Santa Clara Men's Basketball - No Secrets

 

                                                                                                                      

After a 9-6 preseason record, we still don't know what this team can become as we open WCC league play at Loyola and then, Pepperdine.  Even though we aren't sure, opposing coaches know what their game plan will be for us.  There are no secrets in college basketball.  Game videos lay bare the good, the bad, and the ugly for every team.  You can look at stats all you want, but on game night it's all about attitude, adjustments, and execution.  I mean LMU beat Gonzaga in Spokane last year so anything can happen!

This year's WCC provides our Broncos with perhaps the best opportunity in the past 10 years to make some noise and rise from consecutive third place finishes to something higher.  The Dogs are still there, but their bite is softer.  The Gaels are good, but their armor has soft spots to attack.  The Dons are off to a great start, but we've shown we can handle them. 

We lie in wait like the rest of the WCC mushy middle.  The average NCAA ranking of this group is 220.  Not stellar.  None of these stats really matter.  It's all about "who" shows up on game night.  So far, for this season, that's certainly is the case for the Broncos.   

We are at our best when we move the ball up the court and get quick action to an open shooter for a good shot.  The problem is that you have to get the rebound to start this flow.  In defensive rebounding, we are at the bottom of the WCC teams we'll face.  You need the ball to run.  When we have to settle into a half court offense, we struggle.  The ball stops moving and we try to dribble into traffic resulting in too many turnovers or poor shots. We are near the bottom of the WCC teams in turnovers as well.  Tough combination for W's.

You'd think it would be simple to fix these.  Unfortunately not.  Our roster is thin in ball handlers and our bigs have not been healthy for rebounding.  We're pretty small when they are out of the lineup; exacerbating rebounding.  These roster issues cause us to put players in roles that aren't their normal skill set.

Opposing coaches will try to exploit the above.  You have witnessed it in the past few games with teams overplaying our passing lanes and collapsing the middle when we try to drive.  They get through our screens easily preventing easier open looks; case in point, our game vs Yale which resulted in our lowest shooting percentage of the season.  No secrets. 

I think we'll need 10 wins, including an upset or two, to be in a position for post season consideration.  This team is certainly capable of this and more.  Unfortunately, 10 wins with no upsets might cause our NET ranking to drop since the lower part of the WCC teams rankings are so low.  The team that beat Oregon, Stanford, Washington, and Duquesne needs to show up.  Coaches will need make the adjustments quickly and decisively.   A decade long opportunity awaits.  

Here's hoping we can answer the call!