Gonzaga's Mark Few shares thoughts on how to fix college basketball transfer portal rules

The Zags have long utilized transfers to build experienced rosters

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Not many coaches have successfully navigated transfers in college basketball as well as Gonzaga's Mark Few. Well before the transfer portal came along and upended the sport as we know it, Few and the Zags were adept at finding transfers who were willing to sit out a year and develop behind the scenes — particularly after the blueprint was laid by Kelly Olynyk in 2012-13, who blossomed into an All-American after voluntarily redshirting in 2011-12.

Kyle Wiltjer (Kentucky), Nigel Williams-Goss (Washington), Johnathan Williams (Missouri), and Brandon Clarke (San Jose State) followed suit, while the staff continued to monitor the graduate transfer market for immediately eligible talent like Byron Wesley, Jordan Matthews, and Geno Crandall as well.

That all changed when the transfer portal was introduced, allowing student-athletes near total freedom each offseason — with lawsuits dismantling the very few guardrails the NCAA attempted to leave in place.

Few, like many coaches in college basketball, is advocating for more rules to limit transfers and help the sport fix the issue of roster turnover that is leading to fan disengagement and a concentration of talent in a small handful of conferences.

"You should get one transfer, and you don't have to sit that first [year]," Few told Jon Rothstein on the Inside College Basketball podcast. "Anything after that, no matter what happens, you need to sit a year. It could be the best thing for your career, we've had many of our redshirts go on to have incredible NBA careers. In many ways it helps."

Gonzaga is perhaps the most successful program in college basketball at developing talent in a redshirt year, as evidenced by the significant growth shown by Wiltjer, Clarke, and Williams-Goss, as well as Olynyk and, most recently, Braden Huff, who redshirted as a freshman and was immediately impactful his first playing season in 2023-24.

The team will hope for more of the same this year, having spent a year developing both Colgate transfer guard Braeden Smith and Virginia transfer wing Jalen Warley last season.

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Braeden Smith. | Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Few explained his other, off the court reason for wanting two-time transfers to sit out a year.

"Way more important than that, it puts you in great shape for graduation," Few continued. "In a lot of cases for us we've had guys plugging away at their Masters or even finishing it. I don't know anyone with any sense of college athletics who would be against that."

Gonzaga will open up the 2025-26 season with seven total transfers on the roster, with Smith and Warley joined by Adam Miller (Arizona State), Graham Ike (Wyoming), Emmanuel Innocenti (Tarleton State), Steele Venters (Eastern Washington), and Tyon Grant-Foster (Grand Canyon).