Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Now What?

   

                                                                                                                         

The hiring of Santa Clara's next Athletic Director will tell Bronco season ticket holders, fans, alums and students all they need to know about the trajectory and future of Athletics and, in particular, Men's Basketball.  

When Dr. Renee Baumgartner was hired nearly nine years ago as Santa Clara's Athletics Director, the selection was met with great optimism and skepticism.  Skeptics didn't feel she had the "creds" and optimists believed her past stops at bigger name schools and energy would help take Athletics, especially Men's Basketball, to another level.  

Renee's hiring came on the heels of the 2015 SCU President's Commission on Athletics which declared, among other goals, that it was their intent to achieve and maintain a National Reputation in Men's Basketball.  Her first major move was to hire Coach Herb Sendek as Men's Basketball coach who came from stints at N.C. State and Arizona State.  Again, the idea was to take us to another level to rival Gonzaga who has dominated the WCC for the past 25 years.

Fast forward to now.  Four recent 20 win seasons, two NIT's, and back to back NBA 1st round draft picks and we are definitely at another level; a winning level in Men's Basketball.  

The question has to be asked, is this the level we aspire to?  Can we build off the successes of Renee and Coach Sendek and become a legit "national" level program to match our national level facilities, or are we satisfied with winning and settling for third in the WCC and our "mid-major" label?  

Due to the changing NCAA landscape, this may be the biggest decision in Santa Clara history regarding Athletics that Dr. Sullivan and the Trustees will have to make.  In the past, the University has not compromised building out our Academic facilities or hiring the best Professorial talent.  IMHO, until recently, Athletics has not been a strategic part of the mission on the Mission campus.  

Other small religious based Universities figured out 25+ years ago that using Athletics and, in particular, Men's Basketball as a strategic weapon that built National recognition and Endowments that funded key aspects of their Academic and facility needs.  Witness the successes of Villanova, Marquette, Xavier, and of course, Gonzaga.

The challenge will only get more expensive and harder as transfer portals, NIL pay for play, and the recent $2.8 billion NCAA legal settlement with the Power Conferences will change the landscape of the NCAA.  You're talking about perhaps the most significant changes since Title IX was adopted in 1972.

We've been down this road before and punted until 2015-16.  

The choices and financials associated with becoming truly National are equally daunting.  One choice is to pack it in, go down to non-scholarship Division 3, like Chapman or Lewis and Clark, and have athletics be more like intercollegiate intramurals; an extracurricular activity at minimal cost.  BTW, there are more schools in Division 3, (434) than in Division 1, (352).   With the legal settlement mentioned above, this will be an option as the cost of Division 1 will rise dramatically as athletes will have to be compensated by the Universities and/or NIL corporate contracts.  

Another choice is to invest.  Make the commitment to actually become national rather than just buzz words.  Why settle for mid-level in Men's Basketball?  The optics and financial payoff of success are enormous.  

Even with the recent improvements, much will need to change.  First, and foremost, is hiring a "been there, done that" Athletics Director who has the mandate and funding from the Trustees to get to National.  National means no less than a top 40 and preferably a top 25 ranking.  These are NCAA invite worthy rankings.  

Following that, staff, facilities, marketing, fundraising, both community and alum outreach,  fan experience and much more will need upgrades.  Our basketball schedule will need to continue the upward competitive level from last season.  This cannot be a "words only" get to National like the 2015 declaration from the Commission on Athletics.  

The search committee is nearly in place.  The "draft" board of candidates will follow and hopefully by end of summer we might know where SCU Athletics and Men's Basketball are headed.  

For season ticket holders and fans, we hope we don't settle for less than we can become.  So, now what?  

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Unfinished Business

 

                                                                                                                       

After a successful 20-13 season, there were many questions as to what might happen with the Broncos given the new "free agency" rules in Men's Basketball resulting from NIL and the transfer portal.   Pay to play is the new stratagem to building rosters versus the tried and true high school recruiting process.  Matching big NIL dollars is not in the SCU playbook.  The most visible example being National Champion UCONN who lost 4 players but found 5 others in the portal to repeat as Champs.  It makes total dollars and sense.  

Over 1,000 players entered the portal;  all seeking a better deal or playing time situation on a higher profile team.  Even St. Mary's, known for "home grown" development, lost two key players including Aiden Mahaney to, you guessed it, UCONN.  Santa Clara benefitted from the portal the prior two seasons getting Brandin Podziemski and last season landing five transfers who played significant minutes.

