Gonzaga star named preseason All-American by CBS Sports

The Zags have not had an All-American since Drew Timme's departure

Gonzaga men's basketball team. | Photo by Myk Crawford

The 2025-26 college basketball season is less than two weeks away for Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who tip off against Texas Southern on Monday, Nov. 3, at 6:00 PM.

It's another year chalk full of expectations in Spokane, with Gonzaga returning a pair of frontcourt superstars in Graham Ike and Braden Huff, along with a veteran group of guards that includes transfers Braeden Smith, Jalen Warley, and Adam Miller, as well as Steele Venters and Emmanuel Innocenti.

While there is some concern about how the backcourt will gel, there is no doubt about the talent up front for coach Few's club. Ike and Huff are two of the very best bigs in the nation, with Ike in particular drawing tons of preseason accolades.

The latest comes from CBS Sports, which included Ike on their preseason All-American Third Team on Tuesday.

"Ike has become the best version of himself at Gonzaga," CBS reporter Isaac Trotter wrote. "He is an utter mauler who overwhelms opposing big men with power and finesse in the paint. Even without the brilliant Ryan Nembhard to spoon-feed him good look after good look, Ike should still dominate offensively in this Zags' scheme."

Ike was joined on the third team by guard PJ Haggerty (Kansas State), center Zuby Ejiofor (St. John's), guard Milos Uzan (Houston) and forward Darrion Williams (NC State).

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike. | Photo by Erik Smith

The first team was made up of a pair of Purdue stars in guard Braden Smith and forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, as well as Texas Tech forward JT Toppin, Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson, and UCLA guard Donovan Dent. The second team includes Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, Kentucky guard Otega Oweh, Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz, and Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg.

Ike has been at Gonzaga the past two seasons, averaging 16.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in just 23.5 minutes per game. This year instead of splitting time at the five with Huff, the duo will start and play together — which they did for the final three games of the 2024-25 season: a win over Saint Mary's in the WCC championship, a win over Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and a heartbreaking loss to Houston in the second round.

The two bigs will create matchup problems all year long for opponents, as both are capable of posting up and scoring around the rim, and both can also step out to the perimeter and hit outside shots. The key for Gonzaga is the ability of the bigs to make good passes to each other, which fans saw glimpses of in the exhibition win over Northwest on Sunday.

Huff recorded three assists, all to Ike, in the first four minutes of Gonzaga's blowout win, and had a beautiful dime in the second half to a cutting Ike — a huge part of both players' development.

There are a ton of great big men in college basketball this upcoming season, but few are better than Ike at scoring around the rim and gobbling up rebounds, and on a team built around him, it would not be a surprise at all to see the 6'9 senior take home All-American honors this year.