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The Pepperdine transfer brings a new but familiar look to Gonzaga’s punishing offensive assault.
After analyzing the potential impact of Anton Watson’s departure on the Gonzaga Bulldogs of 2024-2025, it’s worth examining the other side of the coin: what do the Zags gain with the addition of presumed Watson replacement, Michael Ajayi? Ajayi announced his official transfer from Pepperdine to Gonzaga last March, and his commitment came as a welcome sigh of relief for fans concerned about losing what was arguably the most crucial component in the smooth operation of last year’s squad. However, Ajayi and Watson are very different players, each gifted in unique ways, and Watson’s absence will still present a significant challenge for the Bulldogs.
It should be noted up top that Ajayi was never meant to be an Anton Watson replacement. Watson himself was never meant to play on the wing, after all. For the bulk of his Gonzaga career, Watson played power forward, but with the injury of Steele Venters, the Bulldogs found themselves in dire need of leadership and poise from the wing. As he has always done, Watson was able to step in and adapt his style of play to what was being asked of him. Last year, Watson had to become comfortable playing at either spot and shouldered a huge burden for ensuring good ball movement from both the wing and low block. Next year’s squad will certainly have a new look, but the addition of Ajayi suggests a potential reversion back to the style of play Mark Few envisioned all along.
Before his lone year at Pepperdine, Ajayi played two seasons at Pierce College, where he averaged 22.7 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. His scoring and rebounding stats have always been eye-popping and last year, Ajayi, along with Jevon Porter (now at LMU) and Houston Mallette (now at Alabama), did all he could to push the Waves out of their consistent ranking near the bottom of the WCC standings. The team never quite realized its potential despite the raw talent on the roster, and following their disappointing season, head coach Lorenzo Romar was dismissed, and much of the team’s talent left for new opportunities. Ajayi, however, chose to stay close by.
Ajayi is a rare mix of power, finesse, and patience. He was a menace at mid-range last year and an excellent shooter from the perimeter. The team relied on him at all three levels: to shoot from deep, drive hard off the dribble, score at the rim, and/or get fouled along the way. He finished his junior year at Pepperdine as an All-WCC first-team selection and the conference’s leading scorer. No player in the WCC produced as much offense for their team as Michael Ajayi, and his unique skills could provide a whole new look for next year’s offense. However, this adjustment will likely come with some growing pains.
The first challenge Ajayi may face is adapting his style of play to the Bulldogs’ blistering pace of team offense. Last year, Ajayi averaged 17.2 points per game on 46.7% shooting. It is worth noting, however, that he was also the primary scoring option in an offense that often appeared sluggish and disorganized. In Romar’s scheme, Ajayi had considerable freedom to take his time, dribble up the floor, get to his spots, and take good shots at his own pace. Mark Few’s offense, however, relies on quick ball movement, sharp vision, and the ability to pass up good shots for great ones. Ajayi could be asked to take on a more specialized role with the Bulldogs, and due to his high-percentage three-point shooting, that role could be as a deep-range specialist capable of stretching defenses from outside and penetrating off the dribble. While the status of Steele Venters remains relatively uncertain for the Zags, Ajayi could be the missing piece to address one of the most glaring deficiencies from last year’s team: inconsistent perimeter scoring.
The Zags also gain an extremely talented and tenacious rebounder in Ajayi. This is not to say Anton Watson was a poor rebounder—he was exceptionally good—but Ajayi is almost freakishly skilled. Ajayi possesses a Rodman-esque ability to anticipate where missed shots will bounce and position his body in front of opponents to grab everything within reach. His average of 9.9 rebounds per game was second overall in the WCC, behind only USF’s Jonathan Mogbo.
Another exciting aspect of Ajayi’s game is the ease with which he gets to the free throw line. Ajayi finished last season tied for second place in the WCC in average number of free throws attempted per game (5). He shot 71% from the charity stripe, and while the percentage itself could be improved, it is still higher than Watson’s 65%, and putting opponents in foul trouble is an extremely valuable skill that the Zags have been missing in recent years.
The Zags won’t find a direct replacement for Watson. More than anything, they will miss his defensive versatility, maturity, and rare comfort in Few’s fast-paced flex-motion offense. At times, however, Watson also seemed understandably unsure of his exact role in the offense: was he primarily a scorer or operational facilitator? There is no such uncertainty in Ajayi. Ajayi is pure Attack-Mode, and although his facilitation skills in a lethally efficient offense are unproven, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be expected to command the pace and movement the way Watson was. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is something to be said for having players with more specialized skills in less ambiguous roles on the floor together. In fact, before the injury to Venters, this was probably the plan all along.
While next year’s team will badly miss Anton’s defensive versatility and poise, in Ajayi, they gain a reliable outside scoring threat, a wildly tenacious rebounder, and a dribble-drive slasher capable of putting defenses in foul trouble. Ajayi’s steady progress over the past three years of his college career also suggests that he is a quick and determined learner with something urgent to prove. Within Gonzaga’s legendary player development program, there’s no telling yet just how high his ceiling really is. Watson did “a little bit of everything” for the Zags, but it might not be a bad thing if the next player to step in on the wing serves a more specialized role. Although next year’s Zags will be without their primary defensive weapon, the addition of Ajayi could make them an even more ruthlessly efficient offensive juggernaut.