Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Focus on the "Cons" to Get More "Pros"

 

                                                                                                                        

After 14 pre-season games, we've seen what kind of performances our new roster makeover is capable of.  They are capable of four high quality NET ranking wins on the road and capable of two losses to beatable teams outside the top 150.  They are capable of shooting a higher percentage from the three point line than from the free throw line.  They are capable of 20 assist games and 26 turnovers games.   So far, the thing we need to be more capable of is consistency which breeds confidence.  

All things considered, 9-5 is pretty good.  IMHO, 11-4 was probably our best pre-season record.  Our record includes wins and losses due injuries to opponents and to us.  All teams have injuries to starters, but our bench has not been capable enough, in some of the losses, to compensate.  

It's harder to win when you pass the ball more to your opponents than your teammates.  In our last five games, we have 82 turnovers against 72 assists resulting 93 points against us.  In spite of this, we were in position to win two more of those games because we don't give up and can really shoot the ball.  We have six players that shoot better than 50% from the field.  We have three players who shoot over 40% from three point range; including Carlos Marshall with a gaudy 49% from three.  This is an elite level on par with the top five ranked NCAA teams.  

To fans watching, it looks like we try to do too much off the dribble in traffic and get balls knocked away.  One other consequence of dribble, dribble is other players stop cutting and moving to make themselves available for an open shot as our opponents defense collapses to stop drives. We are at our best when the ball moves to quality open shots, which as you can see from above, we are quite capable of knocking down.

Consistency moving the ball many times starts with capable guard play.  This is still a work in process with so many new players.  As an example, we've had different guards each year for the past four seasons that were new to the Sendek system.  Not easy.  Lately we've settled on Brenton Knapper at point with Adama Bal handling late in games.  Knapper has shown so far to be capable in this role with improved shooting and few turnovers.

So, what's the key to this elusive consistency?  Pick your favorite hall of fame basketball coach and you'll read there isn't a secret sauce.  Bulls Coach Phil Jackson's said of the Michael Jordan led teams, "You prepare hard for every game and once it starts you have to let go of the outcome."

In this season, we've certainly seen outcomes that are both exciting and traumatizing.  Sometimes the simplest approach works.  As players do the things they know they are capable of and rely on your teammates for the same.  Don't just fall in love with the three, dribble into traffic, and move the ball to your teammates for their most capable play.  It feels like when we try to do too much we end up with too little.  

This afternoon versus Yale will test all of the above.  They are a St. Mary's style team.  They play slow, play tough on defense, and will try to dissect us in the half court exploiting the mismatches they create.  Good news for us is Tilly will be back and Caffaro is now healthy after nagging injuries.

So to get more Pros, let's focus on the Cons.  Consistency, Confidence in what we are capable of, Connecting with our teammates on the floor and, maybe as a Consequence of that, we'll put ourselves in Consideration for a post season invite!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Are We On The Rebound?

                                                                                                        

If the Broncos are going to make some noise in the WCC and have any shot at the post season, we need to rebound from our rebounding.  The sordid details are that in our last four games, we've given up 58 offensive rebounds resulting in 54 second chance points.  Add to that 64 turnovers in those four games resulting in 64 point off turnovers.  Huge.

Granted this team is a work in process, but we need to find a Chairman of the Boards.   Someone with a "tude".  We're big enough, but we need to play big enough.   Maybe a guy like Cam Tongue.   He scores tough inside and has half the bigger guys rebounds in one-third of their minutes.  

To be fair, we get a rebound, but don't secure it and have it swatted away.  Opposing coaches are smart learning that officials look up for rebounding fouls, but not down when control is being established.  It's hard to watch small guards slap the ball away from seven footers. 

IMHO, a similar issue with our turnovers.   Feisty defenses hold us and slap at the ball off the dribble where refs won't make that call.  They know we are thin at point guard and totally overplay passing lanes daring us to make the backdoor cut pass which, when we do, is quite successful when our guys keep moving. 

To rebound from our poor rebounding, we need to focus on the power of 10.  Against good teams, when we allow 10 or fewer offensive rebounds and commit 10 or fewer turnovers, we win.   How do we consistently apply the power of 10?   Rebound.  

That's our engine.  Our athletes are really good in the open court from an outlet pass secured by, you guessed it, a rebound.  In our Quad 1 wins, we've pushed the ball up the court and our guys got open lanes to the rim or an uncontested three.  It works.  Open court passes are easier AND prevents us from slogging it away in half court sets where we tend to bog down and turn the ball over. 

 With three games to go before league, we could use three 10's.  We're Hoping for a 11-4 preseason, but 10-5 with our tough schedule gives us the opportunity for a post season nod with 10 or more WCC wins. 

And that's a rebound we are all looking forward to!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Fall Quarter Examinations

 

                                                                                                            

Fall quarter exams ended and grades are due on December 13th.  With the first quarter of the season over, it's time to review our report card.  Some say the numbers don't lie, but with a record of 7-3 the numbers/grades don't seem to add up.  After the New Mexico blowout in Las Vegas, all bets are off.

In our two quad 1* wins vs Stanford and Oregon, we showed "A" student talent.  We shot well, defended well, rebounded and made free throws.  In our three losses, none of that has happened.  Our numbers vs Ohio State:  38% 2 pt, 30% 3 pt, 50 % FT, 15 TO's.  Versus Cal: 38% 2 pt, 34.5% 3 pt, 50% FT, 10 TO's. Versus New Mexico:  our starters were 28% 2 pt, 20% 3 pt, and committed 18 turnovers!  In those games, we gave up 47 second chance points and had more turnovers than assists.  We flunked.  

Going 2-3 vs a top 25, a Pac-12 team, and Kenpom 33 ranked New Mexico isn't terrible.  More alarming is the dispersion/drop-off from the Stanford and Oregon wins.  When we're off, we're really off.  In our three losses, we were outplayed and out scored 126-84 in the first half.  

Every team has bad nights.  Even a purported deeper bench couldn't keep us in those games.  But it was like we weren't even there.  

Some other numbers from Kenpom rankings:  our 2022-2023 record was 23-10.  Of 363 NCAA teams, we ranked 85th overall.  Offense 84, Defense 94, and Tempo (how fast you play) 46th.  This season to date, of course, on a smaller sample size, we rank Overall 142, Offense 129, Defense 174, and Tempo 89.  

