I thought this might be fun and show a little support for two of our resident podcasters. On Jack and Gavin’s most recent podcast with Anthony Passarelli, each podcaster “drafted” a team of SCU basketball players from the post-COVID era (2021 through present) with the goal of building the best starting five. They also mentioned some of the players who were not drafted that could make their own formidable starting five. So I added a fourth option with those players–with apologies to Parker Braun who was named but didn’t fit.
Here are the teams, as drafted:
| Team Passarelli |
Team Gavin |
Team Jack |
Undrafted All Stars |
| Brandin Podziemski |
Carlos Stewart |
PJ Pipes |
Brenton Knapper |
| Christian Hammond |
Jalen Williams |
Tyeree Bryan |
Adama Alpha Bal |
| Cam Tongue |
Carlos Marshall, Jr. |
Keshawn Justice |
Elijah Mahi |
| Allen Graves |
Jake Ensminger |
Josip Vrankic |
Johnny O’Neil |
| Christoph Tilly |
Jaden Bediako |
Bukky Oboye |
Francisco Caffaro |
Vote for/discuss the best team here:
Pick the best starting five, as drafted on the SCU Hoops Podcast:
- Team Passarelli
- Team Gavin
- Team Jack
- Undrafted All Stars
For my part, I’m torn between the Undrafted All Stars and Team Gavin. I think that the spacing on Team Passarelli would be a hilarious mess. Passarelli’s team is about the grittiest Bronco team that could be drafted from this era. But even the two guards like to work in the paint, and I’m not sure where the room comes from with all that body mass. Team Jack has better balance, but Vrankic + Oboye feels like a lot of creative tension with Vrankic looking for space to crab dribble and draw fouls while Oboye hunts for dunks.
Team Gavin and UAS is razor close for me. I went UAS initially, but I think Team Gavin would have better rebounding and be less streaky on the offensive end.
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My thinking----Podz, Graves, and Tongue would get 75% of the Offensive Rebounds. Hammond, Podz, and Graves would make enough 3s and Tilly could play as more of a finesse big while Graves and Tongue do the dirty work.
2nd choice would be Team Gavin just because the possibility of Jalen completely taking over the game.
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Passarelli’s squad would be a rebounding machine.
I really like Gavin’s team if it’s Carlos Stewart pre-injury.
Nomination for Best Parlor Game 2026. Thanks for posting!
Others on the board would know better than I, but I’ll take a crack at it…
Team G is my pick. Overall balance at each position is strong. Jaden isn’t my favorite 5 in the pool, but good enough to support the other 4.
While I love the backcourt duo of Podz and Hammond on Team P, I just can’t see Cam, Graves and Tilly on the floor at the same time. Maybe 2, but not all three. Love their size and abilities individually, but I can’t help but picture three wrecking balls smashing into each other. Nothing against Cam (loved him!), but Passarelli should have picked Mahi in the three spot IMO to provide more versatility and spacing at the 3.
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From the cheap seats: Brandin (1), Christian (2), Jalen (3) , Allen (4) & Bukky (5) would be my team, with Carlos, Adama, Elijah, Josip/Cam, Christoph off the bench.
Revised: I will take our current team! I believe. Go Broncos.
I think Passarellis team has the best 1,3,4,5 - would be tough to do anything inside against that squad. Would run the pick and role all day with Podz and have Hammond ready to shoot 3s.
Willie Caruso is the only miss that I see on this draft
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I loved Willie. Sad that he jumped ship the season before the Broncos hit a new level. Though I wonder if his departure helped create more space (literally and figuratively) for the offense to flow through Williams and Vrankic.
Sort of similar to Wertz. It seemed like the sky was falling when he transferred. But if he doesn’t leave for ND, do we ever get NBA All Star Jalen Williams?
Also glad there is finally a vote out there for Team Jack. I’m tempted to go full contrarian and switch my vote back to the Undrafted All Stars.