After a blowout win on the road at Pacific to end WCC play, the Broncos were in great form heading into the WCC tournament. As the fourth seed, it appeared we would face Oregon State for the right to have a revenge game versus St. Mary's in the semifinal.
When Pepperdine, the 9th seed upset Oregon State, the path to the semifinal game seemed much easier for our highly touted and talented roster. We had cruised to victory in our league game against Pepperdine at Leavey leading by 12-15 most of the game. In that meeting, we played a solid game with contributions from all our players; handing out 22 assists and only 10 turnovers. Our defense was good, not great, but got the job done. Bronco fans were excited at this fortuitous break and were expecting our momentum to continue and move onto the semis.
Then, we flew the coop and laid an egg. To say the humiliating loss was hard to understand is an understatement. Pepperdine was playing their third day in a row, had won just 4 WCC games in league and was 11-20 on the season entering the tournament. Not a great resume. We had a week of preparation; which apparently didn't help.
For those who were in Las Vegas and maybe to those watching on TV, we played as a team for 9 minutes in the beginning of the first half and 9 minutes to begin the second half. Pepperdine owned the rest. At the outset, we were having trouble moving the ball and defending, but we made tough contested threes to forge a 12 point lead,
Same scenario in half two. We were ahead by seven early and then fell behind seven with five minutes left and could not finish. We had no answers for Pepperdine guard Moe Odum. His 13 assists and 19 points sent us packing. Pepperdine missed shots early, but made them late when needed. We made shots early, but missed them late. Our second half 12-33 shooting including 4-14 from three sealed our fate. Three of our mainstay scorers were 25% from the 3 point line. Our attempts to drive and score in the paint fell short missing 4 layups in the last five minutes. Pepperdine just seemed to want it more.
These lapses and losses are a big factor in not earning NCAA invites. We seem to go off the rails 4-6 games a season. Under Coach Sendek and his staff we are winning a lot more, but along the way we struggle to win big games at key points in our season. I'm pretty sure it's the 4th time we've been ousted by Pepperdine in the WCC tournament in the past nine years.
We have won only 17% of our games versus St. Mary's and Gonzaga and less than half against USF in the past 9 seasons. I'm sure the coaches pine for more NIL, Analytics, etc. needed to bring in higher level athletes, but I doubt USF and St. Mary's are flush with NIL nor do they have the facilities we offer, but they seem to be finding talent and outperforming us.
Some analytics sites rank roster performances in terms of whether they are performing above or below their talent level. These analytics are calculated using every possession of every game for every player. Two of the outliers this season in the WCC who are judged to be underperforming are Santa Clara and Gonzaga. Obviously, an off year for the Zags, but they still won the WCC tourney and are going to the big dance. This stat is no surprise to season ticket holders, fans, and alums. It also affects student turnout when students show up and witness the St. Mary's meltdown at Leavey in the second half.
There's no doubt that Santa Clara has been Coach Sendek's most difficult assignment by far. At North Carolina State and Arizona State there was a culture of winning. Those teams finished third and fourth in league or lower a number of times over 9 and 10 seasons. Their conferences were strong enough to earn NCAA berths when fourth and NIT bids when finishing sixth and eighth several times. Not the WCC. This pattern is eerily similar so far at Santa Clara. We've finished third twice earning two NIT bids, but no NCAA invites. We are likely to get our 3rd NIT invite this season due to playing our strongest schedule to date. In our NIT invites, we have not won either of our first round games.
I can say the horses in the Corral, season ticket holders, alums, and fans are loyal, but more impatient than ever. I'm sure the coaches are as well. They want the same higher level performance as well all do. The SCU administration recognizes the positive value of NCAA tournament exposure for the University. This was re-iterated when our new A.D. Heather Owen, attended the pre-game Bronco Bistro at our last home game and confirmed the goal for Men's Basketball is making NCAA tournaments.
BTW, it's the similar Goal stated in the SCU 2020 strategic planning that started meeting in 2016, stating one of the key goals was "excellence in intercollegiate athletics". We have excellence in Women's Soccer with two national championships, but we're not there (NCAA's) in Men's Basketball nine years into the plan and 30 years since the last NCAA.
We're pretty sure we will all be asked for more money to fund this goal, given the pay for play reality in athletics and Men's Basketball. It'd be nice to know where we are in the shot clock on these expectations and accountability for the results towards this worthy goal.
Hopefully, we'll start now if we get an NIT invite and instead of laying an egg - lay it on our NIT opponents and go deeper than the first round. That would be worth "clucking" about!
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