Frankly, with the higher level talent than past years and more depth, fans have witnessed a team that has a similar record at this time last year, but with stats that are well below last season.  The numbers do lie in that we have season to date two higher quality wins with stats that would have suggested losses like Ohio State, Cal, and New Mexico. 

Understandable with eight newcomers.  However, most of them come with D1 creds and some of the lapses are just playing ball: defending key players, rebounding, making free throws, protecting the ball and success in the paint.  That I don't get.  Instead, we looked befuddled and stagnant on offense and defense against these tougher opponents.  Maybe we're not running a scheme that takes advantage of these new players' strengths? 

A big important stretch awaits us and there are no layups here.  I'd love 4-2, but would take 3-3.  Last season we lost 4 of 6 games and then went on to win 7 straight.  We need that resiliency.  I think the capability is there and the coaches need to "unlock" it.  

We've finished our first quarter examinations, but there's a lot more homework and big tests ahead.  Whether you grade us a B, C, or D it doesn't really matter.  What matters is pushing for the "A" as in attitude, aggressiveness, that accelerates our drive for an NCAA bid and "Mission  Accomplished!"

* Quad 1: a win at home against teams ranked 1-30, win at a neutral venue against teams in the top 50, and an away win against teams in the Top 75.

Quad 1 wins count the most towards NET ranking which is used for NCAA seeding.

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - The "Marshall" Plan

 

                                                                                                                    

The Broncos will enter Thanksgiving week at 3-0 after a convincing win over Stanford at Maples Pavilion; who were #50 in the Kenpom ranking.  After the first eight minutes, it would have taken a lot of convincing to get Bronco fans to believe we could/would win this game on the road down 12 so early.   How did we do it?  

We instituted the "Marshall Plan!"  Huh, you say?  For history buffs, the Marshall Plan was a program launched in 1948 to stimulate growth, economic production, and trade.  It was a cornerstone of economic success for many years to come.   

The SCU Marshall Plan has as its cornerstone Carlos Marshall III, AKA, "Chef."  He has been the spark plug and stimulus for our team in our first three wins.  The numbers are eye popping:  22 PPG on 71% two point and 67% three point shooting percentages.  These are not typos.  Add six steals and a dozen rebounds and you get the picture. 

However, our Marshall Plan is having the same effect as the economic plan on our players on the court.  The scenario is Carlos starts hot, defenses try to shut him down which opens the floor for his very talented teammates to flourish.  The ball moves, players cut to their spots and Bal, Bryan, O'Neil, Tilly, Caffaro, Benjamin, and Tongue make them pay.  Pick your poison.  Defenses have nowhere to go.  It is not unrealistic that we could have 5 - 6 players average 10 PPG; not to mention the ability of our deeper bench to each score double digits when needed.  Finally, although Carlos Marshall has kick started the plan, his other teammates are just as capable of hot starts as the season progresses.  

I'm not concerned about our offense.  We can shoot even better than we have in the first three games; especially at the rim and free throw line.  While it's possible to just outscore opponents, that's not going to cut it against tougher teams that we will face in the next two weeks.  Our defense needs to get better.  Don't know the game by game coaching strategy on how we handle the high pick and roll, but it needs work.  

This was one of our Achilles Heels last season and we are gong to see it every game as teams know our tendencies.  We have our on ball player go behind screens opening up too many options for our defense to cover.  There will inevitably be nights where our shots don't fall and the defense needs to keep us in the game. We were very fortunate that Stanford missed at least five wide open looks for three's in the second half.  They shot 14% in the second half vs their team average of 39%.  We can't rely on luck.  

We'll learn a lot about our team late next week as we play Oregon (# 36), Alabama (# 5) or Ohio State (# 49) on the road in Florida.   

There's a lot to like about this team.  Size, talent, depth, grit, and effort.  Down twelve at Stanford, they didn't blink.  There's also trust.  The reason our Marshall Plan has worked is no one cares who scores and there's no hesitation moving the ball to the open player.  An example is Johnny O'Neil.  He was 0-7 from the field in his first game as a Bronco.  Since then he's 12-22 (55%) and was 7-13 vs Stanford.  His teammates got him the ball at key moments and he delivered.  

The point is that everyone on this roster can institute the Marshall Plan; not just our Carlos Marshall III.  That's a huge difference from prior years.  The prep for the Florida road trip starts tonight vs Southeastern Louisiana and Monday vs Mississippi Valley State.  It would be great to be 5-0 as we travel to Florida.  I say the Marshall Plan makes that happen!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Season Opening "Premiere"

 

                                                                                                              

The Broncos' 2023-24 Men's Basketball debut featured bright lights, loud music, and a crowd of Bronco fans welcoming the new team with warm applause.  It felt like a Hollywood film launch with the new Leavey Center lighting and scoreboard looking like a movie set, setting the stage for a story book five star review as our team took the floor for warmups.  

Then the game started.....

Maybe the lights were too bright, the audio too loud, the excitement too palpable.  From the outset, they were a team amped up to make a statement of what they can achieve this season.  We didn't score for the first two and a half minutes.  After five minutes, the score was 7-6 Utah.  Right about then, we settled in, a little bit.  Our defense sparked the first run of the season.  A strike from Francisco Caffaro to Carlos Marshall for a dunk woke up the crowd.  Four defensive stops, a layup by Caffaro and two more 3 pointers and a layup by Marshall, we were cruising 26-14.  With 2:40 to go, we were up 17 and then Utah finished the half with 5 straight points closing the gap to 12.  

The second half was more of the same.  Build a lead, give it up.  Winning by 7 was mediocre at best, but showed our potential.  Caffaro and Tyree Bryan were saviors off the bench combining for 24 points and looked comfortable in the brighter lights at key moments.  Adama Bal, the transfer from Arizona, had a solid, impactful first game with 17 points and 6 rebounds. Point guard Jalen Benjamin showed flashes of deft passing and scoring with 10 points. 

Carlos Marshall (Chef) was terrific; scoring 22 points in only 22 minutes due to cramps.  Podz type numbers in limited minutes.  His experience showed and he calmy put the team on his back in the first half.  Tyree Bryan had a great debut with 11 points and some lockdown defense. 

