The keys to Gonzaga’s ninth straight appearance in the Sweet 16 dates back to last April, when Mark Few brought in transfers Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike on the same day.

Through some growing pains together, the two formed a dynamic duo that spearheaded a top-five offense in the country through their connection in the pick-and-roll game. Both were named to the All-WCC first team and guided the Bulldogs to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament once again. 

Ike in particular was dominant on the low block, as he averaged a team-high 16.5 points and grabbed 7.4 rebounds while shooting 60.9% from the field. His numbers in league play were even better — 18.4 points per game on 64.0% shooting from the floor — making Ike the sixth player in league history to lead in both scoring and field goal percentage in conference games only.

The historic effort from the 6-foot-9 post in his first season at Gonzaga earned him CBS Sports 2023-24 All-Transfer Team honorable mention honors on Thursday, which recognized Ike as one of the 10 best transfer players this past season. 

The All-Transfer team, selected by CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander and David Cobb, was headlined by Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht as the CBS Sports Transfer of the Year. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged 25.5 points and shot 42.4% on 3-pointers against SEC competition, which earned him the SEC’s Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-American recognition. 

UConn’s Cam Spencer, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson, Utah State’s Great Osobar and Arizona’s Caleb Love joined Knecht on the All-Transfer team. Along with Ike, NC State’s DJ Horne, Illinois’ Marcus Domask, Wisconsin’s AJ Storr and Grand Canyon’s Tyson Grant-Foster were honorable mentions.

Nembhard was left off the list despite putting up 13.8 points and 6.9 assists per game, the latter of which was the seventh-most in the country. The Creighton transfer set a Gonzaga program record with 243 assists this past season.

After landing Nembhard and Ike a year ago, the Zags were active in the portal early once again and landed Michael Ajayi from Pepperdine. The 6-foot-7 native of Kent, Washington, was All-WCC first team last season with 17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. CBS Sports ranked Ajayi No. 59 in its college basketball transfer portal rankings.