With the Broncos parked in third in the WCC, some hoped the portal would help us find key players needed to move up.  Well, guess what?  Only one, uno, transfer.  Former Bronco Carlos Stewart decided to come back from LSU.  Basically, we are standing "pat".  No new blood.   

The only major departure for SCU will be Athletics Director Renee Baumgartner, who is stepping down on June 30th, to attend to family matters.  While Renee didn't play a game or score a point for MBB, she paved the way for more success; revitalizing a neglected program by former SCU administrations adding facilities and programs that have the potential for SCU to rise to legit National status.  More on this topic coming.

So why did the players stay?  So far, no coaching departures either despite opportunities.  Certainly there was money out there for a few players to showcase their talents on a bigger stage.  My feeling is, there's unfinished business these coaches and players desperately want to accomplish.  

As fans and season ticket holders we know what "could" have been.  I think these players feel the current stage is big enough.  They just need to play to their potential which, to be honest, didn't happen consistently last season.  The highs were high, but the lows too low.  We beat Gonzaga, but lost to Portland and lowly others.  

Let's face it, everyone in the WCC is raiding the portal to get immediate results.  Higher profile name coaches are coming to the WCC.  They're not coming here to lose.  Gonzaga is still Gonzaga.  They lost players to the portal, but still improved their roster.  St. Mary's lost top players, but was able to retain key pieces and harvested promising talent that Randy Bennett will know how to develop.  No one is standing "pat" except SCU.  

Let's be clear, standing "pat" doesn't mean standing still.  Players can, and do, improve when they have the talent, work ethic, and detailed coaching.  I believe each SCU MBB player has their own development plan and measurements to track progress.

The question is what will be different?  Should we expect more from the same players, running the same offense and defense, and coaching game plans with just one more season of experience?  Maybe.  If, in fact, this is what the players are thinking, that's a good start.

Here's what fans and season ticket holders think need improvement to get out of third gear in the WCC and contend for an NCAA invite.  I've added some benchmark stats to compare  the Broncos performance to both the WCC and NCAA qualifiers we played in 2024.  While there are other key factors beyond just stats that position teams to warrant NCAA bids, the stats for these qualifiers reveal performance baselines to get into the selection conversation.

On offense:  Reduce turnovers by 25% from 12.8 to an average of 10 or less per game.  Improve our assists to turnover ratio 25% with more efficient ball movement from 1.2 to an average of 1.5 per game.  Improve our inside/out offensive production where our bigs are better positioned to score down low AND pass outside to open 3 point shooters.  Over a third of our 422 turnovers came from our bigs when they were stopped in the post; often too far from the basket.

On defense:  Improve the defensive scheme to handle the pick and roll.  Play physical without fouling.  Our opponents overall shooting percentages were 5% higher than the above peer group of NCAA teams.  We shoot the ball well, but give up better shots to opponents.  Sounds like a nit, but 5% on 2,000 shots, not trivial.  We gave up more free throw attempts to opponents and to the peer group than we shot.  Lastly, we generated 30% fewer steals from our opponents than they stole from us.  

Overall:  Run offenses and defense with "purposeful"  intentional motion.  The peer sample teams don't just go through the motions, they catch defenses with their screens, actively go to exploit clear mismatches, and can stop opposing teams best players from taking over games.  

A lot went right for us to get 20 wins.  We were "in the mix" with 11 games left for a postseason invite.  Our 5-6 finish might be the reason our players are staying.   That's why I call it unfinished business.  

In a way, it's a gutsy call on the part of the players and coaches. They could have run away into the portal or other coaching gigs, but didn't.  Instead, face the challenge straight on.  Stare it down.  That's a competitive spirit you're got to love.   IMHO, this will be also be the greatest challenge for our coaches as well.  

There's no doubt to the potential of this roster.  Molding this roster into a team that contends in the WCC and for post season is the "unfinished business" our coaches want to and need to deliver for Bronco fans. 

We all hope it will be worth the wait!

Santa Clara men's Basketball - 2023-2024 Season Recap

 

                                                                                                                 

It's taken me more than a month to write this 2023-24 season recap, as it's not just me, but many Bronco season ticket holders and fans are conflicted as to what kind of season it was or wasn't. 

Given the past 30 years of Men's Basketball, one has to be happy with another 20 win season; the fourth 20 win season in the past five.  Add two NIT appearances, two first round NBA draft picks in that stretch and it's undeniable that Coach Sendek and his staff have made great progress.