All in all, an OK start for so many new players in a new system.  It looked like some of our new guys were trying to do too much; hoisting up long looks in transition and passes into traffic.  There’s is a lot to work on.  20 turnovers and 10 offensive rebounds resulted in 26 Utah Tech points.  Enough said.

It's always a good night when it results in a “W” especially when two starters have off nights.  I like that we can go to the bench and expect production.  There was a time Wednesday when our lineup on the floor was 7’1”, 7’0”, 6’10”, 6’7” and 6’5”.  Now that’s what I call real “horsepower.”

Today, St. Francis is a good chance to get in sync before a big test at Stanford next Tuesday.  Let’s hope the horses are ready to run!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Are We the Rodney Dangerfield Team of the WCC?

  

                                                                                                           

Respect...Hard to come by...Earned, not just handed out.  In the past three years of the WCC, we have the most total wins with one year cut short due to Covid and, we still, as Rodney Dangerfield said "Don't get no respect!"  

OK, I get it.  This roster is unknown, unproven and, IMHO, underestimated.  No doubt, St. Mary's and Gonzaga have earned their cred with 25 years of consistent NCAA tournament level performances.  Maybe this is exactly where we want to be be this season.  Underrated, underappreciated and under the radar.  If it wasn't for Jalen and Podz we might get no ink at all.  

In the coaches' poll, we are picked fifth in the WCC.  That, most likely, means six of the WCC coaches voted us fifth or worse; assuming coach Sendek picked us third or fourth.  On the surface, easy to conclude we're not supposed to be a big factor when all of your starters are gone along with 80% of your scoring.  Meanwhile, the top four teams have most of their top players back.  Example, LMU who beat both Gonzaga and St. Mary's last season have their core back plus portal adds.  That's a strong resume.  The Zags kept key pieces and raided the portal with some great gets.  SMC, the same story, who are picked to win the WCC this year over Gonzaga. 

Everybody loves an underdog and I think our coaches and players will use our position as afterthoughts this season for motivation.  Particularly to those who came here with the chip of underrated from their previous schools.  

Our season starts with a few gimmies; like many other schools do to get game speed reps before the tougher games in the schedule.  The real pre-season test for the Broncos runs from November 14th at Stanford to December 30th vs Yale; where seven of the twelve opponents are top 100 and most top 60 - Stanford, Oregon, Duquesne, Alabama/Ohio St., and Washington St.  I think it's our toughest schedule yet under Coach Sendek.  Make no mistake, this is an NCAA tournament level schedule and that's what the coaches are hoping comes from this underappreciated roster.  There are four players who want to become the next Jalen or Podz.  They have huge ambitions to show what they can do so what better way than with a schedule that sets up for Quad 1 and 2 upsets in the NCAA NET ranking system.  That's the respect they want.  I love it!

You'll see jaw dropping plays from this team above the rim and in the open court.  Everyone can run, catch, score, and rebound.  To me, the key to this season's success has to be better defense - contesting three's, handle the high pick and roll, and stop the freebie layups in what was an open highway to the basket last year.  Lockdown.  

We do that and I like our chances.  We do that and the ghost of Rodney Dangerfield will be exorcised and we'll not only have an NCAA bid, but even better - RESPECT EARNED.

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - We're Unbelievable

 

                                                                                                    

After three 20 win seasons in the past four years, back to back third place WCC league finishes, two straight N.I.T. bids, and two consecutive NBA first round draft picks, we're unbelievable.  Few (including Mark Few) believe in our chances in 2023-24.  I guess that's  what the hangover of 25+ years with no bids to a post season tourney that begins with an "N" buys you.  

Add to that, all last year's starters are gone along with 80% of your scoring and, well, you can see why we are unbelievable.  The past two years was a fluke, right?  Hold on.

I last wrote about "Who are These Guys."  Let me tell you these guys have the potential to be unbelievable - as in great.  

Our roster is big and deep. Six players are 6'9" or taller including three 7'0" bigs that can actually catch and make shots, not only in the paint, but from distance.  No more fumble-rusky down low.  Christoph Tilly and 7'1" 245 lb transfer Francisco Caffaro from Virginia can defend and score.  Freshman Bukky Oboye and Luke McEldon will add much needed depth.  6'10" shooting forward Johnny O'Neil is a potential breakout player who can do it all.  Shoot it from deep and defend.  Last year he led American University with 51 blocks as a forward.  

Our other shooting wings bring a lot of size and firepower.  Jake Ensminger 6'9", Cam Tongue 6'7", Carlos Marshall 6'6" and Kozy Akametu 6'5" return along with Arizona transfer 6'7" Adama Bal and 6'5" Tyree Bryan will all make defenses pay when getting an open look.

Wait there's more.  Our Guards Brenton Knapper, 6'4" Freshman Christian Hammond, and 5'11" Grad transfer Jalen Benjamin will bring needed scoring and speed.  Benjamin lead his team in scoring last year. He's cat quick and will open the floor for our up tempo game. 

Everyone can play.   In prior seasons, when we had to go deep into the bench, there were a lot of cringes from the season ticket holders and fans as the drop off was sizeable.  Not now.

The Sendek model is you practice as you would play in a real game.  With so much better talent, the battle for minutes is intense.  It's so physical, that Coach Sendek has to remind the players that they would be on the bench with 2 or 3 early fouls unless they clean up their defensive approaches.  The good news is we have players to go to when a starter is having an off game.  

The competition heats up this week as we scrimmage UCLA in Westwood and UCSB at SCU early next week.  The Bruins are as usual, young and talented - picked third in the Pac-12.  These are important minutes for our guys to experience game flow ahead of our home opener November 8th against Utah Tech. 

No matter what, we'll be unbelievable.  Unbelievably great or bad.  I'm taking the over on this one and choose to believe in the unbelievably great.   Believe me, you won't want to miss this action.  We'll get a good look in 17 days.  

Next Up:  The 2023-24 schedule breakdown.

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Who are These Guys?

                                                                                                          

Despite a 23-10 record and a second consecutive NIT berth, Bronco fans and season ticket holders were left with the feeling we let a great opportunity slip away to make some noise in the NIT and raise our national profile.  It was a season to remember as we sent BYU packing with two wins and turned heads with big wins over name opponents. 

