The deadline for all players to enter the college basketball transfer portal passed Tuesday at midnight, providing a somewhat clearer image of what the landscape of the sport will look like for the 2025-26 season.
However, as a handful of names trickle into the portal Wednesday morning, rosters across the country are still far from finalized. There’s still roughly 2,500 Division-I players who’ve yet to commit to a school, according to Verbal Commits’ database, plus numerous NBA draft decisions, potential de-commits and high school reclassifications to consider before teams reconvene for summer practices and workouts.
That being said, power ranking the top teams in the country at this juncture still feels a bit premature. But as roster departures become less frequent now that the portal’s closed, it’s not too early for some media outlets and personnel to start looking ahead to next season.
Let’s see where the Gonzaga Bulldogs stand after bringing back Graham Ike and Braden Huff for the 2025-26 campaign:
Despite confirmation that Ike and Huff will return to Spokane next season, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello moved the Zags down two spots from where they ranked at the beginning of the offseason. Borzello projects Mark Few’s starting lineup next fall will feature Braeden Smith, Jalen Warley, Steele Venters, Huff and Ike. Borzello notes how it’s going to be a different look without Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman and Khalif Battle around, and given the fact that Warley and Smith sat out last season, Borzello questions Gonzaga’s perimeter depth at this point in the offseason.
Venters hasn’t played since 2023 when he was with the Eastern Washington Eagles due to injury. Smith, who took a redshirt year after transferring in from the Colgate Red Raiders, will be taking over point guard duties from Nembhard, while the 6-foot-7 Warley, by way of the Virginia Cavaliers, is slated to play meaningful minutes on the wing with Michael Ajayi and Dusty Stromer exiting via the transfer portal. Davis Fogle, a 6-foot-6, four-star recruit from Anacortes, Washington, could also see playing time in his first year with the Bulldogs.
But since the Zags have yet to land a single commitment from the portal, Borzello’s concerns are validated. Few and his coaching staff have struck out on a handful of targets thus far, most recently falling short in the race to land Maryland transfer Rodney Rice, who instead chose USC over Gonzaga earlier this week.
Purdue claims the top spot in ESPN’s latest rankings after bringing back All-America point guard Braden Smith. Houston checks in at No. 2 and is followed by St. John’s, Texas Tech and Louisville in the top five. Two confirmed nonleague opponents on Gonzaga’s schedule for next season crack ESPN’s early top 25 rankings: No. 10 Kentucky (Dec. 5 in Nashville) and No. 14 UCLA (Dec. 13 at Climate Pledge Arena).
Jon Rothstein, also known as the insider’s insider, has updated his daily offseason rankings to reflect the confirmation of both Huff and Ike returning to Gonzaga. After starting the offseason at No. 40, the Zags are up to No. 24 in Rothstein’s top 45 teams. Rothstein’s projected starting five for the Bulldogs is the same as Borzello’s: Smith, Warley, Venters, Huff and Ike.
The Bruins are up to No. 4 in Rothstein’s rankings, while Mark Pope’s Wildcats check in at No. 12. Saint Mary’s, previously ranked No. 31, is not featured in Rothstein’s latest top 45. The Gaels are projected to lose four starters from last season’s squad that won the West Coast Conference regular season championship after Jordan Ross entered his name into the portal earlier this week.
Following their season-ending loss to Houston in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs came in at No. 23 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Zags have been ranked in the final top 25 poll nine times in a row now, with their last unranked finish coming in the 2015-16 season.
With regard to predictive metrics, Gonzaga finished the season No. 8 in KenPom, Torvik and the NET while ranking top 10 in offensive efficiency for the seventh season in a row (KenPom).
After losing six rotational players from last season’s squad, it remains to be seen how the Bulldogs round out their roster via the portal and recruiting trails over the next few months.
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