For whatever it’s worth, Torvik’s RosterCast tool predicts Santa Clara, with its current expected roster, to have the overall efficiency that would have put SCU at around the 60th best team in college basketball this season. In other words, if the sport next year looks just like this past year, SCU would be projected to be right around where UVA and Utah State ended in the metrics and maybe just a hair or two short of the NCAA cut-off. Now that’s a computer projection and one with so many variables that are total shots in the dark at this point. It also, critically, assumes that Bal is back and doesn’t fly off to the NBA.
But one small thing that I take from it: Make sure that any roster addition is truly additive and we don’t get trapped into promising a leadership position to a transfer that presents a lot of risk of poisoning the team dynamic or major flame-out potential.
Things got real messy last 24 hours. To summarize. The entire squad (Kosey included) are staying. Looks as if Carlos will be reunited with his former teammates. Cannot say for sure but if I were a betting woman - then yes.
Lots of “he said she said” was happening amongst the entire roster. Cam is taking a leadership role and bringing guys together before workout tomorrow so they can all have their input. (To Pattys credit about letting be heard) Cam intends to inform his team that he for one is ALL IN and let’s go get an NCAA bid next season.
I think Santa Clara might be the ONLY team without a guy leaving for the portal this year.
There’s a way of bringing a guy like Carlos back in a way that’s positive, but it’s delicate. He essentially needs to be willing to be humble about everything and a prodigal son of sorts. “It was a mistake to transfer, and I’ve grown a lot. Now I’m back 100% with this team for whatever role I can play to make us the best.” That sort of thing could be a big galvanizing moment for a group. But that requires real maturity that not a lot of folks can muster. Much short of that could lead to resentment, so it has to be done right.
If 'femme is correct and Stewart comes back it would be a very strange turn events.
Not sure it’s a recipe for success for several reasons. The backcourt is a completely different group now compared to who he played with in 2022/23.
Also keep in mind that Carlos is now on I believe his 3rd knee injury…I believe he had one in high school, another at SCU when he sat out the Euro trip games between his frosh and soph seasons (maybe that injury was an aggravation of the first) and now the knee injury that ended is 2023/24 season. He may be damaged goods at this point.
It’s fine that players are talking amongst themselves, good for them to be empowered. But at the end of the day they are 18-22 year olds and not in a position of objectivity. I hope the coaches consider long and hard whether this is the best move for the program.
There would also be quite a lot of players with similar profiles: Bryan, Mahi, Akametu, and Stewart are all sort of on the same combo guard spectrum. Stewart is likely the fastest and Mahi the biggest and strongest. Bryan and Akametu somewhere in between those two.
The need remains a steady PG or, failing that, a big, defense-first center as a backup for McEldon. SCU basically has one obvious PG (Knapper) and one obvious center* (McEldon) and then 10-11 guys who can play different positions overlapping in the 2-4 slots.
I’d be happy to have Carlos back if the team dynamics can be navigated where it’s a positive. But it certainly wouldn’t be a clear answer to any shortcomings of the current roster.
*Caveat with Oboye who, as an extremely tall and lanky former guard, is just a sort of mystery to me.
Agree Patty on the roster make-up.
Still doesn’t address our need for another true point guard. Carlos is more of a combo guard, was/is a shoot first player, less likely to post a bunch of assists. Knapper is about all we have that fits the true PG description and he’s coming off a knee injury.
Also agree with the other bookend needed…a true physical 5, McEldon is it. Tilly isn’t likely to transform overnight, I just don’t think it’s in his nature, he’s a finesse big. And I don’t know what the future holds for Oboye, an intriguing talent but a long way to go to be significant D1 contributor but with his slight build, perimeter focused skills and being a former guard I don’t see him turning in to a dominant traditional low post 5.
So it will be up to Tongue and McEldon to deal with the likes of Saxen and Ike and maybe Mogbo and any others of that ilk that we may face. Caffaro proved valuable against those guys. Again, Cam can do it and kudos to him for being willing but at 6-7 it’s a lot to ask of him to do it on a consistent basis. Sure Tilly can guard those guys for a bit but it likely puts him in foul jeopardy and at risk of getting bullied in the low post and on the boards.
That was now (jesus i am old) three decades ago. Years before the transfer portal was a thing and Santa Clara barely could get JC transfers in.
