SCU Men’s Basketball - Will our A.D. Bolt to Boise?

 

                                                              

Word is out in the Boise Press that Renee Baumgartner has interviewed and may be a finalist for the Boise State job.  

Boise State would be a good move for Renee.  They have a full compliment of D1 programs and a commitment to Athletics. 

Does Santa Clara?

Fr. Engh convened the Blue Ribbon Commission on Athletics and went public with a goal of becoming Nationally relevant by 2021. The hiring of Renee and her hiring of Coach Sendek were signals that money would be there to undo the many years of decimation under Fr. Locatelli’s tenure; 25 fewer scholarships than any other program in the WCC as one example.  Meanwhile, Gonzaga seized the day and has since been eating our lunch both on the basketball court and national acclaim.  

Has anyone heard from the Chair of the Commission in the past 5 years?  A recommitment or progress update?  How about the Administration?  

While Renee made many good moves toward coaching upgrades, the AEC, and building a more capable and expanded staff, the increase in overall programs win/loss results haven’t shown up.  Men’s Basketball had a 20 win season, but other than that, it’s still Women’s Soccer that leads the way.  If she is accountable, so should others. 

It may be time to face reality that until we have an Administration and Board of Trustees that have the courage and long term vision to build a well rounded University nationally recognized in BOTH Academic and Athletics Programs, we will continue to be viewed as “mid-major” in everything.  

It’s not just about one Coach or one AD.  As a University, we seem to spend so much time being politically on message with all the issues of the day, that we overlook that words don't get results - actions do.

Instead of all the fancy PR slogans like “We’re on a Mission” and “Stampede Ahead,” we should be honest - “Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget.”

 

 

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - There's No Place Like Home

 

                                                                                                     

For the Broncos, there really is no place like home.  Coach Sendek and the team have been effectively been evicted from Leavey.  More Covid Rules.

It's like a spell cast upon us from the 1940's Wolfe novel "You Can't Go Home Again."  Like the novel, until vaccines are available, the Broncos will need to feel more "at home" while away.  

In a strange way, it might be good for us.  Just focus on playing basketball.  This team has some resiliency and that persona played a big role in the first four wins.  Our shooting in all areas has been off; particularly at the free throw line.  The UC Davis win was a great example of our resiliency, when we clanged five free throws with under 30 seconds left and a one point lead.  The "D" rose up causing 2 turnovers and a key rebound that closed it out. 

Last night in Santa Cruz against CSU Bakersfield was another display of grit - winning ugly.  Our shooting wasn't just cold, it was arctic.  But as cold as we were on offense, the defense was on fire holding Bakersfield to 11 first half points.  In the end, it was defense that won this game; which speaks to the resolve to dig in and not give up. 

We're making it happen with better pressure, rebounding, and decent ball control.  Interestingly, most of our turnovers have not come from our guards.  Carlyle and Jaylen Williams are less than 2 TO/G.  Our front court - not so much, committing 11 of the 17 turnovers at UC Davis.

Doesn't sound like 4-0?  One thing for sure is that we'll need to be much better than our first four to make noise in WCC play.

The schedule from here is wobbly at best.  The Sacramento State game will probably happen either in Santa Cruz or Sacramento.  We are currently on the Boise State and Oregon State schedules.  These are questionable with our County's quarantine rules - 14 days for travel over 150 miles.  We would need to stay and practice in Boise or Corvallis to pull those off.  

IF Oregon State happens on 12/23 that's just 10 days before the scheduled WCC opener vs LMU on January 2nd.  The quarantine and no sports ban could be lifted by then, but our County hasn't shown much compassion for these things.  It would be nice for the County to produce data that substantiates that these sports are causing Covid case surges - but I doubt it.  They ask us for data and proof, but choose not to do the same.

So the farther from "home" we get, the more at home we'll need to feel.  Until there can be fans in the stands, the motivation must come from within each player.  Accepting the personal challenge and having the internal fire to win.  Not easy.

Other teams have the same challenges.  Look at USF.  At 2-2 with a signature win over # 4 Virginia, then losses to UMass and Rhode Island.  

It will be this type of season for the Broncos.  A "headshaker" season.  CSU Bakersfield lows and hopefully a few upset highs.  We, as fans hope our team embraces this challenge and this moment and leave us all with our heads held high!

