i’ve heard they’re crafting something
SMC has been back since Tuesday and were locked into a tournament slot no matter what. We just returned today and things like this take approval from multiple parties on how it will be executed, given it is the first time in a while. Give it ~24hrs
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Totally understand and glad it’s in the works.
I’ll likely come down from the City and attend.
My real qualm was just that the recap of the Tournament Championship didn’t even have a line like “The Broncos will now see if their name gets called on Selection Sunday.”
Hopefully Santa Clara and Selection Sunday become a well oiled machine!
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The Watch Party is Sunday in Leavey, starting at 2:30. Check the website for more details.
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“Largest estimated NIL / roster-spend gaps in the Round of 64 
#7 Kentucky — $20M
#10 Santa Clara — $2.8M
Gap: $17.2M
#1 Duke — $12M
#16 Siena — $650K
Gap: $11.35M
#4 Arkansas — $11.5M
#13 Hawai‘i — $1.2M
Gap: $10.3M
#4 Kansas — $9.5M
#13 Cal Baptist — $1M
Gap: $8.5M
#2 Purdue — $8.8M
#15 Queens — $700K
Gap: $8.1M
#3 Illinois — $8.8M
#14 Penn — $900K
Gap: $7.9M
#5 Wisconsin — $8.2M
#12 High Point — $800K
Gap: $7.4M
#3 Gonzaga — $5.5M
#14 Kennesaw State — $800K
Gap: $4.7M
(Estimated roster spend including NIL + revenue share)”
I’m still dreaming of a ‘wake up’ year for SCU where we finally commit the resources to match our potential—specifically in basketball. Playing ‘money ball’ has been impressive, but to truly compete with the giants, we have to start spending like them. This shouldn’t just be seen as an expense; it’s an investment in the university’s brand that will pay dividends for years to come.
This is the moment to build on our success and stake our claim.
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This is a tweet from a guy with 200 followers. It’s funny that someone can just write “sports insider” in their biography and start firing off whatever they please.
SCU is closer to $5m, from what I understand. Still a big gap, but it’s UK’s relative underachievement that jumps off the page at me. They’re getting the same seed as little ol’ Saint Mary’s College after spending $20m+?
I think we will see continued emphasis with respect to SCU hoops following this year’s success.
But I do hasten to add that our NIL budget, which is not inclusive of the coaching staff budget nor the significant expense associated with assembling a schedule that can get an at large bid, and our practice facility and (despite our gripes) arena are a significant commitment already.
We’ve been investing, and this is the first significant dividend - and I think it will spur more investment.
I’ve also heard that the AD understands the implication for Allen transferring to a bigger school to raise his stock, and, should he not go to the NBA, is prepared to make a competitive commitment in NIL to have him return to SCU. I’m not saying we can beat every offer (look again at Kentucky’s budget), but I think we’re in pretty strong shape (though I have no knowledge of his mindset).
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Here’s a report on SCU Graves and other Broncos NBA opportunities and skill sets. If Graves falls to the second round there “might” be a savior to bring him back to SCU to refine his strength and skills. IF, he’s 2nd round the powers inside the athletics dept. believe he would stay at SCU - he loves it here and what the staff has done for him.
You can read about Kentucky as well if you look up No Ceilings blog…
The Santa Clara Broncos have yet another NBA prospect. This time, it’s 6’9” redshirt freshman Allen Graves, who ranked 39th on our last board. Graves is probably the most talked-about prospect in niche scouting circles this cycle. He’s shown pretty much everything you could want in a role player this year. He drills threes (41.6% from three on 6.7 attempts per 100 possessions), cleans up on the glass (13.8 DRB%, 20.0 DRB%), makes great decisions quickly (14.1 AST%), and uses his blend of length and feel to create events defensively (5.0 STL%, 4.9 BLK%). It is exceptionally rare for any player, especially an underclassman, to be so productive in so many different areas.
So, what’s the risk? My first concern with Graves is that he’s more of an eater than a chef. All of his threes have been assisted, and he hasn’t hit a mid-range pull-up this season. Synergy has only logged 12 total isolation possessions and two pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions for him this season. He’s unbelievable at the complementary aspects of offense, and he does generate extra possessions on the glass, but he’s far more play-finisher than playmaker. He’s a bit heavy on his feet laterally, and how he measures will determine whether or not minutes at the five are viable. I also wonder whether he’s a genuine knockdown shooter, as we’re dealing with a small sample size from three (89 total attempts), and he’s just okay at the line (73.6%). He also has a low release point.
Personally, Graves is the type of guy I’m willing to swing pretty high on. I’m not as big a fan as his strongest advocates, as I don’t think he has the juice to become a top-three offensive option on a high-end team. But I do think he might be awesome everywhere. I want an elite fourth or fifth option to be awesome. He’s a decisive shooter, a razor-sharp connective passer, a super competitive rebounder, and a potent defensive playmaker with tons of length and strength at his disposal. I love to apply what I call “The 5-S Test,” which checks whether I think a player has the size, strength, savvy, skill, and shooting to play an NBA role. Allen Graves might be a 5-S player, and you don’t want to put a 5-S player too far down your board.
