Graham Ike, the WCC’s Next Best

Introducing my favorite to win the West Coast Conference’s Newcomer of the Year next season, Graham Ike.

Ike will fit right into the Gonzaga family atmosphere that Mark Few has installed into the program. That was the main reason he decided to head over to Spokane. ”The family environment there gave me a great feeling,” Ike told ESPN. “The culture is phenomenal and so are the people.”

He may have just started participating in drills and some 5-on-5 work a couple of weeks ago but Ike looks to get right back into basketball shape real soon. All signs point to him being ready for the start of the season.

Before sitting out the 2022-2023 season due to a lower leg injury, Graham Ike was one of the best players in the Mountain West Conference at Wyoming. He averaged 19.5 PPG on 51.0 FG% and 9.6 RPG in 2021-2022.

The left-handed big man backs down his defenders with his brute strength on the low block. Similar to Drew Timme, Ike has a diverse set of post moves to score on either shoulder. He goes up strong and takes the contact through his shot. Truly is remarkable at drawing fouls and getting to the line.

Ike is one of the best low-post players in the country. Expect him to play a prominent role with the departure of one of the all-time great Zags in Drew Timme moving on.

Gonzaga has done it once again and found success in the transfer portal. With the addition of Ike and the two other studs (Nembhard and Venters), Gonzaga is among college basketball’s best next season.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area... Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho