(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
The news was first reported by Karthik Venkataraman.
Gonzaga is coming off of a monster season in which they went 31-1. Losing in the National Championship. This is great news for the Bulldogs.
Mark Few is one of the most respectable coaches in College Basketball, and he helped Jalen Suggs become a better player. He will now help Holmgren as well.
Chet Holmgren is the top ranked recruit for the class of 2021. For him to commit to Gonzaga is huge, it will make him the highest ranked recruit to play at the school.
With Freshman guard Jalen Suggs, Junior Guard Joel Ayayi, and Senior forward Corey Kispert both headed to the next level. Holmgren will have a huge role with the Zags during the 2021-2022 season. He will more than likely slot in as a starting forward alongside Drew Timme. Though with the addition, the starting five for Gonzaga might look something like this:
G- Andrew Nembhard- SR
G – Hunter Sallis – FR
F – Anton Watson – JR
F – Drew Timme – JR
F – Chet Holmgren – FR
That is a pretty scary starting five! Thats not even the entire rotation; you’d still have incoming freshman Kaden Perry, sophomore guard Julian Strawther, Guard Dominick Harris, Junior Forward Pavel Zakharov, Junior Guard Matthew Lang, Senior Guard Will Graves, and many others.
So on paper, you could take a team that almost went undefeated with a historical season, and they could slot them back into the Final Four and possibly even the Championship game.
Not only is Gonzaga losing Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs, Aaron Cook and Joel Ayayi. They are also going to be losing Assistant Coach Tommy Lloyd. It was recently announced that he is the new head coach of the Arizona Wildcats. Losing Lloyd might be the biggest loss that Mark Few and the crew have had to deal with in the past few years. He was with the team for twenty years and made himself indispensable for the Bulldogs. But, you can’t keep someone that great forever. Few will have his hands tied trying to replace Lloyd.
Although, losing those four players and Lloyd could be detrimental to the success of the Zags, getting the highest ranked prospect, is a pretty big step that might show that the Zags are not giving up. Expect the Zags to stay in the top of the standings in college basketball next season.
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Northwest Sports Desk 