Wyoming center Graham Ike transfers to Gonzaga
Graham Ike missed all of his junior season at Wyoming in ’22-’23 due to a right foot injury. Now, after entering the transfer portal earlier this offseason, he will return to the court next year as part of a new program.
Ike has averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 52.4% from the field over the 45 games in his first two college seasons with the Cowboys. That stretch was highlighted by his sophomore season, though. As a full-time starter in his second year, he averaged nearly a double-double of 19.5 points and 9.6 rebounds. That production in his 33 games earned him honors on the All-Mountain West Second Team.
Then, after missing Wyoming’s latest 9-22 season, he elected to enter the portal towards the end of March. On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings had him rated as a Top-50 player overall in the portal. He was also listed as the No. 8 center in the portal in those same rankings.
The addition of Ike gives Mark Few and the ‘Zags their second commitment of this offseason from the portal alongside Steele Venters. With Drew Timme likely out the door, this commitment gives the Bulldogs some extra production to lean on down low assuming Ike returns to the court at 100%.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
Transfer portal background information
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay? The school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.