Gonzaga Basketball: Impact of losing Steele Venters for second straight season
A year ago, Gonzaga Basketball suffered a key injury on its roster when Steele Venters suffered a season-ending torn ACL injury. He was coming off leading Eastern Washington with 15.3 ppg, earning Big Sky Player of the Year honors. Losing him was a big blow for the Bulldogs, whose lack of depth forced their key players to play between 35-40 mpg in key games.
This offseason, Gonzaga landed several transfers to bolster the roster and was hoping to have a healthy Venters back for the 2024-25 campaign. Unfortunately, the senior forward is set to miss another entire season, reportedly suffering an Achilles. It's a brutal blow for the young man who'll now have to wait for over 800 days before he can play in a D-I game.
As for the on-the-court impact, the previous offseason moves by the Bulldogs blunt the blow a tiny bit. They landed Arkansas transfer Khalif Battle, who is expected to start at the three-spot. Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi is capable of playing both forward positions and be paired with returning senior Ben Gregg.
There's also Emmanuel Innocenti, a 6'5 transfer wing from Tarleton State. He's an all-around player that can rebound and pass, while also earning All-WAC defensive honors as a freshman. Before the injury to Venters, there was a real chance that the Italian wing could redshirt ahead of the seniors but with minutes now available, could find a way into the rotation.
Speaking of "redshirt", Colgate transfer Braeden Smith was set to sit out on purpose this upcoming season. However, a domino effect could occur where both Battle and Dusty Stromer plays most of the minutes at the three-spot, forcing Smith to play and give the starting guards a break this time around.
Coach Mark Few now has two months to make adjustments and it's unknown if they'll miss Venters shooting. They may have a little more depth this time around for Gonzaga Basketball but it's never ideal to lose a projected rotation piece for the entire season.