Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Eight Ball

 

The Broncos open their WCC season tonight against the USF Dons at home after a successful 12-3 preseason record.  The team seems to have found a winning formula with strong wins against UC Irvine and Boise State by rebounding, moving the ball to open shooters and playing tough defense at crunch time.  While our overall defense is decent, we are # 259 defending the three ball.  We've be able to overcome this by averaging nearly 16 assists the past three games.  

It will take all of this, and more, to make some noise in the WCC standings; where we are "picked" to finish anywhere from 4th to 7th.  One thing for sure, there are no "layup" games in a much stronger league from top to bottom.  It's going to take at least "eight" to get us into a position for another post season nod.  

We got hosed in the league scheduling this season putting us behind the "eight ball" right out of the gate.  We are the only team who plays their top rivals (USF, St. Mary's, Gonzaga) when our students are away on Christmas break!  Witness St. Mary's plays USD, LMU, and Portland in addition to us.  Five of our first seven games are against the consensus top four teams - St. Mary's twice, USF, Zags, and BYU.  I hope our team uses this as motivation and plays with an extra chip on their shoulders.  We will have to earn respect.  

It's going to take crazy eights to get it done.  At least eight wins (8-8), contributions from eight or more deep in our roster, eight or more three's per game, going 4-4 in our eight home games and two upsets against the top four teams in those eight games.  With those results, I think "eight" is enough.  

While eight might be enough, it's not what our coaches are after.  They are ultra competitive, and IMHO, tired of the league status quo.  They'd like nothing more than to disrupt the pecking order of the WCC.  

Tonight vs the Dons will be like a Gunfight at the OK Corral.  Whoever shoots often and best wins.  They play up tempo like we do, shoot better from two and are ranked #20 in defending the three.  They have a more experienced and deeper roster.  If it comes down to a free throw contest, we have the edge.  It's a great test and tonight we hope "there's no place like home!"

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - I Want the "Broncos" to Lose

 

                            

Sounds terrible doesn't it?  A staunch supporter of the team wanting the Broncos to lose.  Well it's true.  The Broncos need to lose so our Broncos win!  This Thursday is one of those rare nights when our Broncos will play another team of Broncos - The Boise State Broncos!

In a way, it's fitting for this season, as so far, there has been nothing "usual" about this team except winning.  It's been "Forrest Gump" and some "Cinderella" as we head into our last preseason game with an 11-3 record.   Games with slow starts, fast starts, tough defense, no defense, can't miss, and can't shoot combined with terrific late in the game comeback runs just in time before the clock runs out.   Midday games, evening games, neutral sites, resort sites, and, soon, a game on New Year's Eve.  

You just can't make this stuff up!  To boot, guess what?  We are ranked #14 in the country in Luck.  Simply put, we are wining more games and close games than our overall statistics suggest we should win.  Why?  Well, there's not a stat for that.  We just are.  

I have a theory.  The Chaos Theory of selective short term memory loss.  Huh?  IMHO, we just don't care what happened minutes ago, only what can happen in the minutes ahead.  Examples:  Keshawn Justice starts the season shooting frozen tundra numbers only to go off like Steph Curry, making three's from anywhere.  Carlos Stewart (Los) struggled for a few games and then carried us to second half wins with clutch shots and 20 + points efforts.  Our bigs have rebounded well to a #12 ranking, but have had to overcome the "fumble-ruskies" when receiving passes in the paint for layups.  

Then there's Podz, Brandin Podziemski, who plays with a Mt. Everest size chip on his shoulder.  He's a gamer.  Dive on the floor to save another possession, nail a deep three when it counts, and make sharp passes to cutters as he did against CAL to Parker Braun for a helicopter two hand dunk in crunch time.  He leads the team in minutes played, rebounds, steals, assists, and scoring at 18.4 points per game.  Pretty stout when you consider every opponent game plans to slow him down.  

What sums up the selective memory loss and play on mentality for me is Keshawn.  Against CAL he was O-fer shooting in the first half.  Then, late in the second half, he goes off for 10 of our next 14 points with under seven minutes to go to give us an eight point lead.  After drilling a key off balance three point shot, he backpedals to play defense and he is pressing two fingers against the side of his head saying "don't think about it, let it fly!"  That's the mantra.  Don't think - just do.  

