Dan Dickau on Marcus Adams Jr. leaving Gonzaga: 'I don't think it's a big deal'
Four-star freshman Marcus Adams Jr. won't be suiting up for the Gonzaga men's basketball team this season.
Adams reclassified after he made his initial commitment to Kansas in early March as a member of the school's 2024 recruiting class. After spending roughly a month in Lawrence, he transferred to Gonzaga in July, forming a deep rotation of wing depth for head coach Mark Few. But after one month on campus, with most classes at Gonzaga starting on Tuesday, Adams decided to not attend.
Now, Adams will likely need a transfer waiver from the NCAA to be granted immediate eligibility for the 2023-24 season, which is set to tip off in less than 10 weeks. While the decision came abruptly, the outlook for the Zags' upcoming season remains essentially the same, according to former All-American Dan Dickau.
"I don't think it's a big issue for Gonzaga. The way things were shaping up and you look at the roster, I don't think there was going to be a lot of minutes coming his way," Dickau said on the Gonzaga Nation podcast. "I think it could be one of those things where it could be addition by subtraction."
The Zags got deeper on the wing over the offseason, and it wasn't clear as to how much Adams would see the floor in his freshman season. Few landed Steele Venters from Eastern Washington weeks after last season ended. Croatian Luka Krajnovic signed with the program two weeks ago. Korean forward Jun Seok Yeo and four-star recruit Dusty Stromer will also vie for minutes in Few's rotation.
"He was going to have to earn those minutes, and if he's bouncing from Kansas early and then he bounces from Gonzaga early, that's a player that might shy away from the competition for minutes," Dickau said. "Maybe he wants the minutes handed to him, and that's something coach Few and the staff are never going to do."
Regardless of where he'll sign next, Adams will need a transfer waiver to be eligible to play in his freshman season. The NCAA released new guidelines regarding two-time transfers in March; the organization said a student-athlete will not be granted a waiver if they are trying to leave a program because of a lack of playing time or if they are seeking a new role on the team. A waiver will only be considered if the player transfers due to mental health, "exigent circumstances" or assertions involving diagnosed education-impacting disabilities.
Along with Gonzaga and Kansas, Adams also received offers from Arkansas, Washington, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Indiana, Oregon, Washington State, Syracuse and Pepperdine.