The optimism for the 2024 season got a big shot of adrenaline after Brandin Podziemski was drafted # 19 by the Golden State Warriors.  This quickly subsided as fans realized the key piece for a 2024 NCAA tournament run was gone.  Departures by Carlos Stewart, Giordan Williams, Jaden Bediako, Parker Braun, and Jacob Holt also added more fuel that a down year of rebuilding was ahead.  Fans wondered, what if anything would back to back NBA first round picks mean for the Broncos?  All our starters are gone!

Then, the phones started ringing.... Times past, WE did the calling.  Now, as a result of Jalen and Brandin's NBA successes, transfers want to talk to US.  They've read the J & B stories and see themselves as the next potential under the radar, underappreciated, player who wants to prove they are worthy of the NBA conversations.  They are leaving National Champions like Virginia and Arizona, and turning down power conference teams like Ohio State.  While many thought the transfer portal put SCU at a major disadvantage the opposite has happened.

Begs the question, why?  Why would these potential top level players choose to come to SCU given their abundant choices?  While each player has slightly different reasons, the common denominator is the ability to showcase their game in an up-tempo offense mentored by a proven, experienced coaching staff.  Oh, and by the way the AEC and Campus are homeruns.

An example is 6' 10" transfer Johnny O'Neil, from American University, was the Patriot League Freshman of the Year and all league defensive team last season with 27 steals and 51 blocked shots.  Not a typo and he wasn't their center.  American, as a team, was # 342 in the NCAA in offensive tempo.  A snail pace.  They were # 275 in offensive efficiency.  O'Neil averaged 10 shots per game with an 11.3 ppg scoring average.  By contrast, SCU  was # 46 in offensive tempo and Brandin averaged about 16 shots per game.  We'll see what O'Neil unhinged can do with 6-10 more shot per game.  

He's not alone.  Adama Bal, Tyree Bryan, Jalen Benjamin, and 7' 1" Francisco Caffaro all want the opportunity to have their talent on display in an high octane team setting.  Add returnees, Knapper, Tongue, Tilly, Akametu, Carlos Marshall, Redshirt Ensminger, and add freshman 7' 1" Oboyu, 6"10" McClendon, and 6' 4" shooting guard Hammond and this roster is as big as it is "DEEP". 

Our coaches have dealt with the Zags when they substitute to players on their bench who would start for any other team in the WCC.  Quote: "We have that depth this season."  So, given the hefty bench, how are all these guys going to get playing time with only 40 minutes to divide?  Herb's rule:  You earn minutes in practice and keep them if you perform.  Simple, straightforward.  

To say practices will be intense competition is an understatement.  Every teammate wants your minutes.  Hard to think of a better preparation formula than needing to win your daily battles.  The trick for the coaches will be to make the right move at the right time with a full complement of chess pieces.  Expect a tsunami and rolling thunder on offense.  A non-stop assault to the rim.  Opposing coaches might have to invoke the famous Butch Cassidy line when they can't shake the posse not matter what they do, "Who are these guys?"  With this depth, we shouldn't have guys run out of gas late in a tight game as we saw last season.  

In a short time we'll know who these guys are and how they'll play.  We may even discover "who" might emerge as the next Bronco NBA prospect or prospects.  We've waited more than 25 years for the last NCAA bid.  Is this the year?

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Trajectory

                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                               

Thirty something years ago in a gym far away, Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey found a great soccer player who wanted to play basketball, but couldn't get a look from Division One schools.  In 2016, coach Ludwig saw a smallish 5'10" sophomore from Arizona who believed his work ethic could lead to a pro career.  He arrived on campus a 6'6" shooting guard and led SCU to its first post season in over 25 years.  Last year, coach Sendek and his staff found a great baseball player who wanted to play basketball, but didn't get the chance at Illinois and chose SCU to prove he had the game to play at the next level.  

Each of these Bronco's, Steve Nash, Jalen Williams, and Brandin Podziemski, shared a common perception similar to Santa Clara:  one of being overlooked, undervalued, and unappreciated in Men's Basketball.  No more.  Their grit, talent, and achievements have given Santa Clara something sorely missing - trajectory. 

Trajectory is position and momentum toward an upward path.  A progression.  Clearly, that's happening.  Twenty win seasons, top three in the WCC, and back to back post season NIT invites.  

Fans and season ticket holders wonder, what happens now that these greats have moved on?  As we all hope - more.

More didn't seem to be on the horizon after this season with seven departures via the transfer portal, graduation, and the NBA.  All last year's starters gone.  That's where the boost from the great players above has kicked in.  

Think about it.  There are many high school recruits and D1 players who feel the same as our initially overlooked NBA players.  Santa Clara offers a bona fide path, facilities, and coaches to help players maximize their potential.  Santa Clara is now a beacon for those players.  Our phones are ringing and talent is committing.  Many believed the transfer portal would hurt SCU, but after two consecutive first round NBA draftees its actually become a great pipeline.

Seven players lost - seven gained.  Our roster will have three seven footers, six players 6'6" to 6'10", and the balance 5'10' to 6'5".  We will have speed, experience, depth, and enough firepower to replace what we lost from last season.  As a testament to this roster, the schedule will be one of strongest in the Sendek tenure.  More on that next article.

A big challenge for this upcoming season will be all the newcomers learning Coach Sendek's system.  The competition for minutes will be fierce which is a big advantage with a deep roster.  The team will face tough practices every day as the players compete for floor time.

While NIT's are an improvement, it's NCAA bids we covet.  

Trajectory can get us there.  It all starts with keeping our momentum.  A third NBA potential player or players is the type of momentum we all can't wait to see!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Will Brandin Podziemski "Measure" Up

                                                                                                                   

When Jalen Williams was drafted # 12 last year by the Oklahoma City Thunder, he became the second Bronco since Steve Nash to go from being an unknown to a breakout star in the NBA.  It would be difficult to be more "under the radar" for Nash and Williams playing for Santa Clara.  Is Brandin Podziemski the next undercover breakout talent and a "one and done" for the Broncos? 

The current media chatter at the NBA combine is trending upward fast with his early projection mid second round (40th or so) to now as high as #18 according to the Bleacher Report mock draft.  

