Gonzaga duo ranked in CBS Sports’ top 100 and 1 players entering 2024-25 season

A pair of Gonzaga men’s basketball players were featured in CBS Sports’ rankings of the top 100 and 1 players heading into the 2024-25 season.

Senior guard Ryan Nembhard checked in at No. 26 in the rankings, behind potential one-and-done prospects Ace Bailey (Rutgers) and VJ Edgecombe (Baylor), while senior forward Graham Ike came in at No. 52 after being ranked No. 80 in last preseason’s rankings from CBS. 

Alabama’s Mark Sears was ranked the No. 1 player by the CBS Sports panel, as the preseason All-American guard was also the CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year. North Carolina’s RJ Davis was No. 2, followed by Duke freshman Cooper Flagg at No. 3. Flagg was one of six freshmen who made this season’s top 100 and 1 list.

Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson heads into his fifth season of college basketball ranked No. 5 in CBS Sports’ poll. The 7-foot-2 center was one of five Jayhawks on the top 100 and 1 list: Dajuan Harris Jr. (No. 32), AJ Storr (No. 34), KJ Adams Jr. (No. 58) and Zeke Mayo (“and 1”). Kansas will start the season No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll as well.

UConn’s Alex Karaban came in at No. 7, which is quite the leap from last season considering he wasn’t ranked in the top 100 and 1 heading into 2023-24. Gonzaga faces the Huskies at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14.

Former Gonzaga and current Wake Forrest guard Hunter Sallis was ranked No. 8, then Purdue’s Braden Smith at No. 9. Indiana center Oumar Ballo, another ex-Zag, was No. 18 in the top 100 and 1. The Bulldogs could see Ballo and the Hoosiers at the Battle 4 Atlantis event.

In total, Gonzaga will see at least 11 players from CBS Sports’ player rankings during nonconference play this season. That number could grow to 18 depending on how the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament plays out. The Hoosiers have four players in the top 100 and 1, while the Wildcats have three, led by Caleb Love at No. 12.

Nembhard set the program record for assists in a single season with 243, which was the sixth-most in the country last season. He had seven games with 10 or more dimes and became the first Bulldog to have back-to-back double-doubles with assists since Dan Dickau did it in 2001. Nembhard also added 12.6 points and grabbed 4.0 rebounds per game en route to earning All-WCC first team honors.

Ike led the West Coast Conference in both points (18.4 per game) and field goal percentage (64.0%) in conference-only games — becoming just the sixth player in WCC history to do so — and was named an AP All-American Honorable Mention last season. He had 16 games during the regular season with 20 or more points, which led the WCC and matched Drew Timme’s total of 20-point games he had in the 2022-23 regular season.

Nembhard and Ike were both named to the preseason All-WCC team, alongside teammates Nolan Hickman and Michael Ajayi. Nembhard and Ike are also among the early betting favorites to win the 2025 Wooden Award.