 

SCU Men's Basketball - The Covid Rules

                                                                                             

They say hindsight is 20-20, but everyone wants to put 2020 behind us.  The only "20" we want to remember and build off is our 20 wins from last season. 

Who knew that March Madness was the beginning of a new NCAA, The National Covid Avoidance Association!  

Nevertheless, there will be a 2020-21 season.  Right now the WCC schedule is set and the coaches are working on an 9 - 11 game non-conference schedule that has to be totally reworked.  

Marquee tournaments and opponents in the Las Vegas Invitational and The Wooden Classic are toast for most. 

Expect more local opponents with the fewest flights possible. Options like Sacramento State and Idaho State plus games being worked on with the Big West, Big Sky - teams we're used to playing.  Out the window are higher profile name games on the original schedule.  No travel - no play.

Covid Rules.....NO, NO, NO.  No excess travel.  No fans.  Alas, No Bistros.

The revenue hit to MBB programs is enormous.  Even SCU with its Billion Dollar Endowment has more needs than $.  With Leavey all but shut down and no recruiting travel - there is money saved - but a pittance compared.  Rather than shooting "bricks" we're selling them to raise money for the A.E.C.  Zoom has a whole new meaning...

NCAA players are having three mid-terms a week.  PCR Covid mid-terms.  These are nothing like the layup Pass/Fail classes we all wanted back in the day.  There will be failures - positives and that will cause more rework to complete this season.

With all the above, the team is practicing in the new AEC.  A gorgeous recruiting tool lying in wait for post Covid.  The team has undergone quite a makeover.  The tired excuse of "we're young" won't be used this year.  The core unit from last year is back, without Trey Wertz, and has the experience to make some statements - hopefully in the WCC.  We are picked sixth, but we have eyes on much better.  

Unfortunately, the "big three" still have a chokehold at the top.  The Zags are ranked # 1 pre-season by some polls.  Both St. Mary's and BYU won 26 games last season and have some key returners, but also key losses to graduation and transfers.  They will be very good, but we should be able to compete well. 

Apparently ESPN doesn't think much of our program and has put SCU on mute this season.  Of their 17 WCC Men's Basketball telecasts this year, only two schools are shut out - Portland and you guessed it, SCU.  That's a big "thud" for a program on the rise.

You can tell I'm getting a little chapped.  It's Thanksgiving and I want to be thankful for the progress our team is making only to have the league and the networks treat us like leftover turkeys.  

I'm ready to have us beat the "stuffing" out of our opponents!

While the world awaits a Vaccine that will end Covid and get us back in the stands at Leavey, the only Vaccine that will propel this team forward is winning.  

This potential cure from decades of mediocrity starts tomorrow against Idaho State.  I'm ready to get 2020 behind us.  The thing that will do that for me is to get another 20 win season in the books and make some noise along the way.  Tough to do with a shortened season schedule, but getting close to that will let others know we're Broncos and not Turkeys.

 

 

Dr. Renee Baumgartner Interview - The Future of Santa Clara Athletics

                                                                                                      


It's will be five years since July 2015, when Santa Clara made what was considered by many a needed and somewhat controversial decision to hire Dr. Renee Baumgartner as our Athletics Director.  

Needed in that our program, once one of the top in the WCC, was  expected to try to compete for the past three decades with one of the lowest funding and scholarship levels in our league.  

Controversial, that in prior stops, there were alleged program issues that came to light during her tenure.  Some felt that other than the school's names beginning with the letter "S" there was little common ground.  

During our interview Renee highlighted her strategy to "change the culture" and trajectory of Santa Clara Athletics.

Before mid 2015, coaches were not just coaches, but had to fundraise to make their program budgets work.  The Bronco Bench did an outstanding job raising money, but when you're down 30 or so scholarships vs others at SCU tuition rates - well, you get the picture.  In Men's Basketball, we caught some lightening in a bottle every 15 years or so, but never got traction as a top tier program in the WCC.  We all watched as Gonzaga and St. Mary's put us, sadly, in the rear view mirror on their way to NCAA's and league titles. Then, along came BYU.

Prior to 2015, athletics was such an after thought that during his 11 years as A.D., Dan Coonan wasn't allowed to present his needs or plans to SCU Trustees.  Fear of his sharing the dirty laundry of our athletics funding levels.  

