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.