Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Mid Major Programs Dollars And Sense

 

                                                                                                        

Let's face it being a mid-major program before the NCAA settlement and competing for NCAA Tournament bids was very difficult.  Your chances of getting to the tournament were about 4% unless you won your conference tournament; as 34 of the 37 at-large bids went to High Major teams.  

The NIL world has only upped the ante and created even more separation between the High Majors and Mid Majors.  Since 2015, only Gonzaga (9) and St. Mary's (2) have won the WCC Tournament and the automatic bid that comes with it.  The current WCC is a one bid league although St. Mary's and USF have recently received rare at-large nods. 

For Santa Clara, and other WCC teams not named Gonzaga, it's a matter of dollars and sense; not just cents.  A good number of the ACC, Big 12, Big 10, and Big East teams are spending $8.5 million just on rosters.  According to the NIL NCAA databases, estimates of the WCC roster allocations range from $4-6 Mil for Gonzaga, $1-3 Mil for USF and SCU with St. Mary's, LMU, and Pepperdine in the $500k-1.5 million range.  It's still gobs of money.  

As far as I know, all of the current and next season WCC teams have opted into the settlement, meaning they plan to invest.  Each school will have a strategy for the level of competitiveness they are willing to fund.  SCU has been pretty quiet about the goals for Men's Basketball other than a few statements from Heather Owen and the administration that we want to make NCAA tournaments.  Timetables for NCAA bids have not been stated.  We know the current wait has been 30 years. 

Each school has to evaluate whether the pay for play model not only makes sense, but dollars and cents.  For one WCC team, Gonzaga, it was transformative and began 25 years ago.  It began with a "Cinderella" NCAA bid in 1999 and is now a 25 year streak.  The numbers are impressive.

Their enrollment has nearly tripled.  SAT scores, student diversity, and GPA's rose as a result of admission selectivity.  Their endowment tripled and University budget grew from $73 million to over $320 million.  Athletic revenue rose from $250,000 to to $ 8.6 Million.  Fundraising was able to fund a $60 million student center and many new academic facilities.  Their NCAA tournament revenue units have generated over $51 million to the WCC with the lion's share to the Zags.  These numbers are through 2020 when Covid hit.  They are surely much larger now. Clearly, the Zags' Administration's decision and commitment at all levels to become a top 25 team from scratch has paid enormous dividends. 

SCU chose a different path and has been playing catchup in athletics for the past 25 years.  The hiring of Coach Sendek 10 years ago was the step needed to regain footing in Men's Basketball. A lot of progress and winning has occurred, but there is still much to do and not just on the court. 

For SCU and others, Athletics and Men's Basketball budgets must rise.  According to the EADA database, as of 2024 our Men's Basketball budget was $5.6 mil which would rank 4th behind LMU $8.6mil, St. Mary's $6.8m, and USF $6.22m.  Gonzaga is not included since they are leaving the WCC.  I'm sure all of the above are now spending more since Universities are allowed to spend up to $20.5 mil from their operating budgets on Athletics.   

The new world of NCAA Men's Basketball requires much more than just on court excellence.  Key areas, to name a few, include fundraising through active use of NIL collectives, implementing player promotional, marketing, branding and retention programs to expose players to NIL opportunities from Alums and local companies, and to keep top talent from transfer portal poaching.  A number of schools are exploring multi-year NIL deals to protect their best players.  Expand recruiting pipelines and staff to find talent in Euro pro leagues, Asia, Africa, the G league and exploit JUCO's and Division II under the radar talent.  SCU also needs to find ways to energize students and the local Santa Clara residents to come to Leavey.  Not easy, but essential.  Top talent wants loud and proud fans in the stands. 

One example of a success story is coach Eric Olen, who coached UCSD and their move from Division II to Division 1 using four Division II players.  After the three year required waiting period for post season, he went 30-5 on the way to the Tritons first NCAA Division 1 tourney.  He now coaches at New Mexico, who recently dismantled us on their home court.  Our pipeline has been successful finding underutilized High Major players and turning them into stars and Pros.  After all, talent is the Gold for winning and needs to be creatively mined. 

The Broncos have opted into the new reality and it makes sense that more investments are happening.  We saw solid progress this past Monday by starting WCC league play with a lopsided 102-64 win on the road at Oregon State.  We'd love to see our investments grow and pay dividends by contending for the top spots in the WCC!

Happy New Year to all!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Winning Ugly Can Be Beautiful, But Hard to Sustain

 

                                                                                                                   

The Broncos' stats season to date are a conundrum to say the least.  Out of 350 Division 1 teams, we are ranked # 246 in 3pt shooting, # 204 in turnovers, # 211 in defensive rebounding, # 208 in 2pt defense, and # 343 in the number of free throws attempted per game.  Four of our six players, who have started games, shoot an average of 56% from the free throw line.  

In seven of our 13 games, our opponents have shot better than we have and connected on more 3pt shots.  In 12 of our 13 games, we have committed more fouls than our opponents resulting in 73 more made free throws.  

Looking at these stats, a rational person might expect this team to be 4-9 not 9-4; like the Broncos.  Winning ugly, but quality wins and now ranked # 45 by one popular analytics site after losing three of our last four games.  It's an improbable reality and begs the question; how?

