The transfer portal opened today and the Gonzaga Bulldogs have already been bitten as it looks like sophomore guard Dusty Stromer will finish his career elsewhere.
In the day and age of the transfer portal this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, and even less so considering how Stromer’s sophomore season played out.
Stromer was thrust into a starting role at the beginning of his freshman year due to a preseason season-ending injury to Steele Venters. Stromer performed admirably on the defensive end, as was the case for the entirety of his Gonzaga career, but struggled to make any consistent impact on the offensive end.
Eventually, Ben Gregg was inserted into the starting rotation, and Stromer settled into meaningful minutes off the bench. That role continued at the beginning of this season, with Stromer averaging 23 minutes off the bench over the first 22 games. With the Zags defense cratering, Emmanuel Innocenti was elevated to a more prominent role and that largely came at the expense of Stromer. Over the final 13 games of the season, Stromer played a mere eight minutes per game.
A former top-50 high school recruit, Stromer displayed a devoted knack for defense but never really figured out how to create for himself on offense. His three-point percentage of 35.1 over two years was just not good enough to sustain the idea of a 3-and-D guy.
With Braeden Smith coming off of his redshirt year to own the point guard position and the emergence of Innocenti in the rotation, unless Gonzaga completely whiffed on adding a scoring guard in the transfer portal, Stromer was most likely looking at another season from the bench, earning his minutes.
Good luck to Stromer where ever he lands, unless he lands at Saint Mary’s. Then he can go to hell.