Let's face it, the Broncos haven't generated this much buzz, hype or whatever your favorite adjective, is for a l-o-n-g time. After the 1972 victory over # 4 UCLA, twenty years passed before Steve Nash led us to wins in the NCAA tournament over Arizona in 1993 and Maryland in 1996 that vaulted the Broncos into the national spotlight. Another press draught ensued for 27 years until the Jalen Williams and Brandin Podziemski NBA first round draft picks turned heads.
Now, as a result of the Broncos 7-1 start to the 2025-2026 season, we have notable non-conference wins over a Big East opponent (Xavier) and a Mountain West opponent (Nevada) which has put us on the verge of being nationally ranked having received three Top 25 ranking votes recently.
The media loves hype and it feels like they're a little "hyperactive" in their SCU coverage wanting to be out front of emerging trends. We'll certainly take the exposure. Heck, the Broncos even got a column inch headline in the San Jose Mercury News for our recent wins. Prior to that, we weren't even listed in local upcoming games in their paper. The Merc preferred to promote Stanford and Cal; who frankly have been pretty bad the past four seasons while we were racking up four 20 win seasons and 3 NIT's.
In reality, we could be 8-0, falling one point shy against St. Louis where there were chances to win at the end. So, what's going on here? After losing 72% of our scoring from last season and then adding nine new players via recruiting and the transfer portal, it appeared we would need to do a lot of rebuilding to maintain our momentum. Not so.
The coaches have, perhaps, accomplished their best overall recruiting year with the breadth and depth in this roster. During summer workouts something unusual happened. Ego's were put in check. Workouts and daily competition for minutes was intense. Everyone played with and against everyone. No matter what the scrimmage teams were in practice, they battled for wins. The result - chemistry. A genuine culture of playing for each other.
It's showing up on the court. Everybody plays and everybody contributes. In three of our seven wins, we shot the ball poorly; averaging only 22% from the 3 point line. Our defense, however, was lockdown and has been stout so far. We have become thieves; swiping nearly 9 steals per game. We are winning most of the "up for grabs" 50-50 loose balls as well. When opponents drive into the paint, they face five legit rim protectors who are swatting away 7 shots a game.
In our other four wins, we shot 52% from three, making 16 in our recent win against Minnesota. Our roster has nine players capable of putting up 20 points in a game. We are sharing the ball with about 18 assists a game. Add to that nearly 15 offensive rebounds per game that has generated 118 second chance shots and ranks # 12 in the country.
With the strength of these numbers, one can understand the extra accolades and ink the Broncos are receiving and our ranking moving to # 51. While Bronco season ticket holders, fans, and students might be surprised by these numbers, I don't think the coaches are. For example, they expected to win at Xavier. Nevada has eaten our lunch the past two seasons and we just shut them down at Leavey. We love the momentum, but let's remind ourselves there are 23 more games remaining and there are a few things the coaches will want to clean up.
On offense, keep the ball moving and play more inside out. We have low post scorers who are also good passers so we don't have to settle for early clock three's; especially when they're not falling. Because our shooting has been inconsistent, more teams will play a variety of zone defenses against us. We'll need to solve them better by getting the ball into the paint for good looks or kickouts. Make free throws. We don't shoot that many, but prior to St. Louis, our FT percentage was 63%. They are critical as game closers and opponents will use that against us.
On defense, keep up the pressure full court and half court, but eliminate the unnecessary touch or reaching fouls, especially by our bigs. We are committing 20 fouls per game. This has resulted in teams being in the FT bonus and our bigs on the bench with 8-10 minutes left. Get back on defense. Our style is to push the ball up the floor on every possession, but after a made field goal or deep rebound we are giving up too many transition layups. Finish games. Sort of nit picky, but when we're ahead by 25 or 30 in the second half, we've allowed teams to go on runs to close the gap to 15 or under. Still big wins, but I'm sure the coaches would prefer to see the effort until the game is over.
No doubt this team is fun to watch. Fans most admire their effort leading to these wins. We still can, and should, get better as our younger players gain experience. In addition, a potential key player, Gherig Normand will come back from his injury and be available for WCC play. Gherig is a 6'6" skilled shooter who will provide another potent shooting option.
Add it all up and the Broncos are trending in the right direction. There will be setbacks, but let's hope to see more great wins and our post season stock keep rising. And that's the kind of "hoopla" we can celebrate!