We will need any and all mojo against ranked #39 in the country Boise State.  It's a great test for what we will face in league play.  The WCC top seven contenders are NET ranked as follows:  Gonzaga (13), St. Mary's (19), LMU (92), SCU (113), USF (121), Portland (123) and the outlier BYU (141).  NET is the de-facto post season rating system.

For now, we just need our Broncos to take down the Boise St. Broncos for bragging rights and momentum heading into the WCC.  We will need all the "Chaos" we can muster.  So let's get at it and "Create Havoc And Out Score" Boise State. 

Next up.  WCC league outlook.   Go Broncos!

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - "Whoa Nellie!"

                                                                                                                         

The Broncos won two neutral site road games against Iona and Wyoming and a gritty home game versus Sac State.  They did it in impressive style having their best shooting performances of the season.  Iona, coached by two time NCAA champion Rick Pitino and Wyoming are two teams on the rise.  Both teams were not at full strength, but still the Broncos overcame stiff challenges and an overtime scare to prevail. 

Naturally, Bronco Season Ticket Holders and fans expectations went from "oh no,who are these guys" to "oh wow, who are these  guys!"  To this I say "Whoa Nellie!"  

It is great to see the team step up together and get strong contributions across the roster.  Our bigs played big, our shooters finally found their range, and we showed real moxie not fading away to close out these games.  Is this the new normal for this team?  We will find out in the next six games. 

Fans expectations are soaring for the next six.  They feel the Broncos have broken out the Corral and will run roughshod over our opponents.  Make no mistake, I like our chances, but we are still learning this team's identity, so hold your horses a bit.

Are we the team that has shot it at nearly 50% the past three games or the team that shot it in the mid 30% the prior six games?  Are we the defensive team that that is making key stops late in the game or the team that doesn't close out to shooters fast enough?  Our opponents are outshooting us season to date from both the two and three point areas.  Are we the dominant rebounding team with an + 8 offensive advantage season to date and 42 boards a game?  Are we a deeper roster than past seasons or are we a short roster, playing only seven guys more than five minutes team as in the past three games?

My feeling, is that we are a bit of all those team qualities and stats.  That's what makes us a difficult team to play and at times to watch.  One thing for sure, we'll need all of the qualities above to finish preseason in contention for a post season nod.  If we can get to 11-4 before the WCC league starts, we have a shot at another "N" bid of some type.  More on this in a later column.

The next four are very winnable and we need to get it done.  The last two are potential season builders against UC Irvine (63) and Boise St. (53).  Both are good Quad 2 games which help NET rankings.

It begins tonight against New Mexico State, who are favored to win the Western Athletic Conference this season.  They are talented and can score it from all areas; averaging over 80 point per game.  

We'll see where we are after tonight.  Hopefully a step forward and in the right direction - UP!

 

SCU Men's Basketball - We Need an "Ice" Breaker

 

 

                                                                                                         

It's hard to complain about a 4-2 record, yet evident that in both our wins and losses, we're as cold as ice.  Season to date, less than 40% FG shooting and 30% from three.  In perspective, that's a full 10% lower than last season and 6% lower than the past three seasons including the Covid seasons.  

You may ask, so what?  What's the big deal?  We're 4-2!  At issue this is the easiest part of our difficult schedule.  The road ahead gets much harder with no let up.  Two tough neutral site roadies ahead versus Iona tonight and Wyoming on Wednesday, then nine straight at Leavey.  Given our last performance against a very good DIII Menlo, nothing is a gimmie.  

To quantify, we are averaging about 73 possessions/game which is around #9 in the NCAA.  Really good, what the coaches want.  We're taking 63 shots per game, making 24.  If we adjust to our mean shooting percentage from the seasons above, that's 6-7 more shots made per game!  

While each team from the past is different, the system is the same, modified to fit the current roster capabilities which was built with depth at the skill shooting positions.  The plan is to create motion that frees our guards to penetrate and shoot or pass either to a cutter to the rim or a kickout pass to an open shooter.  Other options are to go down to the low block to a big who will work a post move and score or again kickout to an open shooter.  Good system, but Coaches don't take shots.   

So far, other than a few breakout performances, the most consistent thing is our inconsistency.  When the ball and players are moving the good shots are there, but not falling.  When shots don't fall, frustration builds and we devolve into one on one mode, where shots come late in the clock and are defended well and harder to make.  Opposing coaches game plan for this against us.   

