At the beginning of the season, it wouldn’t help with recruiting. If recruiting is a crux of the purpose of the ad, then now (at the beginning of the open portal) is the time.
Point taken, but I don’t think any 19 year old basketball phenoms are reading the print version of the ol’Merc. In my opinion, much like SCU’s poorly considered “Game On” ad, this one is for the eyes of donors, intra-conference competitors, and uniquely here, the powers-that-be in a conference that isn’t inviting the Gaels to come play with them.
To that end, the timing may be because the Pac-12 media deal is supposed to be announced soon with subsequent negotiations about future members.
We are at about the mid-point of players entering the transfer portal, though probably 85% of the damage is done already with well over 2k names in the portal across D1, D2, and D3.
There are now starting to be more commitments than players adding their names. The biggest one today from the WCC is Michael Ajayi committing to Butler.
I’ve also noticed quite a few players who are recommitting to their prior school. Riley, IV is a good example, but there are over a dozen at this point who have entered the portal and come back which wasn’t happening last year or the year before.
Two possible explanations with the truth likely being a mix of both:
(1) Players are realizing that the money out there isn’t as much as rumor was leading them to believe. There are maybe a few dozen $1 million+ players and some who are getting NBA Rookie money. But a lot of the good but not amazing players transferring may be overestimating the market by a wide margin–potentially what happened with Tyrone Riley, IV.
(2) Players really don’t want to leave their current program but are being advised to renegotiate by their agents (now that many of them have agents). They get a few more dollars thrown their way and call it good. But you never get the deal you want unless you’re willing to walk away, so the players test the market just to get a bit more cash to stay where they’re at.
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Renee was so proud of herself for putting that ad in the Spokane paper. I thought it was ridiculously stupid. Since that ad was run Gonzaga has handed SCU 5 of their largest margin of defeats ever. It should never have been run considering the Broncos are 6-52 against the Zags this century.
I can imagine Mark Few seeing this ad & channeling his inner Don Draper and saying I don’t think about the Broncos at all.
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While we have gotten them once in each of the last two years, which is nice, I agree it was very premature.
A program’s culture is not a building. SMC has fostered a winning culture in a gym that is not much nicer than Jesuit-Sacramento’s.
If the point was, as the top implies, that Mark Few was wrong about other teams in the league not trying, the implication is even worse - we are trying, and we are still getting absolutely blasted.
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LOL, don’t forget this one either:
OMG, her slo-mo trot is sooooooo cringe 
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Drowning as you cross the Rubicon…yikes!
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That’s the first time I’ve seen that. Oh my gawd talk about cringe
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30 years of no better than a third place finish (but mostly 4th and 5th place finishes), never making the WCC tournament title game, and no trips to the Dance.
Great that we have Podz and Jalen to hang our hats on, but even they didn’t take ua the the promised land.
It’s the hope of seeing the top but the reality of mediocrity that is killing us.
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Agree with Weave…We haven’t been to the dance since 1996.
Bill Clinton was President.
Very few had a mobile phone, let alone a smart phone.
Leavey Center was known as Toso Pavilion.
Bulls won NBA title.
Cowboys won Super Bowl.
I had a full head of hair.
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Well, it is the offseason.
When you haven’t sniffed the NCAA’s in 3 decades, can hardly get beyond round 1 of the NIT, a fan forum can quickly turn into a support group.
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Back on topic (I’ve been as guilty as anyone steering us astray), Jazz Gardner from Pacific is in the portal as is a Vincent Delano from Portland. As best as I can tell, Portland has just three scholarship players for 2025-26 as of today. Poor Pilots, truly.
On the women’s side, Tess Heal, SCU’s leading scorer from last season has entered the portal after a shockingly bad season from the Stanford Cardinal. Maybe she’ll complete the Carlos Stewart boomerang for her senior season?
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Is anybody hearing if we’re targeting any players or if a player has SCU amongst as a finalist? It’s very quiet, while our Jesuit friends up north on the hilltop have been active.
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No idea. Was gonna post something similar before I read your post. Portal closes in two weeks and SCU has been pretty quiet.
I’ve heard that they’ve had at least one player visit the campus but that’s it.
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Former USF guard Mike Sharavjamts aka Mongolian Mike has entered the portal. Started at Dayton, transferred to USF then onto Utah. Now looking for a new school. I can’t imagine playing at 4 schools but it’s kind of becoming the new normal.
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This staff always seems very quiet about recruiting, even with high schoolers. SCU usually has the fewest updates on sites like Verbal Commits, and it seems that the first you hear about a recruit is when they commit.
I’ve looked nervously at the USF commitments, wondering if SCU will be able to keep up. But, as I’ve said before, getting transfer talent is the thing this staff has been best at for the past 4-5 seasons, so I’m willing to trust for now that they are making good moves behind the scenes to find the next Podz (kidding…but we should be so lucky).
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Thought this was interesting. Women’s team signed a 12pt per game scorer from St.Mary’s.
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More power to him, but this is Exhibit A for what is souring me on collegiate sports.