Overview:
Coach Joe Pasternack looks to build a team around returning starters Jason Fontenet II and Colin Smith as the NCAA Transfer Portal opens Monday
Monday once was more than just a square on UC Santa Barbara’s calendar.
“Big Monday” was an ESPN venture that put a national spotlight on the Big West Conference and Gaucho basketball during the 1990s.
But current UCSB coach Joe Pasternack seeks a different kind of enlightenment from this week’s Big Monday.
Like, who in the heck is going to be on his team next year?
The NCAA transfer portal — the most recent contribution to the free-market world — opens on Monday.
And no port has ever harbored more uncertainty for the Gauchos.
“This is such the Wild West now,” Pasternack said. “If you say, ‘Joe, this is who you have coming back,’ I would say, ‘How do you know?’”
He’s already lost one Gaucho.
Reserve guard Deuce Turner, one of the four players that UCSB recruited from last year’s transfer portal, announced his re-entry into the marketplace on Thursday.
But Pasternack wasted no time in re-recruiting his players.
He held a locker-room meeting with 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Koat Keat Tong just before heading to the post-game news conference after the Gauchos (21-13) lost to UC San Diego in the semifinals of last week’s Big West tournament.
“This is a fast-moving world of college basketball,” Pasternack told the media at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada. “You have to be able to attack it and act immediately.
“Tonight, we’re going to have meetings with players and move forward to next year.”
Those exit meetings “went well,” he told Noozhawk a few days later.
“We kind of go over the year, review it, and talk about the expectations we have for them next year,” he said. “Continuity is a really big deal, so the first step is take care of your own house and evaluate that, and then you have to move on and recruit.
“We’re not a fit for every single one to come back, but we hope to retain as many as possible.”
Search Party
Three of last year’s other four portal additions — All-Big West point guard Stephan Swenson, center Kenny Pohto and forward Max Murrell — have run out of eligibility.
Getting their replacements from the transfer portal and beyond has become a mission of great import for UCSB, which reached the 20-win threshold for the sixth time in Pasternack’s eight seasons at UCSB.
“I’m really excited about the future because we have a very attractive place,” he said. “We have three active NBA players (Gabe Vincent of the Los Angeles Lakers, Ajay Mitchell of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miles Norris of the Boston Celtics).
“There aren’t many midmajors in the country who have that.
“We have a lot to sell. We’re getting calls all the time.”
But even the best laid plans of mice and men’s basketball coaches go awry.
Pasternack thought he had a front court for the following three seasons — if not for the ages — when he signed a pair of power-conference freshmen from the 2023 portal: Yohan Traore of Auburn and Zach Clemence of Kansas.
“Zach Clemence was going to be the starting four man, Yohan Traore was going to be the starting five man,” he said. “Clemence signed his paperwork, took two summer classes to get into this university, and then went back to Kansas right before he was supposed to move into his apartment.
“At the end of the day, it was too late to get someone else. Academically, you can’t get anybody into school in July. You’re done.
“That’s just the world that we’re in. I don’t know who’s on our roster until they show up.”
Traore, a 6-11 post player, spent just one season at UCSB, averaging 14.5 points and 5.1 rebounds, before re-entering the portal last year.
He is averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds this season as a reserve forward for an SMU team that beat Northern Iowa in Wednesday’s opening round of the National Invitation Tournament.
This year’s transfer portal will close on April 23.
“We’ll have a better idea then of what we have,” Pasternack said. “Matija Belic went into the portal a day before it closed last year.
“It’s just such a fluid, fluid situation.”
Belic, a 6-7 Gaucho reserve in 2023-2024, had an up-and-down season for a 12-20 Wyoming team, averaging 5.6 points on just 41.9% shooting.
Kilian Brockhoff, the other UCSB forward lost to last year’s transfer portal, played only 4.3 minutes per game this year for a 19-15 Saint Louis team.
