Season Recap: The Most Efficient Big Man in College Basketball Played Half a Season. Here’s What Comes Next.

Gonzaga once again enters 2026-27 as a legitimate national title contender on paper, with a frontcourt that may be the most physically imposing Few has assembled in years. Massamba Diop, a 7’1 projected 2027 lottery pick, slots in alongside a returning senior Braden Huff, with Izan Almansa providing professional-level depth behind them. The backcourt, however, is perilously thin and alarmingly young, the conference is new and stiffer, and the roster outside the frontcourt is largely unproven. In that context, one player carries more weight than anyone else on the team, and it isn’t one of the freshmen or the transfers. It’s the senior who spent three years doing everything the right way at Gonzaga, finally got his starting job, played 18 games at an All-American level, and then watched his knee give out on a routine defensive play in practice.

This is a look back at what Braden Huff did in those 18 games, what his injury meant for the team that had to play without him, and what a full senior season from a healthy Huff means for a Gonzaga program with genuine championship ambitions.

Mr. Basketball Goes to Washington

Braden Huff arrived at Gonzaga in 2022 as Illinois Mr. Basketball, a four-star recruit who had turned down offers from Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Iowa to play for coach Mark Few. He arrived to find a frontcourt featuring Drew Timme, Anton Watson, Ben Gregg, and Efton Reid, and rather than burn a year of eligibility, he redshirted. In the current landscape of college basketball, where four-star recruits treat the transfer portal as a first resort, that decision was genuinely unusual. Huff understood he needed to build his body and repertoire, and trusted the GU staff with its proven track record of turning big men into NBA prospects. He spent a year guarding Drew Timme in practice every day, which he later acknowledged was not always enjoyable but was unquestionably formative.

The patience and competition paid off steadily. He averaged 9.3 points per game…

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Publish date : 2026-05-27 13:00:00

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