March Success for Gonzaga Could Come Down to Frontcourt Depth

The calendar offers no mercy in August. This is the annual stretch of the offseason when Gonzaga fans watch the calendar more than the scoreboard, counting the days until Kraziness in the Kennel. Despite all the excitement surrounding a roster that appears loaded with talent, the stability of the frontcourt rotation remains unsettled, with open questions about depth, foul management, and how effectively the bigs can shoulder extended minutes over the course of a full season. Graham Ike and Braden Huff return for the Zags as probably the best big man duo in college basketball, and the Zags seemed to crack the code towards the end of last season when they both earned starting minutes alongside one another. The problem is that a college season lasts far longer than three games, and this time, opponents will have some tape of the Ike-Huff lineup to prepare with.

The Zags spent much of last season trying to figure out just what they needed from the four spot. Huff, Ben Gregg, and Michael Ajayi all shared minutes there, but none ever seemed to lock in and own it, especially considering how valuable Huff proved to be as an off-the-bench backup to Ike at the five. Gregg brought hustle, vision, and invaluable experience to the position, and Ajayi could change games defensively with his length, physicality, and rebounding instincts, but the lack of consistent scoring from either was a problem all season. Anton Watson remains the gold standard for power forwards in recent memory. His ability to guard one through five, create from the high post, hit just enough perimeter shots to force closeouts, and dominate the glass blurred positional definitions, and the Zags spent last season in search of the ‘Next Man Up’ in his absence.

Graham Ike could very well prove to be one of the most punishing interior scorers in the country this season. With 17.3 points per game and nearly 60% shooting from the floor, he spent the 24-25 campaign as a patient, physical force whose two-man game with Ryan Nembhard became last season’s most dependable scoring option. Despite this, his rim protection against taller frontlines (and recurrent foul trouble) was a lingering challenge. The Zags figured out perhaps a bit too late that Huff offers a complementary profile to Ike’s bruising interior presence: a skilled four/five who can operate inside or draw bigs out to the arc. As a redshirt freshman, Huff’s efficiency near the basket was top 10 in the nation, and he is poised for a breakout season in 2025-26. But neither Ike nor Huff is automatic defense in the low post, and both get whistled at high rates (Ike ranked fourth in the WCC in fouls per 40 minutes at 5.1, Huff ninth at 4.6), which means the stakes for the duo’s backups are even higher than last season.

Depth, Uncertainty, and Waiting GamesThe first option behind Ike/Huff is sophomore Ismaila Diagne, a legitimate seven-footer with a very promising touch around the rim and the length necessary to change the team’s defensive profile entirely. His best night last season came against Santa Clara: 18 minutes, nine points, four boards, perfect 4-for-4 shooting, 1-for-1 from the line. But the sample size is extremely small: outside of that one game, Diagne averaged barely over five minutes in the other nine in which he appeared, totaling just 48 total minutes of action. In that small window, he went 12-for-15 from the field and 10-for-12 at the stripe, an efficiency that hints at an absolutely ridiculous offensive upside. But in the 66 total minutes he played last season, Diagne also committed 17 fouls, an absurd rate of 10.3 per 40 minutes, and when his 18-minute Santa Clara outing is removed from that sample, that number climbs to 11.7 per 40. The question for the Zags will therefore not be how good Diagne can be, but whether or not they can keep him on the floor at all if he remains more foul-prone than their starters.

The next variable for the Zags is entirely off the court. It’s been almost 80 days since Tyon Grant-Foster committed to Gonzaga, and the NCAA eligibility waiver process has turned into an unfortunate offseason subplot for the incoming journeyman transfer. At Grand Canyon last season, he averaged 14.8 points in 27.5 minutes per game, shot 40%, and took 54% of his shot attempts at the rim. He ranked ninth nationally in fouls drawn per 40 minutes (7.2), producing 7.1 free-throw attempts per game and hitting 127-of-185, a workload in the same range as Ike’s 169 attempts. He started 17 of 26 games for the Antelopes, alternating between energizer and finisher depending on the opponent. Gonzaga most likely envisions him as a hybrid three/four who can muscle bigger wings or slide down to chase guards, but that role stays hypothetical until the paperwork clears.

Beyond Grant-Foster, the depth chart gets weird, hypothetical, and thin. There’s Steele Venters, who at 6’7” is long enough to play the 4, but remains a perimeter specialist in its purest form. In his last healthy season at Eastern Washington, 52% of his shots came from beyond the arc, and he made 40% of more than 500 career attempts. That season, he averaged 15.3 points and 2.8 rebounds. He bends defenses, but he’s not a glass presence. Behind Venters there’s incoming freshman Parker Jefferson, who offers the opposite profile: a 6-10, 230-pound true center who ranked No. 164 nationally, No. 25 at his position, coming off a senior year at Inglewood High with 16.3 points on 53% shooting, 11.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game. He’s a developmental big in a program that has a history of refining that archetype, but immediate minutes could depend more on immediate need than readiness.

Lineup Puzzles and Late-Summer TargetsOf course, the ideal version of this season’s frontcourt keeps Ike and Huff in tandem for as long as possible. It also keeps Diagne healthy enough for consistent minutes off the bench, and ensures Grant-Foster is cleared to lock down a hybrid role at the 3/4 a la Anton Watson or Corey Kispert. If for whatever reason, that doesn’t materialize, adjustments are on the table. And although the promise shown by Gonzaga’s two-big lineup last year is enticing, it wouldn’t exactly be the end of the world if the Ike/Huff lineup remained on the shelf for special occasions.

One possible lineup we may see this year involves giving Diagne long stretches at the five (perhaps even starting minutes) with Ike or Huff at the four. Gonzaga has made similar alignments work in the past: Holmgren-Timme’s inside-out versatility, Karnowski-Collins’ combination of power and touch, etc. In this setup, Diagne supplies the rim protection and defensive gravity the Ike–Huff duo lacks, while the four spot becomes a hub for buckets after buckets after buckets (whether that’s Ike or Huff is immaterial as they can both dismantle single-coverages on the backside once help defenses collapse to double Diagne the five). Neither Huff nor Ike offers the consistent three-point threat the Zags like to see from their four, but both can mercilessly punish single coverages inside if the defense collapses to cover the low-post.

With so many unknowns still to be figured it, it’s hard to imagine the staff’s shopping list doesn’t include a depth piece at the 4 for the time being; someone with size, proven rebounding skills, and the ability to keep the ball moving when the high-low offense stalls. This late in the season, the likeliest targets are overseas, with Croatian forward Ivan Bogdanović still a name to watch. He averaged 18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists for Croatia’s U-20 team at the FIBA EuroBasket, drawing interest from Louisville, Michigan State, and Texas A&M in addition to Gonzaga. No visits are set, but his arrival would stabilize the rotation in a huge way: Grant-Foster and Venters could stay locked at the three, Huff would gain a true backup, Diagne could slot behind Ike, and Jefferson could focus on development.

Framing the Season AheadAugust rarely settles anything, but it does help define the scope of the coming months. Gonzaga’s frontcourt’s top end is built to carry the Bulldogs deep into March. Ike and Huff may be the most potent scoring duo in the country, and their versatility ensures the offense will be able to dismantle any and all coverages. The variables for the rest of the depth chart are health, NCAA bureaucracy, foul management, and whether a fourth dependable frontcourt player emerges. Somewhere in those moving parts is the version of this team best suited for the grind of January and February. Until then, the roster is set on paper, the rotations are in pencil, and the wait for clarity continues.