Gonzaga beats out St. John's for highly-coveted ASU transfer Massamba Diop

Apr. 28—Gonzaga picked up a commitment from one of the best players in the transfer portal and should enter the 2026-27 college basketball season with one of the country's top frontcourts as a result.

Massamba Diop, a 7-foot-1 center from Arizona State who's been linked with Gonzaga for much of the last month, committed to Mark Few's program on Tuesday according to multiple reports.

Diop has widely been considered one of the top two or three centers in the transfer portal since it opened the day after the national championship game and was one of the top transfers still available as of Tuesday.

An incoming sophomore who should be a game-changer for Gonzaga at both ends of the floor, Diop was ranked anywhere from No. 3 (On3) to No. 29 (The Athletic) on various transfer portal rankings. Most recruiting websites considered Diop the second-rated transfer center behind Kansas' Flory Bidunga, who happened to be the only Big 12 player to block more shots than Diop (2.1 per game) last season.

The Zags were able to swing a commitment from Diop days after he completed a recruiting visit to St. John's, the other program thought to be in the mix for the 7-footer's services.

Diop becomes the second transfer addition for Gonzaga, which received a commitment from Houston guard Isiah Harwell on April 12, and immediately becomes the top candidate to start in the frontcourt alongside Braden Huff, who was having an All-American-caliber season before a knee injury ended his junior campaign in mid-January.

Diop averaged 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds as a freshman and should give the Zags a level of rim protection they haven't had since Chet Holmgren's lone season at GU in 2021-22. The 7-footer turned away 69 shots last season — 31 more than GU's leader, Tyon Grant-Foster — and blocked a season-high seven shots in a Big 12 game against Colorado.

The 21-year-old has been on Gonzaga's radar since at least November, when Few's team visited Tempe for a nonconference game against Arizona State. Diop didn't have an efficient shooting night, but still scored 11 points on 4 of 10 from the field to go with four rebounds, two blocks and two assists.

Three weeks after ASU moved on from longtime coach Bobby Hurley, Diop entered the transfer portal with a "do not contact" tag. Gonzaga and St. John's quickly emerged as the two frontrunners for the talented center, creating a high-stakes recruiting battle between Few and fellow Naismith Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

Gonzaga got Diop on campus first and students who caught word of the center's impending visit hung a "We Want Diop" sign off of a second-floor balcony at Desmet Hall. The sign was removed by campus security before Diop arrived later Saturday afternoon, but photos of the spirited recruiting effort still floated throughout social media over the weekend.