For those not familiar with the combine, it's a tryout where NBA scouts and teams determine which of the 78 players are draft worthy and where they could be picked.  It all starts with a crazy number of physical measurements and tests and ends with two days of on court scrimmages where players are evaluated on everything.  

So far for Podz, the physical tests have gone well.  Vertical jump, how high can you sky, T - 6th at 39.0".  Shuttle run, how fast to you shuffle backwards and forwards around obstacles on a floor.  Measures speed, burst footwork and agility: T-5 at 3.09 seconds.  For reference, both of the above are as good or better than Jalen last year; who was also at the top in those stats.  There's everything from body fat measurements to standing reach, hand width/size, bench press and on and on.  

While those stats matter, the real deal is the shooting tests and full court playing sessions.  Show what you can do against your draft class AND individual selected matchups on the court.  It's about showcasing your basketball I.Q. and the range of things you can do to help a real NBA team win.  As expected, Podz has done well in his first set of "shootout" drills.  

I think the 5 on 5 play is where Podz will stand out.  He can do a lot besides fill it up from everywhere.  If Drew Timme wasn't in his like 9th year at Gonzaga, Brandin was hands down the POY in the WCC.  He had more rebounds, the same number of assists, similar number of steals, and points.  All as a guard.  Impressive.  

5 on 5 Scrimmage Results

In Wednesday's scrimmage, Brandin was the Brandin we saw at SCU; filling up the stat sheet with his all around play.  He was heralded as one of the standouts from day one by several scouts who wrote recaps from the day.  

His line for the day:

In 21 minutes:  FG: 40%. 3pt FG: 40%. 10 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, no turnovers and 2 steals.  Comments from scouts were that he surprised them with his on ball play, easily moving in the open court and finding teammates for open looks with his ability to make reads and crisp passes for baskets.  His work off screens was equally impressive including hitting an eye opening three from the deep corner.  One scout said, "he was easily the best all around player on the court and validated his projection as a first rounder."  

The Thursday 5 on 5 was more of the same with Brandin pushing the ball up the floor and finding teammates for easy looks.  He also dropped a bomb from half court to end the first half.  

Our coaches in attendance weren't surprised at all and feel he showed his full range of athleticism and skills.  Prior to the combine, feedback from scouts expressed doubts about whether his athletic skills were at an NBA level.  Heads turned with his 39" vertical jump, and a near triple double in the Wednesday scrimmage.  IMHO Brandin also stood out as a team player, not forcing shots and unselfishly distributing the ball.  Other prospects had a  "me first" attitude and tried to score one on one nearly every possession.  A bad look. 

All in all, a great start under huge pressure.  

Next up is the Pro Day in Santa Barbara where more testing and evaluations occur; followed by more measuring and workouts with specific teams.  Don't be surprised if the Oklahoma City Thunder take a hard look at Podz.  He is a combo guard they lack in their rotation although he may not be available when the Thunder might want to pick him.  BTW, his agent already has two players on the OKC roster - Chet Holmgren and our own Jalen Williams....

One thing for sure - Brandin absolutely "measured up" at the combine as an NBA caliber player.

A proud day for Brandin and Santa Clara Basketball!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - A Season of "Pros and Cons"

 

After back to back twenty wins seasons and NIT selections, was this Santa Clara Men's Basketball coming out party as a legit rising mid-major team?  For the second consecutive year, we finished third in the WCC, ahead of USF and BYU, and in front of pre-season "experts" picks of LMU and Portland; who placed fourth and seventh.  

So much for all the experts and stat rags predicting outcomes.  Witness the NCAA tournament.   The highly touted NET ranking system, used to make tournament selections, was about as accurate as a WCC referee making the right call on a charge or blocking foul.  Awful.

Facts are the WCC and, in particular Santa Clara, is better than the talking heads think.  In addition the "gap" between the perennial top teams, Gonzaga and St. Mary's, and the rest, is narrowing.  Our late game losses to the above loom large as our potential for an NCAA bid went down with two hail Mary's three pointers against the Zags and the Gaels.  As good as this season was, those losses, as well as, meltdowns versus Pacific, San Jose State, and USF in the WCC quarterfinal were the "cons" - consequences to not making the NCAA Tournament.  

There are those who say Coach Sendek is too "old school", set in his ways, doesn't make enough in game adjustments, and that the rest of coaching staff is sticking around because they're aren't opportunities for them to move on and grow.  Truth is, they like what's happening at SCU even though there are offers of bigger coaching opportunities.

There are those who look at our records, momentum, and four consecutive winning seasons against better competition and feel we are on the right track.  Twenty-Five years between post season invites that begin with an "N" are evidence of consistent progress.  Of course, for some it's too slow.

Amongst the "pros" mentioned above, there's been the recruiting and development of NBA pros.  The progression we as fans and season ticket holders have witnessed with Jalen William's, the # 12 pick and now Brandin Podziemski testing the NBA draft waters has been fun to watch.  BTW, it's been 27 years since Steve Nash began his NBA career.  These successes make us want more. 

In today's college basketball, there are LOTS of players who fly under the radar that have seen what Jalen and Brandin have accomplished.  They now view SCU as a place where they can stand out and develop with a team rising and a WCC conference that competes at a higher national level.  

It makes a difference.  Our phones are ringing with prospects vs us making all the calls.  The AEC and the SCU campus are powerful drawing cards; giving our coaching staff more options than ever in this "transfer portal" world.  SCU student turnouts and noise levels have improved as well. 

We could have a many as five roster spots available if Brandin formally enters the draft after the May NBA combine.  Holt, Bediako and Giordan Williams have entered the transfer portal.  Brandin will test the NBA and Carlos Marshall is likely to look for Pro opportunities abroad.

Odds are with more "Pros" and fewer "Cons" we will again be a very good team and looking to challenge the top two teams in the WCC.  Those are the kind of odds we should all look forward to!

More on the 2023-2024 roster next column.

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - What Happened in Vegas Needs to Stay in Vegas

 

After wining seven straight games to finish the league season, the Broncos were poised to make some noise in the WCC tournament.  Unfortunately, the noise they made was from the motor on the bus pulling away from the Orleans Arena after a double overtime loss.   

