NCAA Basketball: 20 early team winners of 2023 transfer portal offseason

4. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Had I done this project 48 hours ago, I wouldn’t have included the Bulldogs in this. Up until then, they had just one transfer commit. He still was a very good one in Steele Venters, who at Eastern Washington, won the Big Sky Player of the Year Award this past season. He averaged 15.3 ppg and shot 37% from three-point range on over six attempts a game.

But it was what happened on Friday that instantly got Gonzaga into here. The first of the two pickups was Graham Ike, a 6’9 transfer big man from Wyoming that averaged 19.5 ppg and 9.6 rpg as a sophomore in 2021-22. He missed this past season with a knee injury but should be good to go. When it comes to scoring production at the center position, Ike is the best the Bulldogs could’ve gotten after losing all-time leading scorer, Drew Timme.

The bigger news was landing Ryan Nembhard, the starting point guard at Creighton, and younger brother of former Gonzaga starter, Andrew Nembhard. The younger guard averaged 12.1 ppg and 4.8 apg as a sophomore and had a 30-point game in the NCAA Tournament win over Baylor.

Point guard was viewed as a position of weakness for Gonzaga last season so adding arguably the best ball-handler in the transfer portal was a big win for the program. They’ve added three starters from the portal and look to once again be an NCAA Basketball contender for next season.