With Giordan moving on as expected, thought I would try and figure out our total number of scholarship players next year. Each school gets 13 scholarship players but the “Covid year” makes things complicated. I thought Covid 5th year seniors did not count towards that number but it looks like that might have been a one year thing.
This is what I have so far. Obviously there are some big question marks at the bottom.
1 Christian Hammond - Freshman
2 Luke McEldon Freshman
3 Jake Ensminger - RS Freshman
4 Christoph Tilly - Sophomore
5 Kosy Akametu - Sophomore
6 Brenton Knapper - RS Sophomore
7 Carlos Stewart - Junior
8 Camaron Tongue - Junior
9 Jacob Holt - Junior
10 Brandin Podziemski - Junior ??? Maybe NBA?
11 Parker Braun - 5th Year Senior ???
12 Jaden Bediako - 5th Year Senior???
13 Carlos Marshall Jr - Graduate ??? People on the board seem to think he is moving on.
By all rights, he could retain his final year of eligibility due to the injury that he suffered fairly early in the season. Plus, which graduate program at SCU can be completed in just one year? I would guess that most require two years at least, but am not intimately familiar with the graduate degrees at SCU.
I expect we will be active in the transfer portal, which means there will be an additional departure or two with Podz not returning in all probability, but I can see 1-2 others moving on.
I look at Jacob Holt who looked promising as a freshman and became somewhat of an afterthought this season, largely due in part to the emergence of Tilly and solid minutes from Tongue. Marshall is a question mark too.
Broncos need much more out of Bediako and Braun next season. Finding a true #1 at the point thru the portal like PJ Pipes, would seem to be a priority too IMO, to help Carlos and move him over to the off guard. BK had some good minutes this season, but I don’t see him as a starter and time will tell with Hammond.
Bob-
I may be wrong but I believe the 13 scholarship cap waiver (super seniors not counting toward the 13) was only for the 2021/22 season; don’t recall any mention of it this season.
For clarity, the free COVID year for those who were on a roster in 2020/21 continues to apply to individual players. So we’ll continue to see the impact of that on the game for another season or two with guys able to play 5 full seasons as Vrankic and Justice did and if they redshirted somewhere in that mix they could be on a roster for 6 seasons.
In today’s environment each year is pretty much an entity to itself. I like that the NCAA lets the kids transfer one time without any penalty but it does have an effect on continuity and team development.
Basically, you can’t count on anyone beyond the current year. Thinking that you’ll build a program by having guys stay for 4-5 years seems foolish these days. We need the transfer turnstile to keep turning and grab quality talent that way.
I had expected that SCU would better leverage the NIL side of things as that’s another way to secure guys these days… Lord knows we have a lot of rather successful business grads that have stayed near the campus. I don’t think you have to offer the world, but a couple $50K NIL deals would likely bring/retain some big time players that might otherwise not think about SCU.
Stating the obvious but Podz’ decision is the huge wildcard in this roster discussion. Makes a big difference in who you pursue in the transfer portal and who you may be able to land; a higher level 2guard may be reluctant to come if there’s a possibility that Podz returns. I fully expect Podz to declare and test the waters but he could still remove his name from the draft and return to SCU. So we may not have certainty until late May.
Beyond Podz, I expect one of the bigs will not return. They’re all different and all have something to offer but it’s a matter of #'s. With another big, McEldon, that makes for 6 bigs and creates a roster balance issue…6 guys for 2 positions, 7 guys for the other 3 positions. And college hoops is guard dominated, you don’t want to be thin there. Fingers crossed that Tilly and Tongue return…they’re the future to build around IMO.
The other risk for me is Akametu…he seemed to fall out of favor with Sendek the last couple weeks of the season and didn’t play at all in a few games. Obviously he’s raw and needs a lot of work but he has a combination of size and athleticism on the wing that you can’t teach or acquire, so I’m hoping he sticks around and continues to develop his game. But I’m not an insider and don’t know where his head is at.
Looking forward to seeing what Ensminger has to offer, hoping he can be a playmaker off the wing. I have a hard time seeing him being a full time, traditional point guard with his height, quick/athletic point guards might give him trouble.
And Hammond appears to be an elite shooter…maybe he can be the next Brownridge? Yes, that’s a high bar but why not???
Marshall should be eligible to request a medical redshirt. They aren’t automatic and require a request, medical back-up, etc. But I believe the rule is you’re eligible for consideration if you played in less than 30% of your team’s games (so 10 in this case) and suffered a season ending injury.
ie- you play 5 games, then suffer a minor sprained ankle that theoretically would only keep you out a game or two, you can’t sit out the season and try to claim a medical redshirt.
Don’t know Marshall’s medical situation with his shoulder, presumably he would have come back and played had he been cleared to do so.
Not sure how realistic it is (lots of big schools are after him), but one name I have seen mentioned with Santa Clara is Minnesota’s Jamison Battle. Can’t count on any one person replacing Podz, but Battle plus further development from all our young guys would be a really good team.
With Justice gone and possibly Podz, the Broncos could be losing 60% of their 3pt attempts, and 66% of their 3pt makes from this season. The two of them combined put up 13.5 3pt attempts per game. I think any of the scholarship players returning who prove they can reliably make 3pt shots will have to get a major boost in playing time.
Also would be great to get better 3pt production from the 4 or 5 spots.
I’ve mentioned this previously but that’s been one of the misses during Sendek tenure…recruiting a big who’s a reliable and true 3pt threat.
The best so far was Nate Kratch in Sendek’s 1st season but Nate was KK’s recruit and a holdover. I imagine Sendek and staff hoped Vrankic would be that guy; while he made some 3’s, his efficiency was poor (career 29.8%) so defenses didn’t have to honor his shot.
Caruso started to come on late in his final season but then of course turned pro early so we never got to see if he could build on it and become that consistent, reliable threat.
Hoping Tongue or maybe even Tilly can become that guy.
Looks like Podziemski declared for the draft but is leaving his college eligibility open. Too bad, I was hoping for one more year! Best of luck to him!
I have my doubts about Kosy’s long term prospects. Granted, he has excellent size and athleticism. However, he shot 5.9% (not a typo) from 3 point range. In addition, he’s prone to poor decision making on offense (besides all those errant 3 pointers). What may be most concerning is that he didn’t improve during the season. I still have nightmares about his late-in-the-season floater in the key going OVER the backboard.
Agree.
Though I guess it could be interpreted in multiple ways…including: ‘I ain’t done with college basketball’ (could be somewhere other than SCU), or ‘I ain’t done with Bronco basketball’.
If Podz goes pro, Marshall could be needed to help fill the shoes left by Justice and Podz on the wing.
