After losing to the eventual national champion UConn in the Elite 8, Gonzaga Basketball had to turn its attention towards the offseason and a roster that needed a ton of work. There was obviously givens that there would be some departures, including all-time leading scorer Drew Timme.
He’s one of a number of players that have left the Bulldogs. Rasir Bolton was gone due to eligibility, while both Julian Strawther and Malachi Smith entered the NBA Draft. The team also lost a trio of players to the transfer portal in Hunter Sallis, Efton Reid, and Dominick Harris.
There’s still one more decision to watch as four-year senior Anton Watson could come back for one more year. If he’s gone, that would leave just Nolan Hickman and Ben Gregg as the lone returning rotation players on the roster. That means there’s going to be a lot of work via the portal for Gonzaga to do.
The good news is that the Bulldogs have already landed a key piece in Big Sky Player of the Year Steele Venters. The former Eastern Washington wing led the team with 15.3 ppg while shooting 37% from three-point range as a redshirt junior. He’s set to be a replacement for Strawther at the small forward position and be a part of the 2023-24 campaign.
There are plenty of other transfers currently in the portal that Gonzaga has been publically linked to. Here’s a breakdown of each of them and analyzing the chances that the team has to land them.