The open question from many is progress towards what?  In 2015, there was a big hoopla over the President's Blue Ribbon Committee on Athletics where the strategic decision was made to fund athletics and commit to a "National Reputation" by 2020 for Santa Clara.  With the hiring of Renee Baumgartner in 2015, and, soon after Coach Herb Sendek, Men's Basketball was the focal point for this national focus as Women's Soccer was already established as SCU's most successful program. 

The "what" measure of success for Men's Basketball has yet to be either defined or made public.  Women's Soccer's goal is clear - make the NCAA tournament every year AND compete for the NCAA championship.  

What is our Goal in Men's Basketball?  Winning breeds the desire from season ticket holders to want more.  They don't think we built the AEC just to win 20 games a season without more, like - WCC titles or NCAA tournament invites. 

Commitment to goals can be difficult for universities and SCU is no exception. If you've ever read an administrator or coaches' bios, you know that they are always rosy.  Why go out on a limb?  Just ask Jerod Haase, now former Men's Basketball Coach at Stanford, who stated publicly, they expected to be in NCAA tournament or the season would be a failure.  It got him fired when they fell woefully short.  It would be refreshing for SCU fans to know what we are shooting at for MBB.

There are many schools our size who really are "national" in Men's Basketball and have top 25 rankings to prove it.  I mean if the Zags in Spokane and Creighton in Omaha can, why not us?  If two first round draft picks, and another NBA candidate declaring, is moving the needle, imagine what adding NCAA tournament bids would do?  Coach Sendek is a builder and has built a solid foundation but with eight seasons in the books, it seems we're still parked in third in the WCC.  More on this in another write.

This past season was designed to make a push upward.  We played eight NCAA tournament qualifiers and had big wins over Oregon, Washington State, Duquesne, and Gonzaga. That was a step up and could have been six wins if not for two meltdowns late in the second half.   As good as those wins were, losses to SJS, Cal, Portland and San Diego were death knells to the post season.

Injuries were also a factor, but every team faced them and we just didn't respond as well as we could have.  To be honest, it seemed as though we played to our hype level too few times and key players were non factors too many times.  Some believe there was "playing for pro scouts" instead of teammates.  Not buying that, but it seemed we were unable to find a floor leader to get us into a rhythm and exploit favorable matchups like the top three in the WCC have on their rosters.  

As a team, we turned it over more and had more than 30 fewer steals than in the past two seasons.  That's a tough combination and a lot of possessions to overcome; especially with eight new players to the roster.  At the highest echelons in college basketball, teams like UCONN can make that happen and as their Coach Hurley said "we recruit 5-6 future pros and let them play."  A luxury we can't reach.  

Everyone has their opinions, but for me, I'd grade this season a "B."  Achieving 20 wins is great, but it's no secret to fans who watched we left a lot on the table.  Yes, people got hurt, and there was lots to overcome, but we just didn't play to our potential often enough to break out of third in the WCC and reach an NCAA.  It was there, but we fell short, only if the expectations of fans is one shared by our A.D. and coaches?  

It seems to me the staff and players feel this way as with the exception of Adama Bal declaring for the NBA draft, no one on our roster jumped into the transfer portal.  My guess is they want a mulligan for last season and by sticking together believe more can be achieved.  

So, we're back to the infamous line, "there's always next year" chatter.  After almost 30 years since the last NCAA invite, it's starting to feel like "Groundhog Day."  

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - The Climb

 

      

                                                                                                                    

The Broncos finished WCC league play with a much needed win over USF at Leavey.  Finishing at 19-12 we secured the fourth seed in the WCC Tournament.  We play a surging San Diego team tonight for the right to play St. Mary's in the semifinals.

Beating USD in the tourney would earn us our fourth 20 win season in the past five years and the opportunity to face St. Mary's in the semi-finals.  While the 20 wins seasons and two straight NIT invites are certainly a big improvement in winning, it's been nearly 30 years since we made the finals of the WCC tourney and 27 years since our last NCAA invite.  Despite all the success, we still haven't been able to unseat Gonzaga or St. Mary's as the perennial league leaders.  

The past eight years under coach Sendek and his staff have led to a steady "climb" in every aspect of the program except a Championship title of any kind.  We've had opportunities, but have not been able to break through.  

Our record in the WCC tourney reflects the long drought making it to the finals.  Much of the poor tourney record stems from many years of the inability to compete in talent with recruiting challenges due to outdated facilities, little MBB program staff, and most importantly sustained top level University commitment.  

