Santa Clara Men's Basketball - WCC Tourney Brackets Released

 

                                                                                                          

It was a tough week for the Broncos needing to win two games to get a better seeding in the WCC tournament and it paid off with SCU earning the #3 seed.  

This is a great bracket for us.  The big unknown was how the league would seed based upon the conference records or a combination of league record plus KenPom rankings.  KenPom is a nationally followed MBB statistical cite used by the NCAA and NIT for selection purposes.  If you look into KenPom we are ranked well below St. Mary's, USF, and BYU.  With the St. Mary's win over Gonzaga last night, they certainly earned the # 2 seed and an NCAA tourney higher seed.

However, I was a bit surprised to see us seeded ahead of USF and BYU given some WCC bias.  We beat BYU and St. Mary's once and lost to USF twice.  USF split with BYU, lost twice to St. Mary's and had a bad loss to Portland at home.  My guess is our wins over BYU and St. Mary's and beating all the lower ranked WCC opponents got us the # 3 seed nod.  Our impressive win over Portland yesterday, who had won five straight and came in with a huge "chip" on their shoulder, was a late statement win.  

This opportunity for the Broncos is 25 years in the making and in the sixth year of Coach Sendek and his staff.  His second 20 win season in three years is a feat accomplished three times since about 1950!  The best run was the awesome Awtrey, Ogden, Eagleson nationally ranked group, who had 20+ wins three seasons in a row. 

 

Last night's win was a throwback to the epic showdowns we would have vs USF in 70's and 80's; except it was against Portland.  They came in sky high and mad as a hornet's nest after the cancellation of our game in Portland.  You could see and feel the coaches on both sides wanting a smackdown.  It turned into a trench warfare game as the officials lost control with the coaches by making both phantom calls and bludgeoning's left uncalled.  Portland Coach Legans seemed to lose his mind in joy over a monster dunk by Kristian Sjolund along the baseline in front the Broncos bench to go ahead by three points in the first half.  He got reality back with 10 minutes left in the second half when Josip Vrankic dished in transition to Jalen Williams who made an atmospheric level poster dunk over two Pilot players along the same baseline to put us up by 10 points.  The Pilots were "grounded" after that statement dunk.

Nothing is given in the WCC tournament. If we can get by our second round game versus most likely Portland or San Diego, we get another shot at St. Mary's and more importantly a shot at a post season tourney that starts with a "N."  

Credit this team and the coaches for playing through Covid, Mono, and injuries to get to this moment.

The oddsmakers in Las Vegas will have a tough time figuring out the Broncos.  I'm sure Randy Bennett wants another chance to beat the team that has been a thorn in his side on the way to post season tournaments.  For Bronco fans we don't want "what happens in Vegas, to stay in Vegas."  We want a trip to the "dance."  We'll have to break out the "Macarena" from 1996 and love doing it!!!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - No "Hail Mary's" Needed

 

                                                                                                                       

It's been 18 years since the Broncos took out a nationally ranked team.  

The win this past Tuesday was no "Hail Mary."  Our last three wins against the Gael's going back to 2015 were decided by a total of four points.  In 2015, Jared Brownridge won it with a buzzer beater.  In 2019, Josip Vrankic won it with a put back in the final seconds and in 2021, Keshawn Justice blocked a Tommy Kuhse shot and sank a free throw to close it out.   

At Leavey on Tuesday, Randy Bennett's team had a plumbing problem.  It wasn't a water pipe that exploded, but it was P.J. "Pipes" that took advantage of leaky Gael transition defense burying three, 3 pointers that gave us a huge boost.  Josip Vrankic did damage at the end with two key layups and then Keshawn Justice got to Tommy Kuhse again, like he did in 2021, with a clutch steal.  Our 77 points were the most allowed this season by one of the best defenses in the NCAA.  

The crowd provided big adrenaline rushes fueled by plays made by this team; which they are not used to seeing.  The Pipes' 3's, along with a one step thunder dunk from the baseline by Carlos Stewart off an assist by Jalen Williams, ejected fans from their seats.  The second court storming by the students at the end should light a fire for Saturday's game against USF.  A solid total team win.  

It will take that type of performance and more to take down USF on Saturday.  Although St. Mary's beat USF in San Francisco, they were down by 23 points mid first half and by 17 at halftime and came back to win by two. 

USF features two outstanding guards, Shabazz and future NBA draft pick Bouyea.  Both are cat quick and can shoot it from anywhere, drive it and pass it.  They have a good big in 6'10" Massalski who can score from the low block and is a frequent find off their driving guards for layups.  They have two other shooting guards that are 41% and 45% from the 3 point area.  They are good enough defensively and are able to outshoot most opponents.  If we keep the ball moving, find, and trust our guys to take/make good shots, it should be fun to watch.

The road ahead gets tougher from here as we have three straight road games* vs LMU, Gonzaga, and Pepperdine.  We then host Portland February 26th, who just beat USF. 

It would be great to keep our run going and finish the league schedule in the top 4 to ensure a bye in the WCC tournament.  That would give the Vegas oddsmakers and some post season committees something to think about.

 

*Note:  The Monday February 14th game versus Portland has been cancelled.