She also gained the distinction of being the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 300 playoff assists.
Vandersloot signed with the Liberty last offseason, teaming up with fellow all-stars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu. The star-studded trio helped New York achieve a 32-8 record and win the Commissioners Cup during the regular season.
The Liberty, who entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, swept the Washington Mystics in the first round before defeating the Connecticut Sun in four games to advance to the Finals. New York fell to the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces in a four-game championship series that ended on Oct. 18.
Vandersloot registered a team-high 19 points and six assists in the deciding game, but the Aces rallied from a 12-point deficit to capture their second straight WNBA title.
"I'm not going to use the famous 'unfinished business' quote, but there's a sense of that, where it's like, we still have more work to do," Vandersloot said a few days after her team lost. "We all convened and came here for with one goal in mind and that's still out there for us."
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This is the first offseason of Vandersloot's career where she doesn't expect to compete overseas. In the past, the Kent, Washington, native has competed for teams in Russia, Turkey, Hungary and Cyprus.
"My plan is to rest my body and try to be in the best shape I can starting next WNBA season," Vandersloot said.
Vandersloot was selected third overall by the Chicago Sky in the 2011 WNBA Draft, marking the first time a former Gonzaga women's player was selected in the first round.
In 12 seasons with the Sky, she averaged a WNBA record 6.6 assists per game and became the first player in league history to average double-digit assists in a single season in 2020. She also won a WNBA Championship with the Sky in 2021.
Among Vandersloot's list of professional accomplishments includes being a five-time all-star, a seven-time assist leader, two All-WNBA First Team selections and three All-WNBA Second Team honors. Overseas, she's earned a Turkish National League MVP award, two Turkish League championships and three EuroLeague titles.
"I'm always going to be a huge fan and advocate for what she's done," said Gonzaga women's basketball head coach Lisa Fortier, who was an assistant during Vandersloot's collegiate career. "It's a good reminder that right here at Gonzaga, you can go on to be a WNBA or NBA champion."
During her four seasons at Gonzaga, Vandersloot was a three-time WCC Player of the Year recipient and the first Division I player of either gender with 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in her career.
"Pound for pound, I think the greatest Zag to ever play is Courtney Vandersloot," said former Bulldog and NBA veteran Robert Sacre when asked to name his alma mater's all-time starting five. "She set records when she was at GU, she put the program on the map as a female player. She’s been to two Finals in the WNBA."
Vandersloot capped off her collegiate career by leading Gonzaga to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, a WCC regular season and tournament title and a 31-5 record during the 2010-11 season.
The Zags honored Vandersloot's No. 21 jersey in a pregame ceremony ahead of Gonzaga's 63-53 win over Portland last season. She became the first women's player to have her jersey recognized inside McCarthey Athletic Center.
"It was the perfect match and I can't say enough about how special this place is," Vandersloot said during the event. "They invest in their players and they want you to be great in your future whatever that is."
Vandersloot's legacy at Gonzaga lives on through the success of the women's basketball program. The Zags have reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times since Vandersloot's graduation in 2011.
In recent years, Gonzaga has transformed into one of the nation's top mid-major programs and is regularly playing in front of a packed crowd.
When the NCAA last released women's basketball crowd numbers in 2021-22, the Zags were 10th in average home attendance with 5,120 fans in a 6,000-seat arena. The report also showed Gonzaga attracted the 19th-largest crowd in home, road and neutral site games.
“Fans have been showing up before I came here and long after I left,” Vandersloot said. “That’s what makes this place so special.”