Those obstacles vanished with the hiring of Coach Sendek and the opening of the A.E.C  Interestingly enough, our last WCC Tourney final appearance was with future NBA MVP Steve Nash in 1993.   With our recent historic back to back first round NBA draft picks we still have not burst the bubble of getting to the finals or winning the WCC tourney.  

Maybe this is our year!  Don't be fooled, USD is a tough out.  Well coached, and, under Steve Lavin, have found talent quickly that are performing on the court.  They have confidence and realize the moment.  

Tonight we hope to see our team continue the climb and take care of USD for a great opportunity in the semis versus St. Mary's. 

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - The Search Continues

 

                                                                                                                  

It's now thirty games into our season and we still seem to be searching for a lineup that can start a game, execute some consistency on offense and defense, exploit favorable matchups, and make good decisions with the basketball.  What was a conundrum has now become an enigma, perplexing, or any other term to describe a roster that can beat top 25 teams and lose four games to teams wallowing down in the #250-320 in the rankings.  

Portland was just the latest example of not figuring out the above.  In spite of the Broncos being outrebounded, outshot, and giving up 38 points in the paint, we were one missed free throw away, with 15 seconds left, from winning that game.  It's de-ja' vu from the recent USF loss.  It's a reason that St. Mary's is dominating the WCC this year.  They make proper adjustments and are coached to and able to close out games even when they don't play well.  

We watched as Portland's Tyler Robertson torched us, again, for 32 points without making a three point shot.  They took advantage of our small lineup and pounded the ball to him down in the paint and we couldn't stop it with Tilly and Caffaro on the bench.  They also spread the floor wide and drove the lane unimpeded for layups.  On our part, we didn't seem to try to exploit our height advantage.  Tilly and Caffaro played a total of 24 minutes scoring only six points. 

For Bronco Fans and Season Ticket Holders, an 18-12 record is below expectations.  Sure injuries, short rest intervals between games due to travel are factors, but not unlike what other WCC teams have faced.  The Gaels are without a starter and are still thriving. 

Tonight versus USF is another chance to solve the jig saw puzzle.  There are no secrets as to how USF plays and how distasteful that loss was to our team.   Although it changes nothing in the final standings, it could at least be one hopeful momentum builder for the WCC  tourney next week.  Winning the WCC tourney is our long odds chance for a post season invite.  

If we can get to 20 wins again, it will at least keep hope alive that we can build something better for 2025.  

Let's do our part tonight by being loud and strong for our players to get this grudge win!  

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Roller Coaster

 

                                                                                                                     

The Broncos have four games left to improve on their 17-10 record and to build momentum for the WCC Tournament.  It's been a roller coaster ride so far with this season's performance much like the four weather "seasons."  We're hot, we're cold, and at times, we've lost the "spring" in our step along the way.

Signature wins against Gonzaga and humbling losses to San Jose State and San Diego are prime examples of the roller coaster highs and lows.  So far only St. Mary's and USF have avoided losses in league to teams they are favored to beat.  Most every team has fought through key player injuries, including the Broncos, without starters Adama Bal and Brenton Knapper the last three games.  Tonight, St. Mary's will be without 6'8"starter Joshua Jefferson versus USF in Moraga.  A big break for the Don's.

Our highly touted depth was severely tested in those three games and responded with stalwart efforts; most notably in the "rumble" loss at USF.  Everyone lost their composure, including the officials who applied a non rules based double standard; ejecting six players. Despite all of the chaos and being short handed, we should have won this game.  We were a turnover and rebound away in the final seconds.  

Our recent wins versus Pacific and, on the road, at San Diego featured step up efforts by Jake Ensminger, Tyree Bryan, Cam Tongue and a breakout performance at USD by Jalen Benjamin with 23 points and sealing the deal; making 10 of 11 free throws.  We hope this is the start of Jalen playing to his potential down the stretch.  Freshman guard Christian Hammond made two starts after Knapper's injury and showed potential but needs more minutes to settle in and get comfortable.  

As a result, we appear to have fourth place in hand, but are two games back of either second or third depending on the outcomes of the road game at Gonzaga and final game at Leavey versus USF.  This assumes we don't falter playing away at Portland or at home against LMU; both near the bottom in the WCC.  With the four seed, we advance directly into the quarterfinals and most likely play either USD, LMU, or Pepperdine.  If we win that game, we play St. Mary's in the semis if they remain the # 1 seed.  

