Gonzaga will enter the new PAC-12 with a new point guard.
Mark Few’s Bulldogs are suddenly reeling after learning that their starting point guard, Mario Saint-Supery, is returning to Spain to join the EuroLeague squad Valencia.
The 6-foot-3 guard earned All-West Coast Conference freshman honors in his lone season at Gonzaga, averaging 8.6 points, 3.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals, while shooting over 40 percent on 3-pointers.
The 20-year-old Spaniard’s departure shocked the college basketball powerhouse, which reportedly counted Saint-Supery as a participant in a practice the previous day.
The point guard previously played professionally in Spain, where he became known as “El Principito (“The Little Prince”).
“The Little Prince will make the Roig Arena his new palace,” Valencia said in a statement.
Gonzaga remains the favorite in the first season of the reconfigured PAC-12 — also featuring Utah State, San Diego State, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado State, Boise State, Texas State and Fresno State — but Few has few options to replace the point guard since the transfer portal is closed and the signing period has passed.
It is another blow to Gonzaga’s long-elusive national championship aspirations, following guard Jack Kayil’s decision to remain in the NBA draft.
Few, 63, holds the all-time record for win percentage in men’s college basketball (.832) and has been to the NCAA Tournament in every season since taking over in 1999 — twice reaching the national championship game — but the Zags have fallen in the Round of 32 in back-to-back years, following nine straight tournaments reaching the Sweet 16.
“The work, the total value of the entire process, to be able to be here 30 years ago, rather than bouncing around — there were a lot of opportunities, some offers that I looked at harder than other things — it’s so cool to see it go from ground zero all the way up to where it is,” Few told The Post in 2021. “There’s definitely some satisfaction with that, but also the grounding of it for me. That’s where the ‘national championship or bust,’ I don’t buy into that.”
