SCU Bronco's 2013-14 Season & WCC Outlook

"The Bucking Bronco"

The Broncos are 4 games into the season with a record of 2-2, a good win against local rival San Jose State and a tough, but valuable road loss to Notre Dame in South Bend.

There are many ways to "rank" teams. I used the RPI indexes from the NCAA and an aggregate from the TeamRankings Group and ESPN.  Why does RPI matter?  Like it or not, RPI is a key stat ranking of a team's performance and strength of schedule used by the NCAA & NIT selection committees.  RPI is intended to rank teams relative to how a team is playing (wins) and who they are playing against.  

Here's two examples of how quickly RPI rankings change: 

As a result of the Broncos winning the CBI tournament at season's end 2012-13, they started this year with a preseason RPI ranking of 68.  Impressive.  After a 2-2 start, with one of the wins against a non-division 1 opponent, their overall RPI ranking is now 284.

St. Mary's RPI (9) is higher than both BYU (27) and Gonzaga (30) even though Gonzaga is nationally ranked.  St. Mary's hot 5-0 start were all home games' which pumps up their RPI.  

Ranking are only indicators - wins, and wins against quality teams matter most.  

SCU 2013-2014 Season Schedule and RPI Ranking Breakdown: As of 11/26

Season Outlook

The Broncos enter the season after graduating 4 productive and talented seniors.  2012-2013 without a doubt was Kerry's best overall team, his own recruited seniors leading the way to a CBI Championship.

The 2013-14 squad has 3 seniors, 6  juniors, and 5 freshman - and will usually start 2 seniors, 2 juniors, and 1 freshman.  Although you will hear the term "Diaper Dandies" to describe the team (a PR ploy), the Broncos are not a young team with 75% of the final 12 man roster upper classmen.  Expect 2 redshirts - Pugh, Ndumanya. The team has some depth, and some speed.  

Early areas of strength: Brandon Clark, Jared Brownridge, Julian Clarke, and Jalen Richard are finding their stroke.  Yannick Atanga and newcomer senior transfer, Jerry Brown have been active on the offensive boards and Robert Garrett has shown bursts of scoring and has 4 blocks in limited minutes. 

Areas to work on:   Defensive consistency: our opponents are out shooting and out rebounding us.  Offensive playmaking and penetration - our offensive sequences seem out of sync and we settle for 3-point shots late in the clock and have been challenged getting the ball inside to establish some scoring presence in the paint.  

Evan Roquemore's return to the lineup should help.

Projected Season Record:  Win 15,  Lose 16   Average Opponent RPI = 164

WCC Conference

The conference once again is top heavy with Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU expected to challenge for the title.  Upset pick:  BYU - big, deep, talented.  The middle of the conference is up for grabs with Pacific and San Diego early faves for 4th.  I think that both Portland and the Broncos can "surprise" the middle position
.  
To "surprise" the Broncos must shoot it great and find a way to defend the paint.  Atanga is a superb athlete and Garrett has some size.  McArthur is a bigger body, but plays a "small" 6'9". The "bigs" in the WCC are a combo of "bangers" and have solid post moves.  If opponents attack us in the paint - this leaves the kickout to an open three - potential double trouble.  

** Late breaking news:  Cody Doolin leaves USF.  Re-ranking will occur after week one in WCC.

WCC 2014 Conference Finish Predictions:  Source: TeamRankings 11/26

1. Gonzaga 
2. St. Mary's
3. BYU
4. San Francisco
5. Pacific
6. San Diego
7. Portland
8. Santa Clara
9. Loyola
10. Pepperdine

Projected Conference Record:  Win 7, Lose 11 Average Conference Opponent RPI = 136


Summary

The 2013-2014 Bronco's will need everything from their upper classmen as well as some "step up" from the freshmen.  Jared Brownridge is going to attract attention leaving Roquemore, J. Clarke, B. Clark, and Denzel Johnson with "looks" if we can make our passing work earlier in the clock.  Jerry Brown could be a nice "impact" player - with the speed and muscle to help in the middle and in the running game.

The Season ticket holders are looking for positive "momentum".  Will this be the year?

Missed Opportunity - SCU @ Notre Dame

"The Bucking Bronco"

Tonight is SCU vs Notre Dame at 6:00 PST.  Let's see - Notre Dame has been on the schedule for weeks...
Unless you can fly to South Bend - How will Bronco fans watch the game on ESPN3??

It's an online streaming channel - so you can see it on your "little" computer screen OR if you are lucky to have a Smart TV you can get it through your cable provider.

