I wanted to start this thread for prognostications on post-season WCC Awards just for some water cooler-style forum talk. Maybe premature and obviously speculative, but that’s what our forum is all about.
But also, I think Allen Graves has a real shot at WCC Freshman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. His main competition would be the certifiably-electric Joel Foxwell from Portland who has more Freshman-of-the-Week awards but is arguably less impactful on the whole. Controlling for conference games, Graves is the 4th most efficient player in the WCC (after only Murauskas, Ike, and Dent). Foxwell is 15th, behind fellow frosh Dillan Shaw and Ace Glass.
You also have to think that if SCU finishes 2nd (or better…) that Sendek gets the nod for COY.
With Graves racking up the accolades I hope we’re scrapping together the dollars and cents to keep him. Same with Hammond.
I love Graves but NBA draft talk feels a bit premature to me. He still needs to expand his offensive game including midrange. And while is 3pt shooting has been solid, it has been on low volume so hard to know if it’s sustainable and translates to the NBA distance.
And depending on position I do question whether his size and athleticism translates to the NBA…..he’s on the small side for an NBA center and as a ‘4’ he’s not as athletic as most of the guys he’d face. In other words kind of a tweener without a clear position fit, those types sometimes struggle to land a roster spot. That’s my scouting report.
More importantly, I’m just glad he’s a Bronco and love what he provides this team right now.
I was listening to NBA Analyst Sam Vecenie on his Substack, He concluded that Graves will play in the NBA but thought he was probably a year away. Also mentioned that if he were to enter the portal then Duke, Kansas, and every team in the country should want him. Does not view him as a wing defender but more of a 4/small 5. I have no idea what our NIL budget is going forward but we clearly made smart decisions not overpaying complimentary pieces like Bryan and Tilly. However, the “franchise guys” like Hammond and Graves are going to be worth it unless they get something that simply can’t be matched by us.
Agree with all of the above. If your Graves, Hammond, Bukky, Sash, etc, they all want to play in front of big crowds at home and play in the NCAA tourney and continue to showcase their games. Things so far not available at SCU. If we fall short this year, they “might” want to stay together with additions of Normand, Tadjo, Francis - and the new recruits would make our best roster by far in the Sendek tenure. With Gonzaga gone , it opens up the top slot in the WCC for some team to claim and make the tourney. SCU has proven it’s a great place to showcase talent vs transfer where it’s easy to get lost in the power conferences.
IF they don’t want to pursue the above option here, Nil money won’t keep them here.
The “MANY” fundraisers at SCU need to find 5 Mil or so to keep this roster together. Now is the time to make this move like Gonzaga did in the late 90’s and get on a multi year Tourney run. Dreams……
Graves and Foxwell share the WCC Frosh of the Week honors. Graves ties Podziemski as the Broncos player with the most weekly honors in a season (4). And I think that record will belong to Allen Graves outright by the end of the season.
I think the shared award is right for this week. It’s hard not to honor the undeniable hero of Portland slaying Goliath, even though I think Graves’s performance is “better” overall. Graves and Gavalyugov are so deeply embedded in the lineup that I often forget that both are freshmen (though both redshirted last season). Add in Cochran, and this has to be SCU’s best frosh class…ever?
Throwing out one from my dad’s era - were Kurt Rambis, Londale Theus and Mark McNamara all freshman the same year?? That would be my best riposte, and I think one was a year younger.
Freshman year in 1978 I stood in line in the morning to get season tickets for students sections. Fun times. Great crowds in Toso. Lots of talent. Just couldn’t win the league. USF loaded. Probably Pepperdine. UNR may have been in the league that year. Seattle maybe?
Graves wins another WCC Frosh of the Week award. It’s Allen’s third straight week as Freshman of the Week and his fourth in the past five weeks.
Graves has now won/shared the award five times this season. He’s one shy of Portland’s Joel Foxwell (6 total), but it’s hard for me to see Foxwell being Freshman of the Year over Graves considering how much more efficient and impactful on both ends Graves is. Per Torvik, Graves has been the third-best WCC player in conference games overall (behind only Ike and Murauskas).
Ok, random Saturday afternoon thought while I am waiting for the USF tilt. I wonder what the return on investment is for having a player go to the NBA directly from your school. In these days of crazy stupid NIL payments, I wonder if there is a case to be made for digging deep to pay a player such as Graves because of the notoriety he would bring the school (both short term and long term). We have seen what SCU has done to take advantage of Jalen and Podz success. I have to guess it has various financial benefits to have these athletes associated with your school versus transferring out before going pro.
Gotta pay in order of priority: 1) Graves, 2) Hammond.
After that a big drop IMO to the next tier to invest in: 1) Jake, 2) Bukky, 3) Cochran, 4) Tadjo, maybe 5) Sash. And a wild card is Tadjo….if we lose Graves, seems you have to elevate him in the pecking order as we desperately need a physical/tough post player in the mix…..we see the value Graves provides in that regards whereas it was lacking in 23/24 and 24/25. And it isn’t Bukky’s forte with his thin build, and Jake is more of 3 / 4 tweener who can only do so much on the interior with his modest size/length and somewhat limited athleticism.
Agree with this almost to a T. Gehrig is the other wildcard - him and Tadjo will be a really interesting study into if students will stick another season after a full year of injuries or rehab and go chase the next NIL.
Agree on both Tadjo and Normand. Both were fairly highly rated out of HS and landed at power conference schools. I have to believe that decent NIL offers were part of the equation in landing them…..do you continue or even increase their NIL??? vs. investing in guys who proved their significant worth (Graves & Hammond), reward a loyal vet like Jake, or increase your investment in the other young, high ceiling guys who have contributed (Bukky, Cochran).
Not easy decisions tho make and like last year w/ Tilly, one or more the guys mentioned above are likely to get offered an amount we either can’t afford to match or that we think is simply unwarranted within the overall priorities. Broncos have to take a Moneyball approach.
