So far in February, the Broncos are on a "heater" with a 5-1 record and four of those games were absolute blowouts. While the fever from the flu virus has been going through our and other WCC teams, the Broncos three point shooting has been sizzling at 47%.
In conference play, seven Broncos are shooting above 35% and four of those are above 40% with Brenton Knapper (54%) and Johnny O'Neill (47%) leading the way. If you subtract out our bigs three point attempts that are not late in the clock, we are at 50%. Carlos Stewart and Tyeree Bryan kept us in games with their three point shooting until Johnny O'Neill got into his rhythm and has been a huge catalyst in the latest run.
The turnaround, run, or whatever you want to call it, is not only remarkable, but stunning considering the equally stunning lapses where we lost important games shooting threes at around 20% with a season low at LMU of 15%. Therein lies our strength and our Achilles Heel in that we seem either unable or reluctant to stop shooting early clock threes when we are ice cold. That strategy may be the difference between an NCAA at-large bid versus an NIT selection.
To fans and season ticket holders, the biggest change in our success has been the ball movement on offense and some much better defense; yes I said defense. Belief and team effort. During the 7-3 streak since Gonzaga, on offense our assists to turnover ratio is at a season high per game while our three point shooting defense is now second in the WCC. We are also first in defensive rebounding. Less hero ball and more team ball; not only finding open shooters, but actually our better three point shooters who are moving to their spots and getting great looks. Better.
This final week of the season determines the WCC tournament seedings. We will most likely be a third or fourth seed. If we beat Gonzaga again and USF and Oregon falter, we could move higher. USF plays at Oregon State and then at home versus Gonzaga. Oregon State hosts USF and then play St. Mary's in Moraga. Anything can happen.
For the Broncos, we need to continue the winning ways of moving the ball, taking good shots, and making the needed adjustments. We have an opportunity to win 20 games for a fifth season and more importantly prove the early season promise of this roster by making some noise this week and in the WCC Tournament!
