Mark Few’s new-look Gonzaga roster gets its first public run on Saturday, Oct. 3, when the Bulldogs stage their annual Kraziness in the Kennel.
It won’t be the finished product by any stretch, but it should offer an early peek at 11 newcomers and a roster that looks very different from the one fans watched last season. Freshmen Luca Foster and Sam Funches are part of the group, along with transfers Massamba Diop and Isiah Harwell from Arizona State and Houston, respectively.
There’s also a trio of fifth-year senior transfers in Javon Bennett, Chauncey Wiggins and Xaivian Lee. Their eligibility is still tied up with the courts and the NCAA, but if they’re on the floor, they’ll be part of the most intriguing layer of the night.
The scrimmage starts at 2:00 PM PT and will be shown locally on SWX, giving fans their first chance to sort through the pieces before Gonzaga’s exhibition opener at Arkansas on Oct. 25.
One of the biggest names to track is Davis Fogle. The 6-foot-7 wing made a huge leap last season, going from end-of-the-bench scorer to a key rotation piece by growing as a scorer, facilitator and defender. Now the path is open for the Anacortes, WA, native to take on a much larger role as a sophomore, and plenty of people think he could be one of the breakout players in the country.
Saturday should tell us a little more about just how much responsibility Gonzaga is willing to hand him. Does he handle the ball in a point guard role?
Can he get to the rim? Has the outside shot taken another step?
Don’t be surprised if he puts up the most points on the floor, regardless of which side he’s on.
Harwell is another name that will draw a lot of attention. Gonzaga recruited the Pocatello, ID, native heavily out of high school, but he chose Houston first and spent last season in the Big 12, where he averaged 3.6 points in about 14 minutes per game. Now the former McDonald’s All-American is finally in Spokane as a sophomore, and this weekend will be his first real chance to show how he fits in a different system.
The questions are pretty straightforward: does the 6-foot-6 wing look comfortable in Gonzaga’s style, and is the athleticism fully back after a leg injury limited him last year? Kraziness won’t answer everything, but it should give a first useful look at how he might be used in 2026-27.
The freshmen are always part of the fun, and this year’s group includes Foster, center Sam Funches, French wing Juwan Ekanga, French guard Nathan de Sousa and walk-on wing Carter Nilson making their Gonzaga debuts. de Sousa arrives at 23 with just one year of eligibility, while the other four are true freshmen. Izan Almansa is also not cleared by the NCAA right now, though that could change before Saturday.
Of the incoming freshmen, Foster looks like the one most likely to play real rotation minutes this season. The 6-foot-5 wing was ranked No. 52 in the 2026 class by 247Sports and brings shot-making and positional length that stand out immediately. He’s reportedly been very impressive this summer, and a strong showing on Saturday could build some early momentum with the fan base.
Funches appears headed for a deeper reserve role behind Diop, Huff, Alamansa if eligible, and Jefferson, but there’s no question about his upside. Ekanga, meanwhile, is the kind of raw, high-upside wing prospect that can jump off the court in a setting like this, even if his regular-season minutes are limited.
In Other News...
Gonzaga Still Faces An Eligibility Cloud Over Two Key Players
A hearing in Santa Clara County this week kept the spotlight on Gonzaga players Xaivian Lee and Ines Bettencourt, whose push for a fifth year of college eligibility remains tied up in a lawsuit against the NCAA. The session was aimed at a preliminary injunction, and for now the case sits in a holding pattern while both players continue to move through team activities under a temporary restraining order.
No ruling came down at the hearing, which means the uncertainty around their status is still hanging over Gonzaga as the season gets closer. A continuation is set for October 20, leaving the Bulldogs to wait on a legal process that could determine whether Lee and Bettencourt are cleared to keep practicing and taking part in upcoming events as the case unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Gonzagas First Pac-12 Schedule Just Revealed A Tough New Reality
Gonzagas first season in the Pac-12 now has a complete shape, with the conference releasing its mens basketball schedule and the Bulldogs filling in the rest of a 31-game regular season. The slate shows the kind of transition that comes with a new league home: 16 conference games in a double round-robin format, plus at least 15 nonconference dates that still have to be navigated around a packed winter calendar.
For Gonzaga, the release does more than settle dates on paper. It clarifies where the biggest tests will land, when the conference grind begins, and how much room there is for the Bulldogs to build momentum before the Pac-12 Tournament. The full schedule gives Mark Fews team its first real look at what life in the league will demand, and it leaves one obvious question hanging in the air: how quickly can Gonzaga turn a new setting into a familiar routine? [Read more 🡒]
Gonzagas 2026-27 Schedule Sets Up Several Massive Early Tests
Gonzagas 2026-27 mens basketball slate is now in place after the Pac-12 released its conference schedule, and it sets up a heavyweight start to the season. The Bulldogs will go through two exhibition games, 15 non-conference matchups and 16 league games before the conference tournament in Las Vegas, with the early portion of the schedule loaded with the kind of opponents that tend to tell a program plenty about where it stands.
Purdue, Kansas State, Michigan State, Oregon and Duke are all on the list, giving Mark Fews team little room to ease into the year. The season opener has also been announced, but the broader picture is already clear: Gonzaga will be tested quickly, and those early results should shape the conversation around a team that expects to be in the spotlight from the start. [Read more 🡒]