Tyon Grant-Foster among trio of Gonzaga stars on CBS' top 101 players in college basketball

The Zags tip the season off Monday against Texas Southern

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Tyon Grant-Foster (7). | Photo by Myk Crawford

With less than one week until the 2025-26 college basketball season gets underway, CBS Sports released a ranking of the top 101 players in the sport.

Gonzaga's dynamic frontcourt duo of Graham Ike and Braden Huff was unexpectedly included, while the team made a last-minute addition to also include small forward Tyon Grant-Foster.

Ike came in at No. 20, while Grant-Foster slotted in at No. 70 and Huff followed not far behind at No. 78.

The 23-year-old Ike is CBS' highest-ranked player outside the power five conferences, coming in just behind Alabama guard Labaron Philon and ahead of Florida transfer guard Boogie Fland. Ike has improved steadily in each of his first two seasons with Gonzaga, and his inside-out game with Huff should result in a more well-rounded performance offensively.

Grant-Foster is "quite literally the last player put on our list, according to Matt Norlander, who had the 6'7 wing inside the top 50 on this list last year. Grant-Foster slipped 20 spots after a tough final year at Grand Canyon, but Norlander projects the 25-year-old to be Gonzaga's second leading scorer and states he could exceed the 14.8 points he logged last year.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Tyon Grant-Foster (7). | Photo by Myk Crawford

The guy eight spots behind Grant-Foster may have something to say about that. Huff averaged 11 points in just 16.6 minutes last year and is due for an increase in playing time following the graduation of Ben Gregg and transfer of Michael Ajayi to Butler.

Huff and Ike have looked great sharing the floor ever since the WCC Championship game last year, with both capable of playing the traditional back-to-the-basket center role as well as the power forward who handles the ball on the perimeter, and often feeds the other big.

These two should more or less share the load this year offensively, and both could very easily be over 15 points per game.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff (34). | Photo by Erik Smith

Grant-Foster will have plenty of chances to score for Gonzaga in transition, where he's always been excellent, and his proclivity for drawing contact should give him 3-4 more points each night at the free-throw line, but the key for him will be how soon he's ready to play big minutes in this system.

Even though the 6'7 wing committed to Gonzaga in late May, he has had barely two weeks of practice time in Spokane due to a nearly five-month-long fight against the NCAA, which Grant-Foster won on Monday after a Spokane County judge granted him a preliminary injunction.

The season starts in less than a week, and Grant-Foster likely won't be tossed into the wolves right away. He could start for the Zags at some point this season, but it seems unlikely to do so on Nov. 3 when the team takes on Texas Southern.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Myk Crawford

The only other WCC player on the list is Saint Mary's forward Paulius Murauskas, who came in at No. 98 as Norlander's write-in pick.

Alongside Philon and Murauskas, Gonzaga will also face 13 other players on this list: UCLA guard Donovan Dent (No. 6), Kentucky guard Otega Oweh (9), Oregon big man Nate Bittle (30), Kentucky guard Jaland Lowe (35) Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad (40), Kentucky big man Jayden Quaintance (52), UCLA big man Tyler Bilodeau (58), Creighton center Owen Freeman (64), Alabama guard Aden Holloway (65), UCLA forward Eric Dailey (75), Creighton guard Josh Dix (77), Oklahoma guard Nijel Pack (97) and finally another Oklahoma guard, Xzayvier Brown, at No. 101.