To Father Engh's credit, The President's Commission on Athletics was formed to study how could SCU get back in the "game" and what would a nationally competitive program mean to the University's reputation and, of course, fundraising.  Long story short, they discovered what Gonzaga, Villanova, Marquette, etc. figured out 25 years before us - top tier Athletics, particularly in major sports, made Universities "winners" on and off the court. 

Enter Renee Baumgartner.  Backed by Fr. Engh and the Trustees she was given the mandate and, finally, the money to start a complete makeover.  It was and is a tough resuscitation effort.  
It was a program in limbo with little or no accountability.  A strategic plan that amounted to win some games and a league title here and there, and a culture of mediocrity that to some was better than being pathetic.  At SCU, you didn't get fired for mediocrity.  

Fast forward five years.  Under Renee, the culture of mediocrity is out, along with the coaches and staff that tried to win without the resources to do so.  Ok, you get one scholarship, now go win a WCC title when your competition has 5 or 10.  Not gonna happen... 

Lots of changes.  Top to bottom.  Renee is not afraid to make decisions, like them or not, to raise our profile.  Upgrades are everywhere to be seen:  the new Leavey look, locker rooms,  offices that look like a real department so when recruits come they don't see 15 year old carpet and paint, better fitness equipment and conditioning staff to develop D1 competitive bodies, branding from Nike is all over versus just a pair of shoes.  The upgrades in the coaching staffs is laying the foundation for consistent long term success - not every 15 years or so.  Keep going, Marketing, PR, Nutrition, Academic support, team rooms.  On and on, it's happened or in the plan.  Many sports now have fully funded scholarships and program funding so coaches can actually coach and not fundraise.  What a concept.

On top of all that, the soon to be completed Athletic Excellence Center will be a no compromise facility that rivals the best in the country.  Now, we need a team in that facility that can compete with the best.  

Whatever you think of the process, a foundation is in place to get SCU to a national level in major sports.  This investment has never happened in SCU's long, storied history.  Think Women's Soccer level success in the other major sports, but first and foremost in Men's Basketball.  

While the foundation has been laid and is undeniably much better, the winning has lagged.  

Men's Basketball had a good last season with 20 wins, but is currently .500 in four seasons under Coach Sendek.  Men's Baseball under new coach Rusty Filter is 50-71 and was off to a good start in 2020 at 12-5 before Covid-19.  Women's Basketball and Softball have struggled to gain momentum under new coaches with sub .500 records.  Men's Soccer under 18 year coach Cameron Rast has had a rough patch the past 4 years with their last NCAA tourney bid coming in 2015; to go along with 6 other earlier appearances.  Women's Soccer is still the gold standard program at SCU under Coach Jerry Smith with 29 NCAA tourney's in 34 years, one NCAA tournament Championship and 10 WCC titles.

Make no mistake, undoing decades of a reputation for under performance isn't easy.  Why would superior athletes want to come to Santa Clara?  Even a campus nicknamed "Claradise" doesn't cut it.
When the student body prefers beer pong instead of going to a USF rivalry basketball game on a Saturday - you have a problem... 

Face it, current students at SCU didn't come for sports because we had little reputation for them.  Great Campus - sports, not on the radar.  Took Gonzaga 25 years to get to a level where they now  have made 21 straight NCAA's.  But we're Santa Clara, so we want it, now.  

Right.  

We'll know in the next five years if the makeover works.  With Renee's new contract extended through 2024 most all the pieces are there and it comes down to winning.  Winning games and winning over students and fans.  She'll need help.  The President's Commission on Athletics has gone silent for five years.  Maybe they were the ultimate "one and done" study.  Reports are nice but results are better.  

Now is the time...it appears Fr. O'Brien gets it.  It even seems he likes going to games.  I hope he likes to win.  Because we all win IF we committ to press on and follow through.  I'm sure the University can think of a $billion reasons to achieve Athletic success similar to our Academic stature.  

To be a major player, you have to think like a major player and not like just another school who had a plan five years ago.

We're literally on a "mission."  Let's make it happen!





















  

SCU Men's Basketball - The Other "March Madness"

Even though the NCAA tournament has been cancelled, the other March Madness is in full swing.  This March Madness has no brackets, no boundaries and spares no programs. This is no April Fools' prank.