My recollection is that Osei wanted to follow his buddy from San Jose State (whose name in cant remember—Tony Farmer??). to Nebraska. But Nebraska didnt want Osei. . But he had already told CW of his intentions. So that was it for basketball. Osei graduated from SCU and went to Cornell for a graduate degree.
But, with props to Osei, i can say that a chance meeting with him on my preview weekend at Santa Clara was the linchpin in my commitment to go there. Sounds crazy, but it was one of the handful of moments in my life that i can mark that put me where i am today.
At 6 ft 10 inches, it would be nice to see O’Neil rotate into the 5 with Tilly and McEldon more frequent than Cam.
I asked Cam about playing against Saxon and Cam said he doesn’t mind matching up against him at all. He said it’s pretty easy to draw fouls against Saxon because Saxon has “gives” when he overplays on defense. Said Saxon is stiff and less athletic. Its Ike who impresses Cam and said is a challenge. I personally believe Saxon has hit the ceiling, and I don’t believe Tilly or Cam have even touched it yet. I think both Cam and Tilly are going to bypass Saxon.
What I like about Carlos Stewart is that at times he is simply unguardable. I remember hearing Gonzaga assistants screaming “elbow, elbow, elbow” to their guys guarding Carlos only to watch him go hard, pull up on a DIME at the elbow and bury a jumper.
I would hope that he has gotten a little better at matching his speed with his decisionmaking. His biggest fault was barreling downhill and all too often getting an offensive foul called on him or getting trapped near the baseline with nowhere to go. But Santa Clara didn’t have a player last season with his speed and bounce. He can be lightning quick to get to his spot and was about the only Bronco I trusted in the midrange. He just needed to be a bit more cerebral. His TO rate was quite good in his limited minutes at LSU, so hopefully he really did learn something.
Our other main (publicized) transfer target, Oziyah Sellers, is visiting Stanford, perhaps in conjunction with or instead of SCU. I would expect him to join the Cardinal, though SCU recruited him out of high school, so maybe there’s something there. I imagine that he wants Bal’s spot, though, and we won’t know for a while if Bal is really moving on.
Gavin Griffiths has visited Nebraska and Providence already. I doubt he finds his way to SCU.
Just got back from the Alumni Awards dinner. Heard Carlos Stewart is coming back. He reached out to the Broncos. After his visit yesterday they offered him a scholarship & he accepted. But since the portal is still open there’s some nervousness that he may change his mind again.
I’ll be glad to have Carlos back and hope he can be a good ambassador for the school and program, perhaps cautioning others about the siren song of the transfer portal.
If Kosy is staying, then SCU is over one scholarship again. I know that was figured out with CMJ being a walk-on. I’m not sure how they are working that out, but Kosy and Carlos put SCU at 14 for 13 scholarship spots.
I know it’s happened but rare for a player to transfer back to the school that he transferred from. I believe Carlos would be the first Bronco basketball player in program history where this applies.
One poster commented earlier that the grass isn’t always greener, very true in this case. I can only speculate that at some point during his short time with LSU, it probably occurred to him that Santa Clara was a pretty special place, and I’m talking beyond basketball, but with respect to academics, community, campus…and getting your degree from SCU means something.
Welcome back, Carlos, and kudos to his teammates especially Cam and BK who I hope were consulted and left the door open.
Only over scholarships if Bal returns; at 13 if he doesn’t…I suspect he’s 60/40 leaning pro. Tone of his announcement suggests he has his heart set on turning pro…but we’ll see.
Stewart…obviously I have no say in the matter, but I have my reservations. I hope it works out for the Broncos.
One thing on Stewart…I wonder if he will petition for a medical redshirt. He played 13 games. I believe the current rule is no more than 1/3 of your team’s games; LSU played 33 games so 11 is the med RS max. That said the NCAA ‘rules’ seem to mean little to nothing these days, they hand out waivers like pez candy so maybe there’s a chance there for Carlos.
This year’s NBA draft class is widely considered to be a very weak one overall. That may be a big factor in Bal’s thinking and even in the minds of guys like Michael Ajayi for putting their names in. More than in most years, there’s a lot of room to move up in this draft if you just impress a handful of the right folks. It makes Jalen and Podz’s respective rises even more impressive that it came against a much more respected slate of talent.