Team on the Bounce
The Gauchos won their second Big West championship in three seasons in 2022-2023 but then fell to seventh place the following season and fifth this year.
“There’s been no continuity, and that’s what makes it difficult,” Pasternack said. “If you look back at our our NCAA Tournament team of 2023, Ajay Mitchell was a returner, Calvin Wishart and Ajare Sanni were returners, and Miles Norris was like a third-year guy.
“On our tournament team of 2021, you had Amadou (Sow), Miles, JaQuori McLaughlin, Devearl Ramsey, Ajare, (now-assistant coach) Brandon Cyrus … I mean, we had a lot of continuity with those teams.
“The past two teams, we haven’t had that.”
He feels good about such returning players as junior Ben Shtolzberg; sophomores Jason Fontenet II, Colin Smith and Tong; and freshman Zion Sensley.
That is, if they stay … and stay healthy. All but Shtolzberg were hobbled by injuries last season, and he labored the previous season after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Pasternack was encouraged by Tong’s late-season performance after two years of knee problems.
“He’s never had a spring, has never had a summer since he’s been here,” he said. “His ceiling is so high … his athleticism, his length, his skill package.
“He came in to our game at Irvine and hit two threes even though he hadn’t practiced much, and he was amazing defensively against Northridge.
“He’s just going to get better and better and better when he finally gets some player development.”
Freshman Zachiah “ZZ” Clark, who played in only five games before sitting out the rest of last season, could help fill Swenson’s shoes at point guard.
“Losing Steph is a big deal, but we do have ZZ, who’s going to be a great player,” Pasternack said. “We’re working on getting him a redshirt.
“We’re excited about him.”
Fontenet, a 6-6 guard, averaged 9.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists while starting all 34 games.
Smith, a 6-8 forward, averaged 8.7 points while shooting 46% overall and 43.5% from three-point range.
He started 10 games but missed 14 others with injuries ranging from a concussion to a sprained ankle. He transferred to UCSB from Vanderbilt last year after having torn an Achilles tendon during the 2023-2024 season.
“He never had a spring or a summer last year,” Pasternack said. “He’s never really gotten totally in shape and he was still putting up some great games without it, which is amazing.
“Colin should be a dominant player when healthy.”
Frosh Approach
The Gauchos’ three incoming freshmen — two of whom signed national letters of intent last fall — all had successful senior seasons in high school.
C.J. Shaw, a 6-4 guard, won the Nevada State 5A Player of the Year Award after leading Las Vegas’ Mojave High School to the state finals with averages of 21.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 3.8 steals per game.
Michael Simcoe, a 6-8 forward for Phoenix’s Sandra Day O’Connor High, averaged 17.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.0 blocks while shooting 63% overall and 43.4% from the three-point arc. He led the Eagles to the state’s open division semifinals.
“I had dinner the other night with (former NBA and college coach) Tim Floyd, and he said, ‘I didn’t want players from a 17-15 team — I wanted guys who really won big in high school,’” Pasternack pointed out. “C.J. Shaw played for a state championship and Simcoe got his team to the semifinals.
“They’re winners and high-character kids who love basketball, and I think they’re going to be a great foundation for our program.”
He’s not yet allowed to talk about Luke Zuffelato, who is Santa Barbara High’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.
The 6-foot-6 forward announced in January that he will also sign with UCSB this spring.
Zuffelato averaged 24.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks while shooting 44.6% from three-point range for the Dons’ CIF Division 1 semifinalist team.
The Gauchos aren’t done looking for help outside the portal.
“We’re scouring the world right now … France, Lithuania, the whole deal,” Pasternack said. “We’ve proven to be very successful with international guys: Steph Swenson from Belgium, Kenny Pohto from Sweden, Ajay from Belgium.
“I just wish Belgium had another point guard for us.”
But that’s the way the world turns in college basketball: a new day comes at you in a flash.
“It’s go time,” Pasternack said, “right when the season ends.”
