SCU Men's Basketball - Do We have a "Shot" in the WCC?

It's hard to imagine anything colder than our shooting in Leavey over the past two games as we head to the Great Alaska Shootout. 

Tough to swallow when your opponents seemingly can't miss and we just can't get anything to fall at home.  Makes you feel like Joey Chestnut after a hot dog eating contest when Cal Poly made 8-16 three pointers; five of them with under five seconds on the shot clock.  Gag me...

Meanwhile, we've been missing more layups than the Leavey halftime kids.  

Not counting LaVerne, a non D1 stat stuffer, the shooting lines read like a weather "cold snap."  FG% 45-117 or 31%.  3Pt FG% 11-33 or 33%.  FT% 21-36 or 68%.  

So, what are we "learning" from this unexpected shooting climate change?  I bet the coaches are focused only on the things they can control.  Teaching details on creating the best shot preparation, setting and using picks better, and keeping the ball moving.

I say let's go full Morpheus from The Matrix. "Free your mind" and just let it go.  Relax.  Draino.  The guys want to win so badly that maybe they're trying to do too much - forcing the action and trying to make it happen vs. let it happen. 

So, I think it's perfect they are going to a colder temperature in Alaska to warm up.  I know for sure they will shoot a higher percentage than the 15 degree temperature.

The opener Wednesday against Idaho will be a tough test.  The Vandals return their top seven scorers and are the consensus pick to win the Big Sky Conference.   If we play CSU Bakersfield, it's winnable as they rebuild from back to back NCAA and NIT appearances.   Alaska Anchorage should be in the win column, a D2 opponent, albeit on the road.

The bigger question is do we have the "shots" to take a shot at the upper tier in the WCC?   I'm still down for a run at third with one signature upset.  Acceptable.  It's going to take some "reversion to the mean" to get it done.  Huh?  Reversion to the what?

It's how you pick the value in something, mostly used in picking stocks.  If you find a stock that is priced 15% under it's intrinsic mean value, at some point it will return/revert to that value and in this case rise 15%.  Let's try it on MBB.

  

More fuzzy math.  

If our shooting percentages revert to their intrinsic mean, both the 2pt FG and 3pt FG will rise 15%.  That gets us to (25) FG's and (7) 3pt FG per game + our 9 free throws = 80 points per game.  I like our chances in the WCC with our defense holding opponents under 80 points.  We most likely won't out shoot most WCC teams, so our "D" will have to generate more possessions to get us to 80.  

There you go.  Rip it to shreds.  I'm sticking to it!

That's the way we'll have a "shot" in the WCC.  

For now, we'll have to get colder in Alaska to warm up our shooting before league.  They call it the "Great Alaska Shootout" so hopefully we'll have a shot to win it!!

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Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Game On!

Possibilities, potential, prognostications, premonitions, predictions and maybe throw in a prophecy or two.  Don't forget the pundits. The media and Twitterpaters constantly opine.  

I say, just play...Game on!

For the first time, in a long time, Santa Clara Men's Basketball is a trending topic.  People actually care.  Is this the season we come out of mothballs to show we're for real?  

Hold your horses.  

The media-sphere predicts "this is the year of St. Mary's" in the WCC.  Gonzaga and BYU battle for second, while USF and Santa Clara again race down the stretch to see who claims fourth.

It's all just a nothing burger, an "air-ball."

We think we are the only WCC school to amp up Men's Basketball.  No way.  Ever since Mark Few called out the bottom schools in the league - he lit a fuse that is stoking a "firestorm" of funding around the league to make him eat his words. 

Just Google what's happening at USF, Portland, Pacific, and, of course, Gonzaga is not standing pat. New name coaches, national level practice facilities and overt marketing to expand branding.  Sound familiar?

BTW, it's ironic that St. Mary's is the WCC favorite this year with facilities, that well, are modest at best.  They just win.

Let's play...Game on!

SCU fans and season ticket holders will get to see this coaching staff's first recruiting class.  We have something new.  More depth and, dare I say, more TALENT.  

The coaching staff's # 1 recruiting mantra - to be offered at SCU you must be able to shoot the basketball at a high level.  Some of you are saying "duh", but in the past we accepted projects and hoped for potential.  No more clankers.  

Expect a style of play that is up tempo, fueled by defense, opportunistic in transition, and agnostic as to "who" gets the shot.  News flash, we have shooters.  That's plural.  Pivot from "where's Jared" to there's K.J. or Hauser or Caruso or Vrankic or Healy or Turner and more.

So, Let's play...Game on!

Forget about all the "P" words above.  It's a baloney sandwich.

St. Mary's winning the WCC?  I think not.  BYU?  Lots of scoring punch and something to prove after they underestimated the competition coming back to the WCC.  The Zags?  I think Mark Few has a wry smile on his face right now; relishing the underdog tag when he knows he has some surprises on the roster.

The Broncos?  Depends on how quickly we "learn and improve" which is part of Coach Sendek's four pillars.  The coaching staff has tried to accelerate the learning with a recent scrimmage against Air Force and the exhibition against St. Vincent.  Air Force runs the Princeton offense which has constant motion, lots of backdoor cuts and requires defenses to make many "reads" off picks to stop it. 

Our exhibition against St. Vincent previewed our "go to" game plan.  Starters were K.J., Hauser, "E", Pugh and Caruso, the transfer from Princeton.  It was good to get some reps and see how Coach used the roster.  The team did OK in the blowout.  I have to say Caruso and Vrankic were fun to watch.  Caruso went for a working man's 18 points.  He's a grinder.  Vrankic made some deft passes in the zone from the free throw and baseline for layups and dunks.

  

K.J. looks healthy and stronger and contributed an easy 21 points.

My read.  We will win more.  How far can we go?  We'll see.  The team will be prepared and ready.  To quote the zen of Phil Jackson, "The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success then let go of the outcome."   

For us, as season ticket holders, fans, students and alums, we're not willing to just "let it go."  We're not looking for a trot.  We're looking for a Bronco in full gallop that leaves the "nag" image in the dust so we finally have something to "brag" about!

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