It's the madness of NCAA Men's Basketball transfers.  It's crazy and will get worse; not better.  I'll explain.

By now, most of you may know that Trey Wertz, Tahj Eaddy and David Thompson are transferring from Santa Clara.  To date, their destinations are still not final.  

Last season there were about 650 players signed into the transfer portal in Division 1 Men's Basketball.  The number in 2020 is growing and the WCC has more than its fair share. 

It's bad now, but on top of this, the NCAA is actively considering waving the one year "sitting out" period for transfers.  

Throw "be true to your school" allegiance out the window.  Be prepared to re-tool your roster every year.  Madness.

The term "one and done" used to be reserved for exceptional college players moving to the NBA, but now it's wide open for players "looking" for a better way to showcase themselves for basketball life after college.  A few to the Pros, but many to Europe and Asia.  

The unintended consequences of these policies will be that the power players in NCAA Men's Basketball will have an even stronger lock on the first look at talent; an unending supply of the best players available from any team, any season to transfer up.  

Just look at Trey Wertz.  He arrived at SCU as a highly recruited prospect by a number of bigger programs.  Recruited as a shooting guard.  By the time summer workouts started, he became our point guard; out of necessity when K.J. Feagin and Matt Hauser left for other opportunities.  

Trey had moments of brilliance (USC) and embarrassment trying to adapt to a position he'd never played and at a D1 level.  However, in those bright moments he showed athleticism that higher level programs can exploit.  He is looking at over 11 schools with interest.  One is the University of Arizona, where Justin Gainey is an assistant coach and was Trey's primary recruiter to SCU.  Arizona is always in the national conversation and a perennial NCAA qualifier.  SCU's last NCAA qualifier was 26 years ago.  Hard to turn that down.  

Expect more.  Our main hurdle is to get into the conversation in the WCC and NIT and NCAA invites.  We were on track this season to make a move, but key injuries put a screeching halt to that.   

Here's an uneducated theory of how this might actually help the Broncos.  There is a possibility that higher level program players will find it harder to land playing time as this "free agent" concept creates oversupply into the power and high major programs. This makes mid-majors, like SCU, become more viable.  It just takes a few great finds who will get us a few big upsets to elevate our chances.

We'll need to continue to get the best incoming freshman class we can.  This year was quite successful, but plan on them for two years.  The ones that outgrow our program will try to move up.  We should try to catch a few Grad transfers from better programs who already know the NBA is not happening, but want the education as a foundation for their future - basketball or not.  Master's degrees last forever.

SCU should grab/steal transfers from high major programs where those players can become stars here vs role players.  

Some of the best players across the WCC are leaving big holes in their rosters.  It's triage to fill the openings.  Puts even more pressure on recruiting.   

This part of March Madness is here to stay.  Loyalty to coaches and programs is out the window.  It's all about the future "Benjamins."  I would hate to see the mid-major programs like SCU become the minor leagues or farm teams for the top 30.  

The transfer window is open and hopefully our coaching staff will be great "horse" traders for our program!

SCU Men's Basketball - The "Heart" of The Matter

                                                                                                  


Las Vegas wasn't built on winners and the Broncos proved that on March 6th.  We had no "pep" versus Pepperdine.  The pride of a 20 win season evaporated quickly.  The eleven point loss belies that we were out of this game early.  We scored five points in the first nine minutes.

For whatever reason, we weren't ready to play.  OK, we were banged up with two starters hobbled and one, a no go.  But after watching the previous game against Portland, Bronco fans were looking for the same type of effort and action. 

I'm sure we had a game plan, but, from the start, we played like it was a pickup game vs a post season game.  We put an "I" in team with a one-on-one display of turnovers and poor shooting.  It was a replay of the loss to LMU at Leavey in front of many SCU basketball alums from the early great years.

Those teams practiced in Seifert Gym, an archaic, iconic building with brick walls, one universal weight machine that was usually broken, a locker room the size of a small conference room and a training staff led by cigar smoking Henry Schmidt.  No frills.  

Play.

Contrast to today, with bigger training, medical and coaching staffs, academic advisers, real weight rooms, nutrition guidelines, individual strength and conditioning plans, and video reviews of everything.  A complete package for players.  Soon the Athletics Excellence Center will open and will be a no compromise facility for our team to rebuild a once storied program.  We will have it all.

