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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga picked to win WCC; Graham Ike and Braden Huff named to preseason team

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff (34) shakes hands with head coach Mark Few after the Bulldogs beat the Saint Mary’s Gaels during the second half of the WCC Tournament Championship on Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025, at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Gonzaga won the game 58-51. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

LAS VEGAS – The last two years have not turned out favorably, but coaches still expect Gonzaga will return to the top of the West Coast Conference standings by the end of its final year in the league.

Despite conceding the last two regular-season championships to longtime WCC nemesis Saint Mary’s, the Zags were still voted No. 1, followed by the Gaels at No. 2, when the league released its preseason poll Thursday morning at Media Day in Las Vegas. GU has been picked as the preseason favorite 23 of the last 25 seasons.

Gonzaga, which will start the year at No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25, collected 9 of the 12 first-place votes and received 119 points, while Saint Mary’s picked up two votes and received 109 points. San Francisco was the only other team to garner a first-place vote and received 98 points. Coaches cannot vote on their own team.

The Dons came in at No. 3 in the preseason poll, followed by No. 4 Santa Clara (92), No. 5 Oregon State (76), No. 6 Washington State (69), No. 7 Loyola Marymount (61), No. 8 Seattle U (53), No. 9 San Diego (36), No. 10 Pacific (32), No. 11 Pepperdine (24) and No. 12 Portland (23).

The two players representing Gonzaga at WCC Media Day – senior Graham Ike and junior Braden Huff – appeared on the 10-man preseason team.

Saint Mary’s led all schools with three players – guard Mikey Lewis, forward Paulius Murauskas and center Harry Wessels – while San Francisco and Santa Clara each had two representatives.

Dons guard Ryan Beasley made the list along with wing Tyrone Riley IV, who entered the transfer portal after a breakout freshman year before returning to USF. The Broncos’ top returning scorer, Elijah Mahi, joined G-League addition Thierry Darlan.

Pacific wing Elias Ralph, the team’s only returning rotation player, was named to the preseason team, while seven WCC teams were not represented at all.

The Zags’ Ike and the Gaels’ Murauskas were the only players on last year’s All-WCC First Team to appear on the preseason team.

Coaches picked Gonzaga to win the WCC by a fairly significant margin last year, but the Zags dropped four games in conference play and ceded the regular-season title to Saint Mary’s, which finished 17-1 in league games. It was the third time in as many years the Gaels won at least a share of the regular-season title and their second straight outright championship.

The Zags bounced back in the WCC Tournament, clipping the Gaels 58-51 at Orleans Arena to capture their 22nd league tournament championship. Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga both advanced through the first round in the tournament, watching their respective seasons culminate in the Round of 32.

Ike and Huff started together for the first time last season in the WCC title game, combining for 29 points and 11 rebounds against the Gaels. Both will return to GU’s starting lineup in 2025-26, while Saint Mary’s replaces four of its five starters.

WSU, which did not have anyone on the All-WCC team, is replacing all five starters from a team that went 19-15 overall and 8-10 in conference play. The Cougars were represented at WCC Media Day by wing Rihards Vavers and forward ND Okafor, both of whom were staples of coach David Riley’s rotation last season.