Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs lost 11 players from last year’s team that went 31-4 and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
However, despite a significant roster overhaul, the Zags are positioned to be as good or better this upcoming season, and it’s primarily thanks to three players they are bringing back.
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The trio of forward Braden Huff, wing Davis Fogle, and point guard Mario Saint-Supery is among the best group of returners in all of college basketball, and those three – along with a pair of highly regarded transfer portal additions – have Gonzaga’s roster ranked among the best in college basketball.
Popular college basketball analytics site EvanMiya.com has a roster outlook tool that ranks a team’s roster as currently constructed, placing added emphasis on players returning to their current schools. Gonzaga’s roster as of today ranks between 4-9 overall, with an offense between 5-9 and a defense between 7-12.
Gonzaga’s projected three best players are all returners, with Saint-Supery at the top, followed by Huff and Fogle. Arizona State transfer big man Massamba Diop comes in at No. 4, with Houston transfer Isiah Harwell next at No. 5.
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The freshman trio of Jack Kayil, Luca Foster, and Sam Funches comes in at No. 6, 7, and 8, respectively, while redshirt freshman Parker Jefferson is at No. 9.
The Big 3
Huff was leading Gonzaga in scoring at 17.8 points per game when he went down with what ended up being a season-ending knee injury in mid-January. He projects to be the focal point of Gonzaga’s offense in 2026-27 and could push 20 points per game in his final year of eligibility.
Meanwhile, both Saint-Supery and Fogle are popular breakout candidates after excellent freshman years in Spokane. Saint-Supery averaged 8.6 points and 3.8 assists in 23.1 minutes per game, leading the Zags with a stellar 40.3% mark from beyond the arc.
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Fogle went from playing exclusively in garbage time to a key cog in Gonzaga’s rotation by the end of the season, and his growth over the course of the year has him primed to take college basketball by storm as a sophomore.
The Newcomers
Retaining your three best (eligible) players in the modern era is no easy feat, and doing so while also adding arguably a top-five available player in the transfer portal is even better. Massamba Diop averaged 13.6 points and 2.1 blocks per game as a freshman at Arizona State last year, and his rim protection, efficient scoring on the block, and developing outside game make him a near-perfect fit alongside Huff in the frontcourt.
Harwell was a McDonald’s All-American out of high school, ultimately picking Houston despite a multi-year courtship from the Zags. That paid off when Harwell entered the portal after falling out of Houston’s rotation, and now he’ll look to break out as a sophomore who is another year removed from an ACL injury that limited him last season.
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Kayil is the prize of Gonzaga’s freshman class. A 20-year-old, 6’5 guard playing in Germany’s top league, Kayil is expected to start for Gonzaga at shooting guard – assuming he doesn’t stay in the NBA draft process.
Foster and Funches round out a quality recruiting class and should both compete for minutes right away in Spokane.
Gonzaga still has five open roster spots, and pursuing a guard who can space the floor is one of the final missing puzzle pieces – with the team recently connected to Stetson’s Ethan Copeland, Campbell’s Jeremiah Johnson, and Georgia Tech’s Akai Fleming.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/gonzaga as Gonzaga roster ranked among nation’s best by EvanMiya.