Our talent is noticeably better, but with six WCC teams having 20 win seasons, the talent is getting better across the league and we all know talent alone doesn't ensure winning.  Talent got us seventh place in the WCC with a 6-10 record.  Only twice in the past 20 seasons has our team lost six straight games in league.  The worst being the 2011-12 season losing 16 straight.  

The only thing we may be missing is the one thing you can't coach and the fabric of what takes teams to a higher level - Heart.

My simplified definition of Heart is a "refuse to lose" chip on your shoulder.  A visceral, deep in the gut desire to bury opponents.  Wait, there's more.  It's a complete trust in yourself and your teammates to do their job on the court.  A stop when you need it.  Making an important shot to regain momentum.  It's not "hero" time trying to be the man, that's earned, not given.  It's a belief created from the stench of hours of sweat in practice to never let your team down.  

Just reference Mark Purdy's great Mercury News article this past Monday, March 16th, recapping SCU's improbable win over Arizona in the 1993 NCAA tournament.  He quotes Steve Nash's teammate Pete Eisenrich "we don't have anyone 7 feet tall like Arizona, but it has something to do with heart too."

Our coaches have it.  You can see it and hear it as the tempers boil over in timeout huddles.  It's a fervor and a fever that they need to infect this team with.

We did have significant injuries to deal with.  Every team does.  That said, we let at least three get away, with frankly, poor play.  We don't seem to have a reliable "go to" when games start going south.  The top six in the WCC have "go to's."  

Enough ranting...

Add it all up and 20-13 is a step up in wins even though a step down in league standings.  I worry that some feel that we are now back on track to attain bigger things.  IMHO, we've barely laid the  foundation for consistent success in Men's Basketball. 

To get Bronco Basketball to a top tier program in the WCC or NCAA,  everyone - the University, Trustees, Athletic staff, season ticket holders and fans will need to get into the "refuse to lose" mentality and be "go to's" on the way to better.  Either all in or not.

And that's The "Heart of the Matter."

SCU Men's Basketball - Twenty Questions?

Today, the Broncos play Portland in the first round of the WCC tourney.  Under normal circumstances, there is no question we should win and reach a team goal of 20 wins.  

However, with a short roster, it begs the question, if eight is enough?  It won't be until game time if we know we have Trey Wertz who is still "questionable" recovering from a concussion at Pacific.  Caruso and Vrankic are out and if Trey can't go, that's 37 points per game - out.  While eight can be a good number in Las Vegas Craps, it's lousy for a roster.

Portland doesn't have fantastic talent, but they do have depth and experience with six juniors and a graduate transfer in their top scorers.  They'll be eager to avenge on a neutral court since their loss at Leavey last week. 

A major question is, how do you defend aggressively without much backup?  With Jaden Bediako, the last true center standing, rest assured, the Portland quick guards will be attacking the paint.  

The coaches will say they want to shrink the court on defense by packing in the weak side to help.  Hard to do with a shrunken roster.

We may have a roster that's short on players, but we're longer on talent.  Witness last game with DJ Mitchell dropping 25, Tahj Eaddy 15, and Keyshawn Justice 20 on top.  Add the Williams, Jalen and Giordan, and there's more than enough firepower to answer the above questions.  We'll need them to play in the same style to get it done.  Share the ball, exploit mismatches, and feed the hot hands.  

Defense needs to keep us in it, but we'll need to shoot our way out of this to get number 20.  Without question, I like our chances.

If we get by Portland, Pepperdine awaits.  I can't think of a better scenario, our turn to settle the tied season series.  Pepperdine goes as Colby Ross goes and we will need to coral him and rebound to have a good shot to win.  

21 wins is definitely in play.  It will make a strong closing statement to the WCC tournament and answer a lot of questions about our potential heading into next season. 

SCU Men's Basketball - It's Down To The Home Stretch

                                                                                                            


At 18-11 overall and 5-9 in the WCC, the Bronocs have shown improvement with Coach Sendek's first fully recruited roster.  One could argue we should have three more wins.  However, with no seniors and seven new players, it would have been tough to predict wins over St. Mary's, Washington State, and Cal or two losses to Pepperdine, then LMU, and Pacific. Some complain, we play too many patsies.  So does everyone.  Gonzaga's pre-season schedule had 10 doormats. 