As the third seed, they had earned a first round bye and would play USF after the Dons dispatched Pacific the night before in round one.  It was a great scenario.  The odds were in our favor; riding the momentum from a 23-8 record and a season sweep of the Dons.  The win would set up a chance to knock off Gonzaga and raise our profile for loftier post season consideration.

While we can be totally proud of a 23 win season, this finish was not what the coaches, players, or Bronco fans expected.  With us ahead ten with 4:35 to play, USF capitalized on a series of mishaps that resulted in a 16-6 run that sent the game into overtime and an eventual double overtime loss.  It was the Khalil Shabazz show; dismantling our 3 point defense scoring 14 of the 16 points in the run. 

Despite all of our late game lapses of missed shots early in the clock and turnovers, we were a rebound away from wining this game.  A rebound we couldn't grab with 17 seconds left followed by a foul that enabled Shabazz to make two free throws to tie the game with 13 seconds left.  We had one more opportunity in the last 13 seconds, but opted for a long three point shot against a double team that fell woefully short with 5 seconds left.  Unfortunately, we passed up a wide open Keshawn Justice shot who was left alone 10 feet away from our final shot.  

Las Vegas is known for both making and breaking fortunes and we folded with a winning hand.  That's why I say, what happened in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas.  

Moving up into the top three in the WCC has been a nice progression.  Our body of work at 23-9 has put us in the mix for a second straight NIT invite. While it's not an NCAA bid, it is an important step in continuing to build our rep as a program on the rise that can attract better talent both from the high school ranks and, more importantly, the transfer portal.  

If we get the NIT invite, we are likely to play on the road, another consequence of our USF loss.  Today is selection Sunday with the NIT invites happening at 7:00 PST.  There is still a lot at stake for the Broncos.  Getting past the first round will present more television exposure and help raise our profile for years to come.  Ironically, if we can win our first two rounds, we head back to Las Vegas to the Orleans Arena and a chance to exorcise the daemons from the WCC Tourney.  

We'll know our 2023 future tonight.  We hope as Bronco fans and seasons ticket holders it incudes the NIT invite where we can get on a run back to Vegas and hit the jackpot!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - "Third" Times A Charm?

 

        

After one of our best weeks of the season, the Broncos have a lock on third place in the WCC.  This makes back to back seasons placing third in league.  While third is two below our ultimate expectations, we have played our way into establishing us as legitimate top three in the WCC; ousting not only USF, but also BYU in that hierarchy over two successive seasons.  

Will this third place be the charm for the Broncos?  The proverb suggests that on the third time, we'll succeed.  We came close in last year's WCC tourney semi-final losing by "three" to St. Mary's.  We'll see.  But, there's still meaningful work to be done this Thursday at Leavey vs Pepperdine and away at San Diego on Saturday.

Pepperdine is young and explosive and are ranked third in points scored per game.  The Waves rank 10th in the NCAA in tempo with about 73 possessions per game.  They run and shoot.  The Waves had a recent win against BYU at home and an 11 point loss to Gonzaga last Saturday; where they were within one point with under four minutes to go.  They are 0-11 on the road, but desperately want to get off the schneid.  It's a talented team.  Four of their five starters can put up 20 or more; as three of them did versus the Zags.  We need to play like we did last week against BYU and defend, rebound, and move the ball.   We cannot afford a "Pacific" let down; raining 17 three's on us.  

San Diego is much of the same challenge who is playing well lately.  They boast wins at USF and LMU at home, then lost at home by three to St. Mary's.  Remember, they were ahead of us by nine at half and by six points at Leavey late in the second half.  Enough said.  

The Broncos have played really well the past two weeks.  After winning five in a row, we are # 1 in total rebounding, # 2 in offensive rebounding, # 2 in FG%, # 3 in 3pt %, and 3rd in overall offensive efficiency in the WCC.  Pretty stout.  In addition to the great play of our guards, the emergence of Christoph Tilly and Cameron Tongue has been huge to our success.  Tilly brings size, speed, and mobility around the rim.  Tongue is an energetic, physical defender, and finisher at the rim.  These positive minutes are sorely needed to spell our starters who, in turn, have played better as a result.  Witness Parker Braun with 15 points and 3 assists vs Portland.  Our defense has held our last five opponents well below their shooting percent averages; particularly from 3pt range.

Thursday is Senior night at Leavey.  It will be fun to honor our seniors and thank them for their contributions to Bronco basketball.  

Two more games to go and then we'll see if we can complete the "Third Time's a Charm" proverb by getting to and beating St. Mary's in the WCC tourney semi-finals and have our run at an NCAA automatic bid in the tournament finals!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Intangibles

 

It was a great week and a half for the Broncos with a convincing win at USF and two nail-biters at home versus San Diego and LMU.  In third place at 7-5 in league and 19-8 overall we are in position for another post season berth in a tournament that begins with an N.  Our current league standing is higher than any of the pre season "experts" predicted with four games remaining.  

How we've gotten to 19-8 and third place is a tale riddled with "are you kidding me's".  In the WCC, we've either been within one point, tied, or behind at the half in eight of our twelve games, winning five of those.  We have won every game when we have had a lead at halftime by more than one point.  Translation, we rarely wake up before the second half.  But when we do - "are you kidding me!"  We have scored 538 second half points compared to 345 first half points.  

We are either ice cold or en fuego shooting.  Our leading scorers are our guards.  The trio has had periods of 21% three point shooting in the first half followed by 65% in half two.  Keshawn Justice is a prime example.  Against San Diego, he goes 0-4 from three in the first half, with some air balls.  In the second half, he goes 6-7 including three in a row in transition rhythm. "Are you kidding me?"

Our defense is ranked 6th in the WCC in overall efficiency, but like our shooting, it evaporates often in the mid first half then, at times is suffocating mid to late second half.  We rank 4th for the MOST three point shots given up (109).  That's 20 more than we've made WCC season to date as a team!  That's nearly a full game number of points.  "Are you kidding me".

Despite the above, we are on track for our third 20 win season in the last four years which includes the 2020-21 abbreviated 20 game Covid season.  To put this in perspective, this has happened only two other times in Bronco history.  You'd have to go back 1982-83 through 1984-85 when the Broncos had three-straight 20-win campaigns under head coach Carroll Williams or 54 years to find that the only other Coaching staff besides Coach Sendek's staff to accomplish this are the Dick Garabaldi teams from 1967-69.  

