Gonzaga's projected starting point guard, Mario Saint-Supery, just signed a four-year, $15 million-plus deal with EuroLeague club Valencia in his native Spain. Yeah, you read that right. And the Zags? They’ve officially plummeted from No. 9 all the way down to No. 14 in Version 21 of the 2026-27 CBS Sports Preseason Top 25 And 1. This isn't just a tough break, this is a gut punch to a program that thought it knew what its roster would look like come November.
Another Starter Bites the Dust
This isn't an isolated incident for Coach Few's squad, either. We're talking about two projected starters gone in the past two months. Remember Jack Kayil? Literally two months ago, that dude committed to staying in the 2026 NBA Draft despite everyone having him pegged as a second-round pick. Now, Saint-Supery, their floor general for next season, is off to Europe for real money. How do you replace that kind of talent, that kind of experience, at this stage of the offseason? It's a huge blow. Losing one projected starter is tough enough; two? That's a full-blown crisis in the making for a team with championship aspirations.What Now for the Zags? No Easy Answers
So, what's the plan, Zags? Mark Few has got some serious work ahead of him, and the options aren't exactly lining up perfectly. They could, and absolutely should, try to use that Saint-Supery money to bring in another player. But let's be real, the pickings are slim right now. Everyone else has their rosters pretty much set. Targeting another international prospect is one route, which is always a bit of a wildcard, isn't it? Another idea floating around is asking Dooney Johnson, a top-30 prospect in 2027 who's already committed, to reclassify and join a year early. That's a massive ask for a young player, changing his whole timeline. And then there's the whole fifth-year senior situation, dependent on whether that Hamilton County judge's ruling holds up and if the NCAA appeal doesn't somehow squash it. That's a lot of "ifs" and a whole lot of wasted time and energy if it falls apart. Meanwhile, Florida is sitting pretty at No. 1 in those rankings, projected to return six of their top seven scorers: Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Boogie Fland, Rueben Chinyelu, Urban Klavzar, and Isaiah Brown. They won the SEC by three games last year and were a No. 1 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. That's stability the Zags are dreaming of right now. To be clear, Gonzaga is still going to be good. They'll be the obvious favorites in their first season in the new-look Pac-12, no doubt. But you can't tell me that losing Kayil and Saint-Supery doesn't shave a significant chunk off their ceiling. The Opening Night roster is going to look way different than anyone expected, and navigating this level of roster turnover so late in the game is a massive challenge. We'll be watching closely to see how they adapt and what kind of moves they can pull off before the season tips off.This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.