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!"