Despite the loss, great season! I concur with many of the comments. Josip played hard tonight, both Justice and Pipes would like for this one be to be a mulligan. Thank you to all three seniors for a fantastic year!
Selfishly, I hope Jalen does return for his senior season, and understand the need to test the waters relative to the NBA.
I know Herb takes his hits from some on this board, but agree with the post that the poor shooting isn’t on him. I’ve never seen anyone give him credit when the shots were falling. Our defense wasn’t the issue tonight, and give some credit to WSU too, their athleticism was on display.
All in all…Solid season and something to build on!! Despite the disappointment tonight, proud to be a Bronco!
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Finally an SCU season that was worth watching. The shooting last night was rough to stomach.
As far as “something to build on,” I have a different take. If Herb is going to build on this season he best have a corral of upperclass transfers/overlooked incoming freshmen that can step right in.
Herb is not dynamic, so it’s not like his on court creativity will change things. He runs the exact same offense and defense night in and night out, and plays maybe 7 guys. He’s set in his ways… none of that will change. If he doesn’t have a stable of transfers this will be by far the high point of his time at SCU. I’m hopeful that SCU becomes transfer U and things only get better my mind thinks we best savor this season as the ones ahead might be rather unpleasant.
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Amen, Pistol. My thoughts exactly.
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After digesting last nights loss, I think Bettererer is probably right. When the shots werent falling, there was nothing else in the tank. WSU had 10 blocks and was much more athletic on the perimeter (granted, plenty of those missed shots were wide open).
Herb is gonna have to improve the Jimmies and Joes to deal with the loss of Vrankic and Justice. Jalen is not on any draft boards for '22 so Im not worried on that front. Let’s see what the transfer portal brings
We looked like a team that played a real game more than a week ago - super rusty (Mar 7). Step slow, tentative, bad passes, hands. Maybe it helped WSU that it played more recently (Mar 11)…who knows.
A Wednesday NIT game would have helped (more time). A Tuesday game gives you 48 hours to travel, prep, play…a home game for the other team. Throw in a time change too…I think that all played into our lack of execution.
That all said, we need to develop an attitude/edge. We had it with Nash & Zurek. They didn’t care who you were, they brought attitude and effort.
Funny story, buddy of mine played hoops at Oregon State. He was late in the rotation, but got to play against SCU at their place (OSU). Upon checking in and sporting a buzz cut, he says Nash welcomed him into the game on a free throw by saying something to the effect “hey guys, lets all say hello to Gomer Pyle!” Classic…
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swig- no time zone change, the entire state of WA (and the N. Idaho panhandle) is in the Pacific time zone.
But I do agree, 48hrs is a short turn around time, neither team is going to come up with anything new/special for the game.
Well, all but a few teams end the year with a loss.
Shoots just didn’t fall.
If Jalen returns to SCU next year, I think Herb can pitch an appealing location for transfers – new practice facility, NIT season, potential NBA caliber teammate in what is clearly a strong league where more than just GU can dance in the same year.
I don’t know the ins and outs of Herb’s career but he seemed to establish consistency at the NIT+ level over multiple years- which is to say, this isn’t the first time he’s replaced production.
Go Broncos. Best year since 2007… it was a good ride.
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Yes, I was referencing the “Spring Forward” time change! I’ve been off because of it…but then again I’m old.
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Attended the game. Painful to watch us go out with a wimper. Basically 48 hrs of good will…make the NIT then get bounced 2 days later and not look good in the process. A missed opportunity to make some noise and maybe get the attention of students, alumni, recruits, etc.
Some random thoughts:
- Was more worried about their leading scorer Flowers and less Roberts but he clearly impressed, bad timing for him to go off on us.
- you see why I highlighted the athletic ability of Abogidi and their frontcourt in general…wish I was wrong about that one as they erased a good 12 to 16 points at the rim.
- I feel really bad for Justice, if it was his last game in Bronco uniform, it was a tough way to end, 0 pts. Kudos to him for really stepping up this season, improving his rebounding significantly as well as his scoring.
- Herb generally doesn’t show a ton of emotion or passion, is mild and selective about getting on the refs…picked a strange time to blow a gasket with WSU starting to go on a run, not a good time to give up two more points. Being at the game I didn’t see a replay, but it was a block/charge call which is always a challenge…I’ve seen a lot worse or missed calls.
- Jalen- hope he returns…this board has focused on him possibly going to the NBA but I think we’re missing a 3rd and even worse scenario…transferring. With Vrankic and Pipes definitely gone and maybe Keyshawn as well, there’s not much of a supporting cast returning for Jalen. I’m optimistic about our group of freshmen but significant improvement from that group isn’t guaranteed…will Jalen want to hang around for what might be a rebuilding year with opposing defenses entirely focused and schemed to stop him with no one else around him to pick up the slack???
- I tend to agree with Bettererer…the only way for Sendek to truly build on this season is to land some very good transfers to replace the guys who are leaving and also hope that Jalen sticks around. Otherwise you lose whatever modest momentum you gained this season and you regress to something that looks more like Sendek’s 3rd season and you’re again waiting a few years for something that might resemble the success of this year.
swig- got it, clearly I’m in a fog from the time change as well.
Bronc, great summary. Strong season tough ending.
I feel like Jalen is pretty level headed and honest with himself Re: all the NBA hype. Maybe IF Keshawn stays and Stewart, Knapper, and Ensminger get help with us getting a strong big in a transfer - Jalen might stay and be the “feature” player on another good team.
The transfer risk is real - natural fit might be Arizona wildcats, near his family and Top program + his brother Cody is on their radar.
He needs to show another breakout season to amp his NBA rep. Where he can do that the best is the big decision. Hope it’s with the Broncos!!!
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I guess transferring is always a possibility (especially if NIL $$$ is involved) for Jalen but probably too risky. No doubt he can start for anyone in the country but it just takes one ball dominant 5 star recruit at an elite program to kind of throw off the mojo and development. I think the much more likely scenario is he works out for every NBA team and someone promises to take him in the first round. If he returns to Santa Clara then I would expect an NCAA appearance.
“If he (Jalen) returns to Santa Clara then I would expect an NCAA appearance.”
You and I have very different thoughts Bob. I think there’s a better than decent chance he returns to SCU, but unless he gets some significant supporting cast (transfers) I don’t see them as anywhere near a tourney team. Honestly, I don’t see them as a .500 club, even with Herb’s generally soft pre-conference scheduling.
Perhaps there are some high quality players incoming that will make all the difference, but I fear this year (concerning transfers and having tons of experienced guys) is the luckiest Herb is gonna get at SCU.
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I agree we need a high impact transfer for the NCAA appearance to happen. Have to think we can get at least 1 major transfer and another rotation guy. I have heard really promising things about Knapper but obviously need to see proof of that first. Stewart taking a big step is also critical. Was looking at Herb’s stats at Arizona State and he had Top 40 defenses nationally several years but agree he has not really cracked the code on defense with his personnel at Santa Clara …and I assume he knows that is the end of the court where we need to see substantial improvement.
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