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.