Gonzaga Basketball: Projected roster rotation and minutes for 2024-25 season

Despite at times feeling as if they "underachieved" Gonzaga Basketball still not only managed to win 27 games but made yet another Sweet 16 appearance last season. And the Bulldogs are primed for another big year, returning the vast majority of its production for the 2024-25 campaign, except for All-WCC forward, Anton Watson.

After adding several new pieces and one coming back from injury, the minute allocation will be very interesting for next season. How will the depth chart work out for the WCC program? Here's a projection of the minutes for each of the Gonzaga Basketball players for next season.

Point Guard

Starter: Ryan Nembhard (30 mpg)

Backup: Nolan Hickman (10 mpg), Braeden Smith (0 mpg pending redshirt)

One of the best passers in the country is back, as Nembhard ranked top-10 nationally with 6.9 apg last season. The All-WCC guard averaged 12.6 ppg in 36 mpg, playing nearly every minute in the important games for Gonzaga. The one area of weakness he had was as a shooter, making fewer than 20% of his three-point attempts until the beginning of WCC play.

Nembhard will be one of the best PGs in the country next season but look for his usage to go down, which is a good thing. If his efficiency, which had already improved a bit compared to his Creighton days, takes another jump, he could be the MVP of the team.

The backup ball-handler when Nembhard goes to the bench will likely be Hickman again, assuming that Smith does indeed redshirt and not play next season. It's important to note that the Colgate transfer averaged 12.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 5.6 apg and was the Patriot League POY last year. He'd easily be good enough to be part of the rotation but rather than settle for 10 mpg a game, will wait a year to become the new lead guard. We'll see if that hurts Gonzaga at PG at times with that decision.