When we go down to the low block to create space, opponents double us in the post, forcing us to kick it out for a longer shot, knowing we've been struggling from the outside.  The math works.  Our post bigs make 55-60% of their close-in five footers or get fouled; where we shoot 71% as a team from the foul line vs 29% from three.

That's why I say we need some ice breakers to step up and lead this team to the shooting they are capable of game after game.  When you're missing shots you usually make, it's easy to "press" the issue and take harder shots than normal.  Competitors want to lead, it's part of their DNA.  That's one reason we see more one on one play because they want to put the team on their back to get the team in a rhythm.  

Make no mistake, we will have to shoot our way out of this.  Every team we play will game plan to our weaknesses.

A bright spot has been our rebounding and overall defense.  Enough to get four W's with poor shooting.   Both were real focus areas for the coaches in practices and it shows.  Everybody is onboard to "board".  Our leading rebounder is a guard!  Of Parker Braun's 39 rebounds, 23 are offensive leading to second chance points - big.  On D, we're holding our opponents to 40% or less FG% and 28% from three, much better than last year's team.  This includes the Utah State game where they torched us from everywhere.

Maybe, just maybe, the Menlo game started the thawing in the second half.  Some threes fell for our shooters and both Keshawn Justice and Parker Braun dished out five assists, most for easy lay-ins.  That's good play for de-icing.  

Once Carlos Marshall III and Giordan Williams return, their added depth and experience will bolster our rotation.  

For now, our team needs to get on a "heater" the next nine games to get rid of the ice storm and be ready for a very tough WCC schedule.  What we can do as season ticket holders and fans is show up at Leavey and get loud to pump up our guys. 

We all have a lot of "hot air" in us.  Let's bring it!

 

SCU Men's Basketball - Do We Need A Starter Kit?

 

The vibe before our home opener against the Eastern Washington Eagles was, "who are these guys?"  Must be another no name game.  Not exactly.  Eastern Washington's NET ranking is 197 (SCU 111) and returned three starters from an 18 win season.  They also had four 20 win seasons in the past six years; including eight straight winning seasons in The Big Sky Conference.  

It was a good test for our remade roster and we passed it, but not in the way that we expected.  It was the "newer" kids on the block that kept us in the game and made key plays in the second half to grind out the win.  Word has it that in our three European games, we started slowly, but came on in the second half of those to win two of the three contests.  Same report from our two scrimmages - slow start.  In this opener, slow turned into glacial; making 3 of 19 shots through the first 13 minutes.  Season ticket holders and fans were starting to shake their heads as to what's going on here?  So that's six slow game "starts".  Is this a harbinger for the season to come?  Not this game.

Carlos Marshall III, AKA  as "Chef" to his teammates lit the pilot light, scoring 10 of our next 12 points.  Sophomore Cameron Tongue kept the fire going with two corner threes and sophomore Brandin Podziemski (Podz) took over the last two minutes, scoring 9 points off two steals and a momentum shift dunk to give the Broncos a 6 point half time advantage.  

The second half was more of the same.  At times, we were both suffering and suffocating on defense.  Carlos Stewart (Los) and Brandin Podz were absolute thieves during the runs.  "Los" made two high wire hustle steals for layups and Podz picked off another five.  A nice change was that we "rebounded" from last seasons poor rebounding in this game, scraping 50 off the boards, with Parker Braun taking "offense" with 5 offensive rebounds that were big down the stretch to help close out the 12 point W.

Here's the thing:  The "newer" gang scored 70 of our 84 points!  Stewart in is his first full starting role had 20, Tongue, playing 14 minutes, came up big with 8, Marshall III had 12, and Podz had a monster game - 30 points, 5 steals, and 9 rebounds....Now that's a debut to remember!

As bad as it looked in the first 19 minutes, winning by 12 is a very good thing when you have more solid bench options as a coach than in years past.  The coaches will be trying lots of rotations to find which groups are most productive on the floor.  IMHO, this is both our strength and maybe Achilles' Heel in that too many slow starts make the odds of recovering to win more daunting.  

The thing I liked the most - no "head hanging".  Huge frustration combined with burning competitiveness.  A quality I love and has been missing in the past.  