We faced a "hard six" ending our WCC season.  Four at home and two away.  USF, LMU, St. Mary's, and Portland at Leavey.  BYU and Pacific roadies.  The old adage "there's no place like home" went out the window with our losses to Pepperdine and LMU.  Opportunity knocked and we haven't been able to answer the call in our last four WCC games.  

Whether home or away, all these teams have rosters, that for the most part, are quick-guard centric.  Our losses have had three common denominators - inability to stop those guards, poor defensive rebounding, and spotty shooting.  We made Jahlil Tripp from Pacific look like a first round NBA pick, ripping us for 29 points on 63% two point shooting and 66% from three.  His season averages are 52% and a whopping 16% from three. 

It's like we have a game plan that works for just the first 10 minutes of a game.  We start fine.  The ball moving, players cutting, good passing, shooting and then "poof" - gone.  Off to dribble, dribble land.  It seems like half our turnovers lately are self inflicted.  Balls bouncing off our feet, simple passes up court intercepted, and dribbling into traffic making it easy on the defense.  All the above was painfully visible in the losses to USF, LMU, and at Pacific.

It's a long season for our young players.  The loss of Willie Caruso in the post didn't help our "post season" ambitions.  That said, every team has injuries.  When you factor the road games at BYU and Pacific, who are playing very well, running the table in our final six would have been about the same odds as rolling a hard six in dice - about 5.5%.  

We have another opportunity with two games left at Leavey.  IF, we can regroup and win our last two vs St. Mary's and Portland, it would be a 20 win season.  That would only be the seventh 20 win season in the last 30 years.  You read that right, the last 30 years!  

Steps in the right direction.  Shedding the apathy of the past into ambitions for the future.  

SCU Men's Basketball - When There's a "Willie" - There's A Way

                                                                                         


With seven WCC games to go, our season results, to date, have shown the depth and breadth of Coach Sendek's roster.  Depth in that ten players see action and breadth in that it's not uncommon to have five of those ten score in double figures.  

We just need to get back our "height" to go with our depth to make a final run to 20+ wins.  While no one player makes the total difference on this roster, the loss of Willie Caruso for the past nine games, all of our WCC games to date, has been especially rough given the season ending loss of Zeke Richards.  Small ball is not our core strength. 

So I say, when there's a Willie, there'as a way to 20+ wins or more.  He's OUR Caruso, in the lineage of the great Caruso, both from Naples; one with a virtuoso voice and one with a nifty jump hook in the lane we sorely miss.  Longer term, the upside to his injury is that Jaden Bediako, as he is racking up more minutes, is also filling up stat sheets, coming off a 13 point, 9 rebound game at Portland.  

More depth and height.   

With both Jaden and Willie back, we can stop the offensive rebounding parade of our recent opponents.  The loss to Pepperdine was particularly glaring in the final minutes as Kessler Edwards made us pay with two putbacks to close us out.  That probably doesn't happen with both Willie and Jaden available.  

With the Broncos at Pepperdine Thursday, we have an opportunity to get one back at their house.  The Waves have been a mercurial team this year.  They took the Zags to the final seconds, but also lost to San Jose State, Sacramento State and Pacific in Malibu.  With or without Willie, it would be huge to get this one back. 

If we do, and soon after Willie returns, I can see 22 wins possible.  Doing that and making a little noise in the WCC tourney and who knows?

All I know is for the stretch run, we will need our "stretch" center to try take us to new heights.  And that's a view we will all enjoy!

SCU Men's Basketball - Are We on the Rebound?

                                                                                        

The Broncos had a nice rebound road win at San Diego on Saturday after a disappointing overtime loss to Pepperdine.  At 4-3 in league heading into the Zags at Leavey this week, we are on track with my assumptions pre-league of 8-8 or maybe, with an upset win 9-7.

This team seems to have a short memory after losses with three good rebound wins after blowout losses.  But, if we are going to continue to "rebound" in the last nine WCC games, we need to rebound!  

Through seven WCC games we have 50 fewer defensive rebounds and 30 less offensive rebounds than our opponents.  It's not so much the total difference, but more the trend and timing of rebounding.  In our home win versus Pacific, we gave up 17 offensive rebounds, but were fortunate they didn't shoot well; especially from the free throw line at 60%.   