6’7” senior Elijah Mahi is a name to know, too. He’s well-built and extremely powerful, but has the handle, footwork, and passing ability of a much smaller player. He’s also gotten better defensively with regard to his on-ball footwork and off-ball attentiveness this season. Mahi is a bit ground-bound inside, and his shooting indicators are a mixed bag. Still, I like him as a two-way contract target. 6’4” redshirt sophomore Christian Hammond has been great this year, piecing teams up with his pull-up scoring. He’s not much of an athlete in terms of downhill speed or explosiveness, and his playmaking isn’t anything to write home about. If he can become more of a lead guard, he could get looks. 7’1” redshirt sophomore Bukky Oboye is rail thin, but he’s a super mobile defender who can jump out of the gym. He’s a standard dunks-and-blocks big, but if he adds a playmaking wrinkle, that could go a long way in compensating for his frame.
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One of the impressive components of this run is that Herb and SCU gradually upgraded the schedule.
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Let’s hope this NCAA tourney appearance as an at-large bolsters Sendek’s attempts to schedule games against quality opponents from high-major conferences.
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Maybe it’s a little early to call, bit I imagine this “run”—regardless of tomorrow’s outcome—is a massive win for the brand. It’s not just about recruiting future Bronco athletes; it’s about those high schoolers dreaming of a well-rounded college experience.
Think about it: Competitive academics, a beautiful campus, strong social scene, and a prime Silicon Valley location—all paired with a Top-40 basketball program? That is a juicy pitch for any student.
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I believe admissions decisions came out yesterday! Good timing.
It’ll be interesting to see the outcome in terms of twitter and instagram followers, new basketball ticket holders, and so on.
Day of Giving coming up soon…
Win a game tomorrow and I think impact gets pretty large.
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We have been going hard on social all year but especially this past month. I believe we have the best social media team in the conference by far. And as of this week, we just passed up SMC for total IG followers (take a look at their content to see the huge difference in quality - graphics, photos, and videos).
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There’s only one Santa Clara. This time it’s us!
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Really hope the school understands the gravity of the opportunity and capitalize with proper funding. Do we have an NIL collective to contribute to? Our matchup was the largest NIL gap between the 32 R1 games. It can’t be a lack of resources, but a lack of allocation. 1.5bn endowment rivals many P5s.
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I have to think that after 15+ years of hearing the loud chorus of “we squandered the Nash years,” plus the Blue Ribbon Commission that studied the “Gonzaga model” in depth, it’s almost certain that the Admin intends to double and triple down now.
That doesn’t mean immediate, sustained success at the NCAA Tournament level. But just look at the regression line on Torvik for SCU for the last 15 years. It’s going exactly the direction you would want. This year they finally broke through. The next 2-3 seasons will determine if they can lock in a new baseline level of success.
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This comment probably won’t get many likes from other members, but we can’t rely solely on the university. If we truly want to sustain a successful basketball team we have to recognize the agency we have. The university isn’t gonna plunder the Endowment to fund the basketball team. We’re gonna have to donate money and get our fellow alums to donate money. And it can’t be a one time donation. It’s gotta be multi-year commitments to routinely field an NCAA tournament team. Personally I’m in year 3 of a 5 year commitment.
The University, Athletics and us as fans cannot rely on the same 10-12 families to donate for capital projects and fund the basketball team. It’s gotta be a contribution from all interested parties. If we want the University to step up we as fans have to as well.
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Agreed. See my comment above, do we have an NIL collective to contribute to? Messaging hasn’t been particularly clear. Wishing we had FOB at the helm
This is my understanding and I could be wrong. At one time SCU did have a collective whether or not it still exists idk. Collectives were setup as a way to pay players prior to the House Settlement. Universities could not pay athletes directly hence collectives were setup to collect donations to pay the athletes. They were “independent” from the institution. SCU’s collective was setup in such a way that you could donate to Special Olympics and they paid the athletes for appearances. It was done this way cuz donations to collectives were not tax-deductible but a donation to Special Olympics was. Payments from collectives had to be in exchange for something they weren’t simply for playing the sport.
That all changed with the House Settlement. This allows Institutions to pay an athlete directly and for playing the sport. Due to this a lot of collectives just ceased to exist. This is where you might have heard the salary cap of $22 million. That’s the amount a school can pay athletes across sports.
NIL is completely different tho it’s all lumped together. NIL is something like all the commercials the Boozer twins are in. They may each get $3 million from Duke but could be making $5 million in NIL deals from various companies. From my understanding there is not a limit on an athlete’s potential NIL earnings. However all contracts for NIL have to be approved by an NCAA clearinghouse to ensure they are above board and it’s not a way to circumvent the $22 million cap.
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@LucasLandon You’ve explained the changes with collectives and the House settlement in exactly the way that I understand it.
Do you know if the Gonzaga-rule about keeping Tournament revenue is still in place? And if so, what exactly is the rule? What I remember is that a school that plays an NCAA Tournament game other than the autobid gets to keep a large percentage of the revenue.
With SCU’s tournament appearance being worth something like $2 million (paid out over 6 years), any portion of that is a decent shot in the arm for revenue share/program funding.