Gonzaga adds a big transfer from ASU and a date with Duke

It’s been a big week for the Gonzaga Bulldogs men’s basketball program.

NCAA on track to expand to a 76-team March Madness bracket

First, they added one of the biggest players – literally and figuratively – in the transfer portal. And then they added a marquee game for next season against another perennial power.

Zags land Massamba Diop

The Field of 68 reported on Tuesday that 7-foot-1 center Massamba Diop has committed to Gonzaga as a transfer from Arizona State. Diop is the No. 19 player on ESPN’s rankings of the top transfers in men’s college hoops.

Diop leaves the Sun Devils in the wake of Randy Bennett being hired to replace Bobby Hurley as head coach in Tempe. Bennett was the longtime coach of Saint Mary’s, which was Gonzaga’s chief rival in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga is leaving the WCC at the end of this school year to join the reformed Pac-12.

Diop led the Sun Devils last season with 2.1 blocks per game and was second with 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. He made 8 of 26 attempts on 3-pointers (30.8%) and shot 59.4% from the field and 71.5% on free throws.

The addition of Diop, a native of Senegal who attended high school in Spain, gives returning Zags big man Braden Huff a new running mate after the graduation of star forward Graham Ike.

Gonzaga to play Duke next season

The other big addition for the Zags was announced Thursday: a date with the Duke Blue Devils.

Gonzaga will take on Duke at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit in a rare late-season non-conference game on Feb. 20, 2027. The game, which does not yet have an official tip-off time, will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.

Gonzaga and Duke have played five times previously, the last meeting of which was in November 2021 when then-No. 5 Blue Devils took down then-No. 1 Zags 84-81 in Las Vegas.

Duke is ranked No. 2 and Gonzaga is No. 8 in CBS Sports’ latest “way-too-early Top 25 And 1” released Wednesday. Gonzaga moved up three spots after landing Diop.

Gonzaga lands former McDonald’s All-American in transfer portal

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