The sample size is one.  Let's not get too optimistic or pessimistic.  

Georgia Southern presents more of the same on Thursday.  Also nicknamed the Eagles, they are experienced with six seniors or 5th year players and similar in size to Eastern Washington.   They were one of the best defensive teams in the Sun Belt Conference; giving up only 60 points and holding opponents under 40% shooting in their last 22 games.  

I'd love to see us get in the "startup" mentality of Silicon Valley and play well from start to finish.  I'll bring my jumper cables just in case!

SCU Men's Basketball - In the 2022 -2023 Season - It's All About the Quads

 

                                                                                                               

For season ticket holders and fans, last season was one to remember.  Another 20 win season ending with an NIT berth and arguably an injury and a blocked shot away from an at-large NCAA bid.  Witnessing the ascension of Jalen Williams from a promising freshman to an NBA lottery pick brought back reminders of what our program used to be and the possibilities of more success ahead.

For the Broncos in 2022-2023, and beyond, it's all about the quads.  Not as in quadriceps, but quad 1 and quad 2 NET ranking wins.  That's how teams get picked for post season NCAA and NIT bids.  Our coaches build schedules not just to try for 20 wins, but to play competition that offers the opportunity to get enough quad 1 and 2 wins.  These wins are against likely conference winners and teams that will be in the NCAA conversation. 

We all remember the St. Mary's snubs after 20+ win seasons, but too many of those wins were against a then weaker WCC and pre-season teams.  We're not going that route.  The WCC is much stronger now and our current schedule has about 13 teams in those top two quads.  We also have to avoid any quad 3 losses (defined as opponent rankings of 76-150 home, 101-200 neutral site, and 146-240 away games.)  

Our roster has been reloaded to take on the challenge.  We have five returnees who either started or played big minutes. With a roster that includes a grad transfer (Carlos Marshall), fifth year grad (Keshawn Justice), three seniors, four sophomores, and six freshman we have have a good blend of experience and young talent.  Coaches feel we will have more speed, height, depth, and should be able to shoot it at the level we did last year as one of the top scoring teams in the NCAA.

Here's a brief scouting report on our roster. 

Freshman

Brenton Knapper - 6'1, 170 lbs.  Redshirt Freshman.  Likely a point guard backup.  Has speed, can penetrate and is a good passer.  Good shooter, averaged 19.7 ppg in high school.  He's like Tahj Eaddy from the 2019-20 team. 

Kosy Akametu - 6'5, 210 lbs.  Coaches believe he is an under the radar prospect with lots of potential upside.  Mature body, athletic, and can shoot it, drive it, and finish at the rim. Averaged 19.6 ppg in high school.  

Jake Ensminger - 6'9, 205 lbs.  Good rebounder, rim protector, and can also shoot it from the wing and score in the post.  Has good speed and basketball I.Q.  

Christoph Tilly - 7'0, 225lbs.  Good shooter from the wing (57%) and can score inside (61%).  Will see minutes as a backup and complement to J. Bediako.  Strong rim protector.

Malachi Douyan - 6'3, 180 lbs and Brendan Yarusso 6'1, 160 lbs.  Will play important roles in practice and get court time depending on their expected improvement.

Sophomores

Brandin Podziemski - 6'5, 205 lbs  Elite scorer.  Has speed and great shooting range.  Played solid minutes during the European trip and led the team in scoring all three games.  

Carlos Stewart - 6'1, 185 lbs.  Expected starter at the point. The coaches look for more improvement from a good freshman season.  Physical player who can penetrate and finish at the rim like we witnessed last year with several "poster" dunks.

Jacob Holt -6'9, 235 lbs.  Missed a number of games last season with injuries.  Later in the season showed great promise as a rebounder, effective scorer, and shot blocker. 

Cameron Tongue - 6'7 220 lbs.  Excellent athlete.  Speed, strength, and physical defender.  Looking to improve in his second year in Coach Sendek's system.

Grad Transfer

Carlos Marshall - 6'6 205 lbs. Transfer from Tennessee.  Two time Ohio Valley All Conference selection.  Experienced.  Averaged 41% from three point line and had 18 double digit and five 20 point games at Tennessee.  Will be a key contributor in the rotation.