While more consistent winning is great, it's National legitimacy and rankings we seek and need.  For some Bronco fans, the progression upward is too slow.   Other teams in the WCC are stepping up and have rebooted with high profile coaches at Portland, San Diego, LMU, and Pacific.  Those teams have gone full transfer portal reloads, finding players who are making immediate big impacts.  The parity between teams 3rd - 10th in the standings has narrowed quickly, while St. Mary's and Gonzaga continue to dominate, albeit suffering an unusual upset here and there.  

Our results just don't add up on paper.  In fact, National stat houses can't figure it out either and attribute it to a stat named luck.  It's a real stat and get this, we are ranked 16th in the nation in "luck!"  At least we're top 20 in something.  

My view is while luck plays a part, it's our teams "intangibles" that are carrying us.  Things stats can't and don't measure.  Examples.  If this were the NFL, Podz would be leading the league in fumble recoveries.  He must have more floor burns than a hardwood floor installer from all his diving for loose balls.  Carlos Stewart would be leading in interceptions.  His cat quick reflexes are undetectable by our opponents and he has become a master thief.  Our offensive rebounding is # 2 in the WCC and those result in second chance points.  Justice, Braun, and Podz are the sweep masters for us, keeping possessions alive.  We've also gone more to our bench with Tilly and Tongue contributing valuable minutes.

While these are all good qualities, I think our top two intangibles are selective amnesia and confidence.  We just don't linger on our mistakes.  That, and our players believe in themselves at crunch time.  They forget they missed 10 shots in a row and then, when needed, make a bunch in a row.  Justice, Podz, and Carlos all have stepped up time and time again to make key shots back to back to back to retake leads.  Minutes of misery vanquished in seconds.  That's where the confidence brews strong.  A season ticket holders we see Justice or Podz take a three from, well outrageous distance and we say "Oh, no" only to say "Oh yeah" when it drops. 

That's not luck.

Three of next four are away games at BYU, Portland, and San Diego.  All are "Jones-ing" for revenge.  Especially Portland.  They left Leavey last year with a monster chip on their shoulder.  They are now healthy and their leading scorer is back in form.  That will be a war. 

I think 2-2 gets it done for post season positioning.  I also think if we can go 3-1 it will keep us in third - a BIG deal for the WCC tourney.

Not matter what, it's fun to watch.  Where else do you get to see the lowest of lows and the highest of the highs in one place - Leavey!  That's my new moniker for this team - "The Intangibles!"

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - "The Best Laid Plans"

 

       

It was a tough week and a half for the Broncos losing two of three games.  Our perceived momentum from the great BYU home win quickly disappeared with a blowout loss at St. Mary's and a lackluster loss at home to Pacific. 

The plan it seemed for 2022-2023, was success in the preseason with a more difficult schedule that could propel us to third or fourth place in the WCC.  Overall, notch 21 or 22 wins and be in the conversation for another NIT invite.  Looked perfect on paper until last Saturday's loss to # 222 ranked Pacific.  

As they say, "The Best Laid Plans....."  will now be put to a much harder test the last eight games.  IMHO it's not the planning that's at issue, it's consistency executing the plan.  Here's an example from our St. Mary's loss.  St. Mary's has the lowest total scoring average in the WCC but has the best record 12-0.  What?  How?  Execution.  They are ranked near the top in the NCAA in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency (4th).  While most would say the way they play is boring, winning and NCAA berths are never boring.  Witness the recent St. Mary's front page newspaper ink that a national ranking brings.  We barely can get our game time announcements in print.  

Our style tries to be the polar opposite.  Go fast, not slow, and we never seem to see a shot we don't like.  At 16-7 we've done pretty well, but in key games we go off script for long stretches.  A number of those games we've won due to shear will power, hustle and streaky hot shooting.  In our seven losses, only three of those teams have better athlete's.  St. Mary's is not one of those three.  

For those Broncos able to attend the Bronco Bistro pre game, a coach comes in and draws up the game plan on a whiteboard.  The Pacific game plan called for; control the boards, make sure we defend against their elite top 3 point shooters particularly # 20 Boone and # 21 Avdalovic, and get out in transition to get easy baskets.  Also in the Pacific game plan, we wanted to pound it down low to our bigs since Pacific has smaller post players.  

The Pacific game recap shows our bigs scored 16 of our 89 points, we had 5 more rebounds,  just 5 fast break points, but gave up 17 three pointers.  That's not a typo.  Boone and Avdalovic made 11 of those three's.  I believe, that's the most we've given up in the Coach Sendek tenure.  OK, these are college kids and mistakes always happen, but we weren't able to "reset" our game plan and execute.

In the WCC, we now rank last in 2pt FG % and 9th in 3pt FG%.  A testament to out grit in overcoming execution lapses.

January and February have not been kind to the Broncos over time.  In our past two 20 win seasons about half our losses are in late January and February, including six straight losses in 2019-2020, four of which were not against the top three in the WCC.  

This February is key, if our aspirations for post season are to be met.  There's no easy answer.  Some say we play our starters too many minutes and as we get into the heart of the WCC season, we're playing with tired bodies.  Season to date in conference our starters have logged 76% of the minutes and for the entire season 77%.  Add in Knapper as the sixth man, it's 84%.  I Have no idea of the correlation, but in our loss to San Jose State at home it was our third game in 7 days.  The first loss to St. Mary's at home was on 1 1/2 days rest after just playing USF.  Our second loss to St. Mary's again 1 1/2 days rest after the BYU victory.  Anyway, I'm not buying the minutes argument.

Others think it's that our opponents have figured us out and game plan to have anyone other than Keshawn, Carlos, or Podz beat us.  It's a lot easier to guard 3 vs 5.  On offense our opponents are more successful at fighting through our perimeter screens or doubling our guards off the screen.  They're not too worried about our bigs making a three when we shoot it at 16% or handling the ball while rolling to the rim.  Consequently, they play our guards tough resulting in late in the clock looks that are hard to make.  Might be one reason our WCC shooting percentages are low. 

