{"id":712246,"date":"2026-04-17T07:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712246\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T07:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T07:01:23","slug":"1-transfer-portal-target-gonzaga-must-sign-after-march-madness-flameout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712246\/","title":{"rendered":"1 transfer portal target Gonzaga must sign after March Madness flameout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gonzaga basketball<\/a> has become one of the premier programs in college basketball under Mark Few, as the Bulldogs have run the WCC and are a constant contender for Final Fours and national championships. The Bulldogs have reached the national title game twice under Few, but have come up short both times.<\/p>\n

In 2025-26, the Bulldogs had a team that looked like it could get back to the business end of the NCAA Tournament, but inconsistency in the backcourt and a season-ending knee injury to star forward Braden Huff<\/a> put a damper in those dreams. In the end, Gonzaga’s season was stopped in the second round of March Madness by a red-hot Texas team.<\/a><\/p>\n

Few and his staff have hd to adjust to the new era of college basketball in recent years and get more involved in the transfer portal. While it isn’t a natural way of roster building for a school like Gonzaga that doesn’t have the same resources as some of the elite programs in the SEC or the Big Ten, Gonzaga did find star big man Graham Ike in the portal.<\/p>\n

Now, Ike is gone, as are a number of other key contributors from last year’s team. As of now, Huff is expected to be back next season, but the rest of the roster is looking a little bit barren.<\/p>\n

Gonzaga has a number of needs in the portal this offseason, and it won’t be able to address them all at once. However, there is one player who would make a massive difference going into the summer.<\/p>\n

Arizona State big man Massamba Diop would fit perfectly next to Huff<\/p>\n

Huff is one of the best bigs in the country, but in order to maximize him on both ends of the floor, it’s best to have him at power forward. That way, Huff isn’t asked to protect the rim and guard bigger players on defense, while also being able to step out and showcase his versatility on the offensive end of the floor.<\/p>\n

Ike served as the center in Gonzaga’s starting lineup over the last two seasons, while Huff played the four when he was healthy. Now, while Gonzaga also needs more shooting and better guard play even after signing Houston transfer Isaiah Harwell<\/a>, finding another center should be high up on Few’s priority list.<\/p>\n

Some of the best centers in the portal have already been scooped up, but there is still one that’s worth going after. Massamba Diop is a beast on the interior that showed off his skill during his freshman season at Arizona State, and now Gonzaga is going after the big man from Senegal.<\/p>\n

Diop would be a perfect fit in the front court next to Huff. He stands at 7-foot-1 and uses that size and length effectively on the inside. He played nearly 33 games at about 30 minutes a night as a freshman, averaging 13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. Notably, Diop recorded multiple blocks per game while picking up just two fouls a night in big minutes, so he is already skilled at avoiding foul trouble while being a good rim protector.<\/p>\n

Being able to protect the rim, rebound and finish inside would make Diop the perfect complement to Huff in the Gonzaga front court. While Diop is a non-shooter from the outside and a poor free throw shooter, Gonzaga would be able to work around that with its additions at some of the other spots on the floor. If Few could help Diop develop a post game like he did with Ike, he would be a scary proposition as Gonzaga moves to the new Mountain West.<\/p>\n

Gonzaga is currently set to host Diop on a visit, while St. John’s also pursues the former Arizona State standout after losing Zuby Ejiofor. The Bulldogs are clearly zeroed in on securing a commitment and should be going everything they can to land one.<\/p>\n

Gonzaga basketball has become one of the premier programs in college basketball under Mark Few, as the Bulldogs have run the WCC and are a constant contender for Final Fours and national championships. The Bulldogs have reached the national title game twice under Few, but have come up short both times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gonzaga basketball has become one of the premier programs in college basketball under Mark Few, as the Bulldogs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,8042,17634,10369,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-712246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-college-basketball-transfer-portal","11":"tag-gonzaga-basketball","12":"tag-mini-editorials","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-basketball","15":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116418765473028152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}