The shape of Gonzaga basketball's projected roster outlook for the upcoming 2025-26 season has started to come into picture focus after head coach Mark Few's latest transfer portal recruiting additions in the spring window. Gonzaga returns the heart and soul of the starting frontcourt for this upcoming season, senior forward Graham Ike.
Ike and senior big man Braden Huff return to lead Gonzaga's frontcourt rotation at the four and the five for this upcoming season, in the final season playing in the WCC.
The highlight of Gonzaga's projected starting five for this upcoming season in the 2025-26 campaign is the starting frontcourt duo of Ike and Huff. That duo was two-thirds of Gonzaga's starting upperclassmen this past season who scored over 11 points per game in the regular season and the postseason in the WCC and NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga's latest portal additions, adding two key pieces to the backcourt and wing rotations in the potential starting five with wing Tyon Grant-Foster and shooting guard Adam Miller, puts the guard unit in focus for this upcoming season.
If Few and the Bulldogs do add any other pieces for backcourt depth for this upcoming season, and after the NBA Draft deadline this past week, who could be viable targets on the transfer market?
Desmond Claude, G (USC)
Gonzaga has multiple viable connections to former USC Trojans junior transfer guard Desmond Claude that makes Spokane an appealing potential destination for him were he to hypothetically pick the Bulldogs out of the portal this offseason. Claude could stay on the West Coast with another big program with a national brand in college hoops, with the Bulldogs.
The biggest problem hypothetically that could make Claude look elsewhere in the portal this offseason after the draft deadline a couple of weeks ago is the depth and talent the Bulldogs have already compiled in its backcourt transfer class in the spring portal window.
Claude could fill a vital secondary scorer and playmaker role in Gonzaga's backcourt unit. He was USC's only starter to average over 15 points per game and four assists this past season in the Big Ten.
Per ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Borzello on X last month, Gonzaga is one of a handful of schools that reached out to Claude in the spring portal window this offseason.
Zaon Collins, G (Fresno State)
After Gonzaga added a couple of immediate impact transfers, Miller and Grant-Foster, to the backcourt and wing rotations in the starting five, getting more guard depth to round out the core part of the rotation could help shore up its scholarship roster for this upcoming season.
Former Fresno State Bulldogs freshman transfer guard Zaon Collins is one of the more proven scorers in the backcourt available in the transfer portal window this summer after the draft deadline this past month.
Collins could provide depth and valuable tertiary scoring and playmaking as a backup Gonzaga floor general for this upcoming season in the WCC.
There are a couple of connections between Collins and Gonzaga that could make sense for the freshman transfer guard out of the portal this summer this offseason. First, Collins hails from Las Vegas, NV, and he played his freshman campaign in the Mountain West Conference at Fresno State. It is a quick flight up the West Coast to Gonzaga from Fresno in Northern California.
Second, Collins had some of his best scoring outputs this past season for the Bulldogs against teams that Gonzaga faces this upcoming season in the WCC. Collins scored a career-high 27 points against Washington State and a team-high 17 points against Santa Clara in the 2024-25 season.
Ali Dibba, G (Southern Illinois)
With Gonzaga handing over the reins on the offensive end of the floor to new starting point guard Smith from Colgate this fall, the proven scoring and ball movement the Bulldogs had under Few the past couple of seasons in the WCC will emphasize more spacing and off-ball cutting.
Gonzaga registered over 20 assists in a dozen wins this past season in the 2024-25 campaign. Getting consistent ball movement and off-ball communication will be critical for Gonzaga to match its success on the offensive end against top opponents from the major conferences, like the Kentucky Wildcats, UCLA Bruins, and Oklahoma Sooners.
Adding more proven scoring and off-ball shooters and playmakers to the backcourt, like former Southern Illinois senior transfer two-guard Ali Dibba, could help bring more depth and scoring support to Gonzaga's backourt rotation this upcoming season.
Dibba could hypothetically bring valuable off-ball scoring and length and switchability on the defensive end of the floor were he to choose Gonzaga out of the portal this summer this offseason. He scored in double figures in all but three games this past season for Southern Illinois, averaging a career-high 17.2 points per game.
He could also help replace some of the backcourt rebounding that the Bulldogs lost to the NBA Draft and the transfer portal early this offseason. Dibba led all Southern Illinois combo and shooting guards in rebounding this past season, at a clip of five boards per game.