When we are on defense our opponents strategy is to catch our guards in a top of the key ball screen and force our bigs to switch, resulting in two mismatches.  A quick guard on our big and a small guard on their big rolling into the paint.  Evidence Mahaney of St. Mary's and Boone of Pacific lighting us up in those situations.  

Expect more of same opponent game plan the next eight games.  All have a good balance of scoring guards and bigs.  It will take our best effort to win these games with five on the road and three at Leavey.  

It all starts tonight at Gonzaga then a quick turnaround at USF.  The Zags had their 75 game home winning streak snapped by LMU recently an let's hope the Broncos can pull it off as well.

Hopefully our "Best Laid Plans" and execution are with us the next eight!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Eight The Hard Way

 

The first four games in league play proved what our Coaches have known, and said since pre-season, there are no "gimmies" in the WCC.  Not long ago, Mark Few called out all the other WCC teams not named St. Mary's or BYU saying they "suck."  At that time, I'm not sure he thought he could have been 1-3 to start the 2023 league play.  Had it not been for his deep stable of 5-star recruits making improbable NBA level threes in the waning seconds, they would have lost the games against USF, SCU, and BYU.

Every team is better.  The Broncos know they have to bring it every game.  The next eight will be a huge test and tell fans and season ticket holders what this team is about.

Our schedule is stacked as we play seven of our first twelve games against our top four rivals:  Zags, Gaels, Cougars, Dons.  No other team has this challenge.  The consensus top 3 teams get a lot of "layups" early on.  We could use a "hard way" eight (4-4) or even better, an "easy eight" (5-3) during this next tough stretch.  Long odds, but possible.

Of the eight games, St. Mary's, USF, Zags, and Pacific are road games.  All these teams are beatable, but much harder to win away.  We need Leavey to be our friend in the next four home games versus Pacific, LMU, San Diego, and BYU.  In addition to the above, most every team is now healthy as BYU, Pacific, LMU, Portland, and USD had injuries to top players that caused early losses.  Witness LMU taking down BYU last week.

I think the coaches and players will use this stacked schedule as kindling for motivation to prove who we can be.  Playing the Zags down to the wire at home is great, but not a "W."  Pacific won't care about how we played Gonzaga as they want their "creds" and taking us out is a notch they want.

BYU needs to recover from the shellshock of literally throwing away a win over Gonzaga in Provo.  ICYMI, with under a minute left, a BYU unforced turnover and missed free throw resulted in two Zag three pointers.  The last was the dagger with 9 seconds to go from 35 feet by Julian Strawther.  That's what 5-star recruits can do at crunch time.

For the Broncos, Keshawn, Parker, and Carlos have been on a roll and Podz will be doing his thing, scraping the boards, diving for balls, and draining some threes.  Add some blocks in the paint from Bediako and we can beat the odds. 

I like our chances.

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Breakthroughs and Breakdowns

 

     

The first week of WCC league competition for the Broncos included a breakthrough win over USF and a loss versus St. Mary's.  A game we let slip away.  

With the success USF has had against us the past six games we've played them, followed by St. Mary's, an 0-2 start was staring us in the face.  With the USF game tied at 38 at halftime, the Broncos went on a gallop in the second half sparked by Braun and Bediako knocking down 10 of 14 shots and Podz burying 7 of 12 to cap a 62% FG shooting display that sent the "Don's" looking for Luca Brasi to bail them out.  Result, Broncos win it by 12.

Saturday, we had a huge opportunity to knock off St. Mary's', # 16 in the NCAA NET rankings on our home court.  We saw first hand that experience is huge as the Gaels used a 13-3 run mid second half to win.  Frustrating, in that St. Mary's had a a season worst shooting percentage, but found others ways to win.

Pregame, our coaches wanted to accomplish three things critical to stealing the win.

#1 Rebound:  We had more overall rebounds (38-35) but they had 15 offensive rebounds that resulted in 12 second chance points.  

#2 Get through their high ball screens to prevent two-way mismatches that result in a quick guard against our bigs and an SCU small guard on their bigs:  Their ball screens are Velcro, they catch us and force switches.  Randy Bennett used his best guards, Aidan Mahaney and Logan Johnson, to take advantage of the two-way mismatch described above resulting in 5 layups plus 8 assists from that duo.

#3 Defend the 3 ball, especially against Mahaney and Ducas:  Although we held their team well below their shooting averages, Mahaney and Ducas were 5 - 10 combined from three.  BTW, their other main shooters were 1-11.

Credit St. Mary's using their defense and experience finding ways to win on the road while having the worst shooting game of their season.  It will be a much harder challenge when we play them again on January 21st in Moraga.

The road ahead is full of more great opportunities and potholes.  Three of the next five games are away:  this Thursday at Pepperdine, the 14th at Pacific and the 21st at St. Mary's.  We are home on this Saturday vs the Zags and the following Thursday, January 19th, against BYU.

Pepperdine on the road is a big challenge.  At 7-8 on the year, they are much better than their record.  They, like SCU, beat UC Irvine and then shot 52% from 2 point and 40% from 3 point range and lost to Gonzaga by 23!  BTW, the Zags shot a gaudy 61% and 46% from 3 point range in their 111-88 win.  Pepperdine can flat out shoot it. They can and will score inside and from deep up and down the roster.  We'll need every bit of grit we can muster.

Saturday night we get the Zags at Leavey.  Another chance for a breakthrough win.  The Zags have all but one of their main pieces back AND more talented newcomers.  We've played them tough at home and must play our best 40 minutes to have a good chance.

Expect a big dose of Drew Timme as the offense likes to run through him in a variety of sets.  There are few great defensive options and our coaches will have to pick their poison.  My guess is we might double Timme and the other bigs in the post and force them to kick it out for a long two or three point attempt.  Timme shoots 66% around the rim versus everyone else who shoots it at 38% from three.  

We have to pressure and contest the threes without fouling and basically hope they miss.  Gonzaga loves to run and beat you in transition just like us; so should be fun to watch.

Last season, after 25 years, we had a breakthrough season earning an invitation to the N.I.T.  We'll need another two breakthrough wins and can't afford breakdown losses.  I'm still going with "eight is enough" wins in the WCC to get us into the conversation.  I like the fight in this team.  Each player "expecting" the other to get it done and are vocal with each other when we are not.  Accountable. 

Let's hope we have something great to "count on" this week!