Gonzaga star Braden Huff left off CBS Sports’ list of top returners in college basketball

The Gonzaga Bulldogs may have lost 11 players from last season’s roster, but the big story for Mark Few’s team is the three they were able to keep: sophomores Mario Saint-Supery and Davis Fogle, as well as star big man Braden Huff.

Huff returns for his fourth season playing in a Gonzaga uniform and is primed to take over as the team’s go-to scoring option after averaging 17.8 points last year while shooting a ridiculous 69.7% on two-pointers and 33.3% from three.

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It’s not at all unreasonable to project Huff as an All-American this upcoming season, which makes it a surprise he wasn’t included on CBS Sports’ list of the top 25 best returners in college basketball.

The list only included players who are returning to their previous school – not transfers – which makes Huff’s exclusion even more glaring.

Another snub?

This isn’t the first time Huff has been snubbed this offseason. The Field of 68 ranked the top 50(!) returners in college basketball – again excluding transfers – and did not include Huff. In both of these cases, another high-profile big man, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, was left off the list as well – and that could help explain the rationale.

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Toppin is a former All-American and is unquestionably one of the best returners in college hoops, but he suffered a torn ACL in February and will likely miss a good chunk of this upcoming season. No official timeline has been given for Toppin, and it would make sense for lists like these to exclude him until more clarity around his status emerges.

Perhaps the same logic is being applied to Huff, who missed the final 17 games of Gonzaga’s season with a left knee injury suffered in practice before the team’s road game against Washington State on Jan. 15.

Gonzaga Bulldogs foward Braden Huff. | Photo by Myk Crawford

However, Huff was moving around well before Gonzaga was eliminated by Texas in the Round of 32, and seems all but certain – barring a setback – to be ready for the 2026-27 season opener against Purdue…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/gonzaga-star-braden-huff-left-004500036.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-13 00:45:00

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