As the dust settles on the college basketball transfer portal and the NBA Draft has come and gone, the pecking order heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season appears clearer than it did just a month ago.
Though not much changed in the latest version of CBS Sports’ preseason Top 25 and 1 rankings released Monday, as the Gonzaga Bulldogs held firm at the No. 8 spot. Texas was the only team to move up Gray Parrish’s latest rankings after it snagged Kansas State transfer Arthur Kaluma, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds last season. The move bumped the Longhorns up to No. 20 while Creighton (No. 21) and Florida (No. 22) each dropped down one spot.
Kansas, which returns Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris, remained at the top of the Top 25 and 1 rankings, followed by Alabama, Houston, North Carolina and reigning back-to-back national champion UConn in the top five. All bring back key pieces from the 2023-24 campaign; the Crimson Tide and Tar Heels return All-Americans Mark Sears and RJ Davis, respectively, while the Cougars bring back eight of their top 10 scorers. The Huskies are in the mix for a potential three-peat after head coach Dan Hurley passed on an opportunity to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley returns Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra, Samson Johnson, Solomon Ball and Jaylin Stewart from last season’s title team.
The Zags will feature plenty of familiar faces as well in 2024-25 — seven of their top eight scorers from a team that won 16 of its final 19 games and advanced to the program’s ninth straight Sweet 16 are back in Spokane for another run. That includes four of five starters (Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Ben Gregg and Graham Ike) as well as second-year players Braden Huff, Dusty Stromer and Jun Seok Yeo. Steele Venters, a transfer from Eastern Washington who missed last with an ACL injury, is on track to make his Gonzaga debut as well.
Mark Few and the coaching staff diversified the roster’s makeup through the transfer portal, as they brought in All-WCC wing Michael Ajayi (Pepperdine), high-scoring grad transfer Khalif Battle (Arkansas) and defensive wing/guard Emmanuel Innocenti (Tarleton State). Looking beyond next season, Few reeled in the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, Braeden Smith (Colgate), as a redshirt player who will likely take the keys to the offense in 2025-26. Ismaila Diagne, a 7-foot center from Senegal, committed to Gonzaga as the team’s 13th and final scholarship player.
With the roster set, the Bulldogs figure to be a preseason top-10 team heading into the fall. The Athletic and ESPN ranked Gonzaga at No. 2 in their respective rankings for 2024-25; Sports Illustrated had the Zags in its top 25 teams from April; FOX Sports (No. 5) and The Field of 68 (No. 6) put the Bulldogs in the upper echelon as well.
Gonzaga’s 2024-25 nonconference schedule reflects the program’s high expectations. It’ll face three ranked opponents in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, an eight-team event highlighted by Arizona, Indiana and Providence, from Nov. 27-29. The Wildcats (No. 16), Hoosiers (No. 18) and Friars (No. 26) were all featured in CBS’ rankings.
The Zags will tangle with Kentucky in the Battle in Seattle event on Dec. 7, followed by a trip to Madison Square Garden to face UConn on Dec. 14. They’ll also face UCLA at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and San Diego State at the Viejas Arenas.
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