The good news is everything is still in play, including a possible post season NIT invite.  To have consideration for an NCAA bid, we would have the win the WCC tourney or beat Gonzaga and USF in our final league games.  It appears to be a done deal that only two WCC teams will get bids.  

With all we've had to play through this season, our full lineup, except perhaps Brenton Knapper, should be ready for the final four games and tourney.  Our bench is more battle tested and has played key roles down the stretch.  We'll need every player to be at their best.  

The roller coaster ride continues this Thursday at Leavey versus LMU.  Let's hope we enjoy the ride and finish strong the last four in the WCC! 

 

Santa Clara Men's Basketball - Regression

 

                                                                                                                             

After two strong road wins and a thrilling home win versus Gonzaga, season ticket holders and fans felt the momentum for bigger things ahead for the Broncos.  It appeared that this team, with so many new faces, was finally progressing and coming together to challenge the WCC mainstays.  

That feeling and momentum evaporated two nights later at home against St. Mary's who sucked the air out of Leavey and the Broncos forging a 20 point lead in the first 11 minutes.  The hangover has stayed with us for six games.  While winning three and losing three of those games, we have started all these games by falling behind 10-15 points in the first 10 minutes.   It's a head scratcher for Bronco fans.  Same team, same coaches, different results.  It feels like a regression.  It's like going to a Taylor Swift concert and expecting a good show and then Travis Kelce shows up who can't sing a lick!

Currently, at 15-9 and 6-3 in the WCC, our margin for error is evaporating.  The loss to USD at home was a Quad 4 loss and a NET ranking disaster for postseason nods.  The disparities are befuddling.  In three of those games, we scored an average of 55 second half points, yet against USD we scored a TOTAL of 59 losing by 11; despite getting 27 offensive rebounds.  

In doing a little homework from our past three 20 win seasons, we have these off games in about 20% of our schedule; roughly six games a season.  Losses like San Jose State, Pepperdine, LMU, and Pacific.  It's college basketball.  Losing to top 60 ranked teams is expected, but not to teams ranked outside of the top 200.  Three games a season can make the difference between an NCAA invite or staying home.  It's crazy, but it's not much different than the Golden State Warriors, who with the best talent in the world, lose a lot of games with big leads going into the fourth quarter.

To our credit, we have also played six Quad 1 games, winning two.  By the time the season ends, we might get 2-3 more Quad 1 credits as teams we've played, like Washington State and others, beat top 50 teams.  By comparison Gonzaga and USF have no Quad 1 wins this season and St. Mary's has 4.

We know a lot about this team after 24 games.  We can score.  We can rebound.  We occasionally play defense.  We turn the ball over.  We can go on big runs - both good and bad.  I think for the coaches and fans, it's the unforced turnovers that are the most frustrating.  The passes to no one, the inability to secure the basketball after a good rebound, and the persistent fumbles in the paint.  Unfortunately, I think turnovers are here to stay.  We are who we are.  

IMHO, to reach our potential, we need a leader to emerge.  We have a scoring leader, a rebounding leader, an assist leader, but not a floor leader.  Someone who has the creds to rally his teammates, hold himself, and others accountable.  Someone when we go off the rails can settle us down and focus on the next play and not force hero shots.  Someone who has a "go to" shot to get us back on track.  The past two seasons we've had Podz and Jalen who could fill those roles and make the big shot or assist at crucial moments.  Even with them, we had our bad nights like the NIT first round losses to Washington State and Sam Houston.  

With seven WCC games left, we need to stop the regression with aggression and progression.  I can't think of a better place to start that than at USF.  The games this Saturday at USF and Saturday, March 2nd at Leavey are HUGE.  They are rivalry games and they'll be ready to prove they deserve a # 65 NET ranking.  These two games will most likely determine third place in the WCC.  They have @SMC, Zags, home/away with Pepperdine, home/away with SCU, and then @LMU.  We have Pacific, @USD, LMU, @Portland, @Zags and two with USF including the last game of the season at Leavey.

I feel like their schedule is harder.  Regardless, we need to go 5-2 to have any chance for outright third or tie.  IF we can get there, our strength of schedule could pay dividends.  We are # 71 and USF # 263.  

One thing for sure, never a dull moment for the Broncos.  This is what Coach Sendek and his staff have been building for - these moments.  We hope this building stands tall seven games from now!