In our overtime loss to Pepperdine, ahead five points with less than four minutes to go, we were two rebounds and two free throws away from a great comeback.  Kessler Edwards' two offensive rebounds and put backs, the last one with 51 seconds left, were buzz kills to closing out that win.  

With Willie Caruso still out, we are down to one true center.  Willie is progressing in his rehab drills, but no decision yet on a return date.  While Jaden Bediako shows grit and flashes of "wow" he's among a group of eight in the rotation whose lack of experience are glaring in some key moments in both our wins and losses.  

While I love the fact this team has a short memory after losses, the short memory also rears its head in game situations when we forget to rebound or contest our opponents' best 3 - point shooters at key moments.  As fans, we are dumbfounded to see Pepperdine's Colby Ross and Skylar Chavez make threes at crunch time due to soft closeout defense.  Frustrating.  

To be trite, "you can't teach experience" or resiliency.  One we lack, the latter we have.  A good thing.  The other big plus is depth.  Huge.  Eight different players have lead us in scoring this season.  
We can be a tough cover because we have 5 legit scorers on the floor.  It's been YEARS since we had that as a weapon. 

Of our last nine games, five are at home and four away.  The hardest are Gonzaga and St. Mary's at Leavey and then Pepperdine, BYU on the road.  The other five are not easy either.  

To get to 8-8 or 9-7, we will have to rebound by committee; guards, everyone.  You can't run up the floor unless you get the rebound first.  Obviously, we need to shoot it at our season average or above and cover the 3-point drainers of our opponents.  

In the end, our ability to "rebound" into the upper tier in the WCC starts with rebounding and that experience is one we are looking forward to seeing.

SCU Men's Basketball - We Didn't Leave Our Heart In San Francisco

                                                                                                     


Last week USF exacted revenge on us for their heartbreaking loss at Leavey the end of last season.   That loss sent them into a spiral out of NCAA or postseason consideration.  Thursday, at USF, we were as cold as a summer day in SF; shooting a season low field goal percentage at 33%.  As bad as the shooting was, the rest of our performance was just as bad.  

To many Bronco fans and season ticket holders, more disasters were on the way.  After USF, facing St. Mary's and then Gonzaga, a three game road nightmare was going to happen.  

But, guess what?  We didn't do a Tony Bennett.  We didn't "Leave our Hearts in San Francisco."  We took them on the road to Moraga and downed St. Mary's with a final four minutes of old style Bronco basketball - toughness.  

In the past 10 seasons, we have all seen many times where we withered down the stretch in key, close games.  It's like the full "Eeyore" lose again downer.  Not this time.  We had "Justice" enough D, DJ, Trey and Josip to finish the road shocker.  

Roller coaster.  Trey makes a big three, then misses (for him) a pretty easy layup with 13 seconds to go.  Josip boards, gets hammered on the first put back - no call - and then boards again and puts back a nifty left hander.   

Whew!  That's this team.  

We have six players in their second season; who are sort of like kids during their "terrible twos" phase.  Awful, then so good.  After all of our prior road losses this season, we have come back with a good win.  After Nevada, five straight wins.  After Stanford, we beat Cal.  After USF, down goes St.Mary's. 

Good stuff, but expect more of the unexpected during the last 13 league games.  No game will be easy.  Our next five include Gonzaga twice, Pacific (who also beat St. Mary's), Pepperdine and away at USD.  Pepperdine started the season slow, but is playing well of late taking #14 ranked Arizona and # 1 Gonzaga to the final minute before losing both road games.  

If we get Willie Caruso back by the Gonzaga home game (Jan. 30) we have a real chance to finish 9-7 in the WCC.  Of our last 13 games, seven are at home and six away.  IF, we improve our road game performance, maybe upside to 10-6.  

Better.  

BUT, everyone in the WCC is also getting better; perhaps faster than we are.  We can't relax.  We can't fool ourselves into thinking a bit of success and the new Athletic Excellence Center will get us to National status.  It won't.  

Instead, we all need to step it up.  We are not there, until we're there: Nationally ranked.  Not once, but consistently.  Complacent doesn't get us to competitive.
  
We all need to step it up.  The University, the Trustees, Fr. O'Brien, Renee, Men's Basketball, and fans.  We need to prove our "heart" is all-in to being Nationally relevant, not just some words on a five year plan whose expiration date is, you guessed it - 2020.