NCAA basketball

The first of Gonzaga’s three outgoing transfers has announced where he’ll spend the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Could both conferences survive through the remainder of the decade?

After the NBA draft withdrawal deadline passed on Wednesday night, we finally have a clearer picture of what college rosters will look like when the season starts in November.

After two years in the NBA and G League, Joel Ayayi’s first professional season back home in France ended in the opening round of the LNB Elite playoffs, when the former Gonzaga guard and his Nanterre 92 team lost to JL Bourg Basket in a three-game series.

No. 1 was easy, but there was plenty of competition for the remaining spots. WSU's John Olerud and Henry Rono just miss the cut.

PULLMAN – Cedric Coward became the fourth Eastern Washington basketball player to follow coach David Riley to Pullman, announcing on his Instagram page Thursday that he will play at Washington State next season.

The last former Zag standing in the NBA postseason finally bowed out Monday night when a shorthanded Indiana Pacers team lost in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics, despite another breakout performance from Andrew Nembhard.

PULLMAN – Former Washington State wing Jaylen Wells has played his final game as a Cougar.

In the finest tradition of Drew Timme, Anton Watson and Julian Strawther, Michael Ajayi provided some deadline day drama for Gonzaga basketball followers before withdrawing his name from the NBA draft. Ajayi’s decision hit social media Wednesday afternoon, 6-plus hours before the withdrawal deadline for early entrants. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony’s was first with the news on X (formerly Twitter) and it was quickly reposted by Ajayi.

Gonzaga’s inroads in Europe have the Bulldogs on the verge of landing a 7-foot prospect who’s spent the last two years developing in Real Madrid’s youth academy.

Bill Walton was an American original, the rare figure worthy of a documentary. He was, in no particular order, a legendary college basketball player for UCLA, an activist arrested for protesting the Vietnam War, an NBA champion for the Portland Trail Blazers, a fantastic backup to Robert Parish and Kevin McHale on the champion 1986 Boston Celtics, the father of four college basketball players and one NBA champion, a polarizing broadcaster who overcame a stutter to work for multiple decades, a tie-dye wearing Deadhead who loved Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and eventually, a cult figure for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network.

Two days after the Pac-12 took its final competitive breath, the conference lost its soul. Bill Walton passed away Monday after 71 years of a life like no other, ever.

Today’s column fulfills a promise I made to Bill Walton.

Bill Walton, a Hall of Fame center who authored a career that was triumphant and tragic, as well as colorful and controversial, died Monday after a battle with cancer. He was 71.

Noah Haaland, a former Lakeland High School standout whose father played for Gonzaga in the 1980s under Dan Fitzgerald, will join the Bulldogs as a preferred walk-on next season, he announced Sunday on social media.

Braeden Smith began his week with an official visit to Spokane and finished it by signing a financial aid agreement with Gonzaga.

INDIANAPOLIS – Trailing by one point with 25.6 seconds remaining on the game clock and 17 seconds left on the shot clock, the Indiana Pacers needed one defensive stop to give themselves a chance to steal Game 3 back from the Boston Celtics after surrendering an 18-point second-half lead.

Merritt’s story has a compelling arc: Medical hardships, athletic successes, some missteps and early death. But make no mistake, at its heart, this story is a requiem for a baller. Stone-cold. Unrelenting competitor. The man lived for it.

Gonzaga’s approach was different than the others. The Zags’ depth chart was pretty much set with four returning starters, including the backcourt of seniors Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman, and the addition of three transfers, including 6-5 guards/wings Khalif Battle and Emmanuel Innocenti. GU was very interested in Smith but told the Seattle native up front it wanted him to redshirt for the upcoming season with the Zags’ senior-heavy roster and then have two seasons of eligibility remaining.