Should San Diego State target Gonzaga guard in the transfer portal?
As the second week of the NCAA tournament draws nearer, the college basketball transfer portal has opened. Names continue to fly into the portal each minute as staffs across the country use the next month to try and set next season’s roster.
More than 700 players entered the portal on Monday while graduates or players who dealt with a coaching change were allowed to enter prior to Monday. San Diego State, no stranger to taking transfers to their basketball program long before the portal existed, finds themselves in a situation of needing to restock their roster for a second straight offseason.
The Aztecs added four transfers from the portal a season ago in Jared Coleman-Jones, Nick Boyd, Kimo Ferrari and Wayne McKinney. Coleman-Jones, Ferrari and McKinney have all exhausted their collegiate eligibility, while Boyd has opted to spend his final season elsewhere. Boyd announced his decision to transfer on Friday, the first Aztec this cycle to do so. He’s since been joined by fellow starter Magoon Gwath, reserve forward Demarshay Johnson Jr., and walk-on Cam Lawin.
With seven scholarship players set to return as of now, plus freshman Tae Simmons, San Diego State has many needs for this offseason. The Aztecs, notoriously strong on defense for several decades, ranked No. 16 nationally this season, according to KenPom. In comparison, they were No. 117 nationally in offense and shot 33 percent from three-point range, good for seventh in the Mountain West and No. 216 in the country.
Guard depth and scoring are seemingly among San Diego State’s offseason priority list. A player the Aztecs may be interested in pursuing is Gonzaga transfer Dusty Stromer. A six-foot-six guard out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, Stromer was a four-star recruit ranked in the top 50 nationally according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
The Aztecs were among more than a dozen schools to offer Stromer, doing so following his sophomore year in high school. He committed to the Zags as a junior and enrolled in 2023. Stromer played in 69 games over two seasons at Gonzaga, starting 15 games as a freshman and one this past season. Passed over by more experienced guards this season, Stromer was limited to 18 minutes per game. He primarily has operated from the perimeter, shooting nearly twice as many three-pointers as two-pointers. Stromer connected on 61 of his 174 three-point attempts over two seasons, good for 35 percent.
He averaged five points per game during his time at Gonzaga and entered the college basketball transfer portal on Monday, becoming the first Zag this offseason to do so following their loss to Houston in Saturday’s NCAA tournament second round game.
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Bodie DeSilva has been covering sports in San Diego for more than a decade. He previously covered San Diego State athletics for Scout/Fox Sports.