NCAA Basketball: Arizona, Indiana, and Ole Miss rise in updated 2024-25 WTE power rankings

7. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Compared to a year ago, it’s been a fairly quiet offseason for the Bulldogs thus far. They lost senior leader Anton Watson, while a couple of freshmen reserves hit the transfer portal (Luka Krajnovic and Pavle Stosic). But outside of that, six of the top seven scorers are set to return.

That includes the rest of the frontcourt, starting with Graham Ike. After missing the entire season prior, the 6’9 center led the Bulldogs with 16.5 ppg and 7.4 rpg, earning All-WCC honors. Ben Gregg’s move to the starting lineup turned the season around as a true floor spacer, while Braden Huff had several 20+ point scoring games as a redshirt freshman.

The backcourt duo of Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman returns, combining to average 26.6 ppg and 9.6 apg. Dusty Stromer started 15 games as a freshman, while Steele Venters, the former Big Sky Player of the Year, will be back and hopefully healthy after missing this past year with an injury. 

To add even more depth is the pickup of Michael Ajayi, a 6’7 combo forward from Pepperdine. He averaged 17.2 ppg and 9.9 rpg on 47% shooting from the field and gives the team another offensive threat. This program is used to being in the preseason top-10 and it’s hard to see them not repeating that come the preseason top-25 ranking.