Pac-12 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

Washington State underachieved overall last season, mainly because all four of the key guards shot 40% or under from the field. All three of them (Tyrell Roberts, Noah Williams, and Michael Flowers) are gone, along with starting center, Efe Abogidi. Yet this is probably a good thing, as the team needed both better shooters and more offensive-minded big men to have a higher ceiling.

One player that did return is Mouhamed Gueye, who averaged 7.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg in 21 mpg as a freshman. He’s a breakout candidate as the lead frontcourt player and the team will need to have it. They have a top-100 freshman big man in Adrame Diongue, another talented, yet raw athlete. Backups Andrej Jakimovski and Dishon Thomas are back as well, giving them plenty of depth.

The backcourt is where the question marks are at. The key returning guard is TJ Bamba, who averaged 7.7 ppg as a sophomore last season. He shot just 38% from the field but did shoot 36% from three-point range on 2.8 attempts. The 6’5 guard can play multiple positions and will be a full-time starter but whether or not he can be a lead guard on the perimeter is the question.

The Cougars added two transfers that’ll need to have an impact right away. Jabe Mullins is a 6’5 shooting guard from Saint Mary’s that can shoot but fell out of the rotation last season. The same thing happened to Justin Powell, who put up big numbers as a freshman at Auburn but stayed on the bench at Tennessee last season. They’ll likely start at Washington State but they may not be good enough to win. Freshman guards Dylan Darling and Kymany Houinsou will likely be part of the rotation and potentially could have some starts as well.