Gonzaga’s 2026-27 roster makeover isn’t just about the newcomers in Spokane. A chunk of last season’s Bulldogs are already scattered across college basketball, and 10 former Zags are set to suit up elsewhere this year.
Six of them are still in the college game, just wearing different colors now. Four more have moved on to new programs as well, giving Gonzaga fans a long list of familiar names to track once the season tips off.
Arauzmoore, the walk-on who became a crowd favorite, is now at High Point after spending three years at Gonzaga. He played in 12 games for the Bulldogs, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, two steals and an assist while going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.
High Point made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed last season and knocked off No. 5 Wisconsin.
The Panthers open Nov. 2 against Liberty and host Washington State on Nov. 7 at 2:00 PM PT.
Diagne also stayed in the WCC, transferring to San Francisco after Gonzaga’s conference exit. The 7-foot center is expected to play a major role for Chris Gerlufsen’s team.
In USF’s exhibition against Arizona and preseason All-American Mo Krivas, Diagne started and logged 30 minutes, finishing with six points, three rebounds, two assists and five fouls. The Dons open at home against Radford on Nov.
Harris is headed back to the league where he made his name. After three seasons at Gonzaga and one at LMU, the founder of the “Tricky Trio” is now at Pacific.
He averaged 14.3 points and led the WCC by shooting 44.8% from three in 2023-24. Pacific opens Nov. 3 at home against Bethesda.
Innocenti will spend his senior season at Arizona State, where he’s already showing up in a big way. He earned the start in the Sun Devils’ first exhibition, a win over New Mexico on Sunday afternoon, and played 37 minutes.
The 6-foot-5 wing posted 13 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists while shooting 5-of-10 overall and 2-of-6 from deep. After two seasons as a defensive specialist in Spokane, he joins Randy Bennett’s program alongside Paulius Murauskas, Dillan Shaw and Joel Foxwell.
Arizona State begins Monday against ETSU.
Lemke is back at Belmont after redshirting during his lone season at Gonzaga. Last year with the Bruins, he scored 11 points in 23 minutes over 13 appearances. Belmont opens Nov. 2 at home against Southern Indiana.
Orness, another former Gonzaga walk-on, has taken his game to Mount St. Mary’s.
He’ll be part of the backcourt mix for the Mountaineers in the MAAC. They have an exhibition Wednesday against Navy and begin the season Monday, Nov. 2, on the road against Xavier.
Smith used two seasons at Gonzaga to get to this point, redshirting in 2024-25 before sharing point guard duties last season with Mario Saint-Supery. He entered the portal for his final year and landed at Notre Dame, where he appears set to start at point guard.
In the Fighting Irish’s two exhibition games, Smith started and played 23 minutes against Dayton, then 29 against DePaul, when he had 17 points and five rebounds. He’ll be in the starting lineup when Notre Dame meets Villanova in Rome on Nov. 1 in the first CBB game of the season.
Stosic’s path has wound through three schools as well. He appeared in 14 games for Gonzaga in 2023-24, redshirted at Utah State in 2024-25, then played a rotation role at Pepperdine last season.
He started 12 of 31 games and averaged 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 16.2 minutes. Now he’s in the NEC with the Knights, who open Nov. 2 at Illinois, a team that reached the Final Four last year.
Stromer is back in the WCC after a year at Grand Canyon. The former Gonzaga wing averaged 6.4 points and 2.7 rebounds as a key reserve there, and now he’s part of a new-look San Diego team under first-year coach JR Blount.
The Toreros beat Colorado State 73-58 in an exhibition on Sunday, with Stromer starting and playing 30 minutes. He scored seven points, grabbed one rebound and dished one assist while going 3-for-12 from the field.
San Diego opens Monday against Biola, with an exhibition at UCLA on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Venters is heading to his third Division I stop, and all of them have been in Washington. After three years at Gonzaga, where injuries limited him to just one season of action, the 6-foot-7 shooter will play his final year with the Huskies.
Washington went 0-2 in the preseason with losses to Boise State and Washington State, and Venters logged six points and five fouls in 20 minutes against Boise State before scoring three points on 1-for-4 shooting in 12 minutes against the Cougars. The Huskies open at home Monday against Colgate, the former school of Braeden Smith.
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Lauren Whittaker Is Giving Gonzaga One More Reason To Feel Dangerous
Lisa Fortier enters the 2026-27 season with plenty of familiar pieces back in place, and Lauren Whittaker is a big reason Gonzaga looks like more than just the league favorite. The Bulldogs return 10 players from last years group, including Whittaker, the reigning WCC Player of the Year, along with Allie Turner, Jaiden Haile and Ines Bettencourt, giving a veteran roster a chance to keep building on what it already established.
Whittakers recognition this preseason only adds to the sense that Gonzaga has a team opponents will have to plan around from the start. She landed on the Becky Hammon Player of the Year Award Watch List, which tracks the top player outside the Power Five, a reminder that her profile now stretches well beyond Spokane. For a program already expected to win the Pac-12, having a player like Whittaker back in the fold makes the Bulldogs look even more dangerous. [Read more 🡒]
Davis Fogle Is Giving Gonzaga Fans A Bigger Debate Entering The Season
Davis Fogles rise is already giving Gonzaga fans something to chew on before the season even gets rolling. The Bulldogs forward landed on the 20-player watch list for the 2027 Julius Erving Award, the annual honor from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame that recognizes the top small forwards in Division I mens basketball, and it puts his name in the mix at a national level after being selected by a committee of college basketball personnel.
For Gonzaga, it is another reminder that the conversation around Fogle is only going to grow as the calendar turns. Fan voting opens on Oct. 30, and the award picture will keep tightening in the months ahead before the winner is chosen in late March 2027, so his name should stay in the spotlight for a while as the Bulldogs move into the new season. [Read more 🡒]