IMHO, it's a team with a roster of 10, and soon to be 11 deep, that just keep coming at you.  We live by the three and die by the three, but offensive rebound with abandon - the 9th best in the NCAA.  Defend aggressively and foul a lot, but also generate lots of turnovers ranked 43rd best and they generate transition layups. That was until last Saturday's loss at the hands of # 328 Loyola Chicago in Santa Cruz which lowered several of the above stats. 

In seven of our wins, our opponents shot season lows from the 3pt arc including North Texas who shot .077 from three.  Our team plays with mayhem and will not settle for protecting leads of 20 only to watch them vaporize as in two of our crazy losses.  Lastly, we have won games with frantic defense at the buzzer; like the North Texas win.  It feels a bit like playground ball that looks like madness by a team who desperately wants to qualify for March Madness.

A win Saturday versus Loyola Chicago would have taken us to 10-3 heading into WCC league play.  Incredibly, we were only 6 total points over three games away from being12-1!  The losses in three of our last four games shows there is a lot to work on and improve.  The good news is we are much healthier now and should get Michigan State 6'6" transfer guard Gherig Normand in the lineup soon.  More ammunition.  

Winning ugly is also very hard to sustain.  Things can change quickly.  Opposing teams will now prep more specifically to exploit our perceived weaknesses.  With the WCC starting for us at Oregon State on December 29th, there will be no secrets.  Not to be too "stat" happy, but the change in performance the last 4 games has been alarming; especially when viewed against the performance of our upcoming WCC opponents. 

On December 3rd, we were 7-1 with the following 12 WCC team rankings in their non conference games.  SCU Rankings:

Offensive Efficiency: 1st, Defensive Efficiency: 3rd, Effective FG %: 7th, Effective FG Defense: 4th, 2 Point FG %: 6th, 3 Point FG %: 7th, 3 point FG Defense %: 3rd, Offensive Rebounding: 1st, Free Throw Rate: 12th, Free Throw Rate Defense: 12th.

Currently, 9-4 as of December 20th, also against the 12 WCC team rankings in non conference games.

Offensive Efficiency: 2nd,  Defensive Efficiency: 5th,  Effective FG%: 9th,  Effective FG% Defense: 9th, 2 Point %: 5th, 2 Point FG% Defense: 9th,  3 point FG%: 10th, 3 point FG% Defense: 7th, Offensive Rebounding: 1st, Free Throw Rate: 12th,  Free Throw Rate Defense: 12th.

I know its a lot to absorb, but the cliff notes show that both our shooting and, more importantly, our defense, have dropped.  So far, we really haven't shot the ball well, but our defense and rebounding held up enough to win games.  There will be no gimmies in league play no matter what the rankings and betting lines will be.

Hopefully, our shooting touch will arrive just in time for league.  For now, we just have to settle for winning ugly and as our 9-4 record shows, if our defense also shows up, that will be a very beautiful thing!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and GO Broncos!

 

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - We Could Use A Little "Punch" In Our Game

 

                                                                                                                 

Ten games into this season we've witnessed the full spectrum of what might be possible with this young team.  Important wins over McNeese, Xavier, and Nevada boosted our rankings to their best level in the Herb Sendek era.   Losses by one to St. Louis, then a dogfight win versus Utah Tech was followed a blowout defeat at New Mexico.  All testaments to the growing pains our roster is experiencing.  

The Utah Tech game was illustrative of this team trying to find some consistent rhythm.  Up 20, with 7:53 to go in the first half, a 3:00 minute scoring draught allowed Utah to close the gap to 10 with 4:30 left in the half.  We saw the same thing happen in the second half; where a 20 point lead with 9:10 remaining shrunk to 7 points with 1:30 to go.  

It was right after that, when an Allen Graves thunderous poster dunk led an embarrassed Tech player to throw a blind-side thug punch to Graves's face.  The dust up that occurred immediately after was stopped quickly by coaches and players.  Unfortunately, this was the most energy we saw from the Broncos most of the night.  

In giving up the 20 point lead in the second half, our defense allowed an uncontested transition layup and three consecutive 3pt makes all within a 1:10 span.  Utah had 17 layups for the night.  On offense, we missed five three's during the same span until the Graves' poster dunk.  That stretch, against any team, let alone the 296th ranked Trailblazers, needs immediate remedy.  Overall, we haven't shot the ball great, but we have defended well and won games on poorer shooting nights.  When our effort on defense and off shooting nights collide, it's a show stopper; much like what happened at New Mexico.

That's why I say we need to get back the "punch" in our game.  Not the fisticuff type, just a return to the early season defensive energy stopping the ball and preventing runouts for layups and vigorously contesting three's.  Injuries have been a factor with one of our best defenders, rebounder, floor leader Jake Ensminger and top scorer Christian Hammond sidelined.  With a young team, those injuries are magnified.  That said, 8-2 is a good place to be.  

While every game is important, the next three neutral site games can set the stage for what will be a tough WCC schedule.  We play ASU in Henderson, Nevada. They have size and speed and one of SCU's biggest nemeses, Moe Odum, who has torched us a number of times while at Pepperdine.  Most notably in last year's WCC quarterfinal.  Next is North Texas in Santa Cruz.   Their lineup can give us problems.  They have a good big man and speedy guards who can penetrate and score.  Given our recent games, a big test.  

Winning those two, and then, handling a very winnable game against Loyola Chicago in Santa Cruz, would put us at 11-2, giving us strong momentum heading into league.  In league, we hope to rise to the level where we can "punch" our ticket to the NCAA's and put 30 years of waiting behind us!