What a wasted opportunity to bring Bronco fans together to watch the game!  Maybe at a local bar or hey, at The Bistro or other room at Leavey??  Hello Bronco Bench?

Once, when SCU was playing in the CIT in 2010 fans met at a local Bar and enjoyed the camaraderie and game on a big screen..

We wonder why we don't get more BUZZ for our team - Here's one reason....


Best of Luck tonight SCU!!!



Fred Crary
Season Ticket Holder

Santa Clara Men's Basketball Snapshot 1950-2013

"The Bucking Bronco"

Many Bronco season ticket holders and loyal fans graduated from SCU during the 1960's through the 1990's.  There are TOO many great stories, games, players, and memories to include in one post.

Here's a quick 63 year recap and some stats:

Santa Clara was one of the top teams in the country and certainly a West Coast powerhouse during the 1950's through the early 1970's.  Known for marquee players and a bruising defense, when you played SCU, win or lose, you were in a dogfight.
The 1980's and 90's featured more "name" players, but our image on the national stage and after 1997 in league play began to fade.  
There were some huge wins, but our performance in the WCC was not only being challenged but overtaken in the late 1980's by Loyola and in the early 1990's by Pepperdine.  Then in 1993 Gonzaga, a newcomer to the league, won its first title. 
Santa Clara's last outright WCC title was in 1994-95 and we were co-champs in 1995-96 and 1996-97 - 16 years ago.....

After 1997, with a few interruptions from St. Mary's, it's been all Gonzaga in the WCC.

WCC Coaching and Post Season Statistics*  SCU in Chronological Order

Coach                           Seasons    W     L      PCT   WCC Titles  NCAA 's   NIT's

SCU

Bob Feerick   '50-62         12           77    43      .642           3               4

Dick Garibaldi  '62-'70       8            74    34      .685           3               3

Carroll Williams '70-'92      22         165  137     .546           0**            1         4

Dick Davey  '92-'07           15         122    88      .581           3              3         0

Kerry Keating   '08            6            33    52     .388            0              0         0***

Mark Few - Zags  '99       14         179   21      .895           11             14

Randy Bennett - SMC      12         117   55      .680            2               5        2

* Source: WCC record book
** Won WCC Tourney 1987

*** Won CIT.com in 2010 and CBI Tourney in 2012.  These are post season event for teams not selected to the NCAA and NIT fields. 


Why just focus on WCC results?  Day in and day out the surest way to get an NCAA invite is to win your league or league tournament. (The WCC tournament winner gets and automatic invite to the NCAA tourney.) 
Gonzaga's run in the WCC has elevated the program to national prominence and at the same time raised the visibility of WCC over the past 5 years. 
The addition of BYU and the return of Pacific makes the WCC a much stronger conference. Every WCC University has been investing to try to "step up" their program to compete with Gonzaga and St. Mary's.  

That's my brief history of where SCU has been and where we are entering 2013-14.  I hope you enjoyed the snapshot!

NEXT POST:  2013-14 EARLY GAMES RECAP AND SEASON OUTLOOK. 



Fred Crary
The Bucking Bronco 

The Bucking Bronco - Santa Clara University Men's Basketball Blog Launch!

"The Bucking Bronco"

Welcome to The Bucking Bronco - Santa Clara Men's Basketball Forum!   

This Blog is all about Santa Clara Men's basketball from the point of view of season ticket holders and other dedicated Bronco basketball fans.  You know, all the things we talk about in the stands that we want answers to. 

I'll cover everything about the team and program - where it's been and where it needs to go to be legitimate contenders for WCC titles and NCAA berths.  The coverage will be "real". I'll congratulate as well as criticize.

First, a few caveats:  I'll do my very best to get the "facts" right, but I'll make mistakes.
I'm not a grammatical wizard and the Blogger formatting platform is not very forgiving.

What Bronco Fans Want?

Many Bronco Season Ticket Holders and Fans hope, want and expect at least 3 things from Men's Basketball:

1.  Contend for WCC Titles
2.  Qualify for the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis
3.  Ensure our players graduate and represent the culture and spirit of the University, on and off the court

I know there are many others that could be added.

Let's start with # 3 first:  For the most part, we do this very well, except for a few hiccups.

Numbers 1 and 2:  need immediate attention.  We'll spend some time delving into those topics in the future.

Along the way, I welcome comments and suggestions. 

Now, enjoy the first Post:  SCU Men's Basketball Snapshot 1950 - 2013