We return three seniors:  Parker Braun 6'10, 215 lbs, Jaden Bediako 6'10, 245 lbs, and Giordan Williams 6'4, 190 lbs who will help anchor this team throughout the season.  We know how good they are and we look for steady improvement.  

All in all, it adds up to a team with some horsepower and potential.  Five bigs at 6'9 - 7'0 and five others 6'5 - 6'7 that can be interchangeable parts on the perimeter.  According to the staff, there isn't much "drop off" in talent from top to bottom except in experience.  It's great for practices since that's how you earn court time.

Expected starters are Carlos Stewart at PG, Justice and Podziemski at the wings, Braun at the 4 position, and Bediako at center.  SCU had one of the most successful up-tempo points per possessions in the nation last year and you should expect no slowdown.  Having so many players who can rebound, run, and score in transition is what this coaching staff loves and will be our "go to." 

The other major emphasis this year is rebounding and to put up a more aggressive, physical defense.  We all saw the shortfalls in these areas last year.  Thin at center last year due to injuries made us undersized and rebounding difficult, particularly on the defensive boards.  We were not a consistently physical force on defense as well and spots of passive pick and roll defense cost us.  I'm so glad that Tommy Khuse of St. Mary's and Andrew Nemhard of the Zags are gone.  They were surgical against us.  IF, we can get the defense right, we'll be a tough out and in a lot of games.  We need to flex our "quads" here.  

In 11 days we'll get a firsthand look at what we have and what we can become in 2022-2023.  As Bronco season ticket holders and fans, we all want to see us max our "quads," including a quad with four letters - an NCAA invite!!

 

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Is This a "Banner Year?"

 

                                                                                                                         

After a 33 year drought, the Broncos earned a selection into the NIT.  It was great to have them play in a post season tourney that starts with an "N". 

Is this a banner year both in both our season record and maybe hanging another banner in Leavey?  21-12 is the second 20 win season in three years, but I believe it would have been three in a row if not for the Covid shutdown in 2020-21.

The season included quality wins over NCAA tournament teams in Cal State Fullerton, TCU, and St. Mary's and some good wins over name programs like Stanford, Nevada, and BYU.  In addition to those, there were a lot of grinding out wins in the WCC over the lower half of the league, at home and on the road, that in the past, were games we lost.

All accomplished through Covid, key injuries, and a WCC schedule that had us playing our first six games in 17 days; four of which were against Gonzaga, St. Mary's, BYU, and USF.  Trial by fire.  IMHO, this turned out to be a benefit as we had to focus right away.  The 3-3 start was capped by a buzzer beater win over BYU that gave us confidence.  As a recap, the "predictors" pegged us finishing 6th or 7th in league, not third.  In reality, we were one better possession away at USF and at St. Mary's from taking second. 

As usual, it was a season that "could have been."  Our best inside-out player, Josip Vrankic, missed eight games with Mono.  In reality it was more like 11 games, as he had to get his game strength back.  Pretty sure we don't lose four games in that stretch with him healthy.  Then there were the "thud" games where we just couldn't make a shot against USF at Leavey, St. Mary's in the WCC semi-final, and Washington State in the NIT, shooting season lows at "prime time."  The above, except Washington, "could of" vaulted us into the Big Dance vs the NIT, shattering the ceiling from the 25 year put down of athletics from prior SCU administrations. 

We also needed better R & D.  Not research as in game planning, but execution as in "rebounding and defense."  We just had too much trouble guarding guards.  Bouyea and Shabazz from USF, Nemhard and Bolton from Gonzaga, and, above all, Kuhse from St. Mary's; who took us apart in the pick and roll time after time and saved them from two more losses to us.  Second chance points from opponents' offensive rebounds were like a nagging headache coming on just when you don't want them to. Through it all, our guys never gave up, which led to our fifth winning season in six years.  Progress.  

All in all, as season ticket holders and fans, it was fun to watch.  Upsets, thunder dunks, torrid shooting nights, and court storming from students were things we are not used to seeing.  The highs were very high which made the lows tougher to swallow - expectations. 

I'll call it a banner year as it generated the most buzz and interest in Santa Clara basketball during Coach Sendek's tenure.  Hoping this is a start of something bigger and not a one and done cameo.  Let's celebrate this being off the schneid with an NIT invite after a 33 year wait.  

Thanks to the Coaches and most of all, the players who showed us something to be proud of!