Santa Clara Preview in the Offseason

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Long time no see everyone! Just wrapped up my Santa Clara career and graduated the other week and could not be more thrilled with my time on campus.

That doesn’t mean we stop talking Santa Clara hoops. I got to go on Zack Farmer’s Unofficial WCC podcast the other day to talk the Broncos (18 minute mark onwards) SCU WCC Pod

(admittedly had brain fog on omitting Cam Tongue as someone to watch who makes winning plays, that’s on me after singing his praises then just forgetting)

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That’s okay. We want him to stay under the radar until our first game and opponents are like “where the heck did he come from?”

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Great work, Thomas.

A dumb hill that I will die on is that SCU was better than USF last year. They traded games, but SCU led the majority of both and by quite a lot in the first outing on the Hilltop. Only a questionable ejection of Tilly and some late game heroics saved USF there.

I fully expect SCU to be a full tier better than USF this season and will be disappointed if they don’t deliver.

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I believe the broncos were ultimately without 5 players in that game. Bal was out to start, BK got injured during the game, and then 3 ejections (CMJ, Tilly and one other). And then there was the crap call at the very end. Very entertaining, nonetheless!

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Jaylen Benjamin was the 3rd player tossed. I don’t recall them being very much in the game when they came to Santa Clara to play. If memory serves me - we pretty much had control of that entire game.

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Good to see some “old” Broncos back on campus scrimmaging with the team.

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Coach Sendek has given a couple interviews with smaller YouTube outlets that cover college basketball. Ken Cross interviewed him last year, and it’s worth listening for a couple minutes just to appreciate his goofy laid-back Southern style.

The main previews are still about 2 months away, so this is what we’ve got for now.

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Herb never fails to impress with his humility, intelligence, and caring for the guys. The return of all the players can be attributed to his leadership, though he would never agree with that. A class act.

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It’s fine; we want him unnoticed until the first game.
The goal is to surprise opponents with his sudden impact.

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Power rankings article from SI via one of the Gonzaga Nation guys (clearly, since the Zags section is more than twice as long as the others). More off season fodder:

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Other teams will try to get Cam out of there with fouls as soon as possible when they see what he does. He changes the game, Go Cam! .

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They can try. But his footwork has really gotten to a new level this summer. So it’s going to be tougher.

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That is great because we need him and if I were an opponent he is the first player I would try to get off the floor. I am so absolutely thrilled that he stayed with us. A great player and great young man.

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Preview season is beginning in full. Here’s a decent one I came across. It doesn’t have anything groundbreaking for folks on this board, though the writer (justifiably) hypes up Mahi who is a big x-factor going into this season.

Check it out. Three Man Weave should have their podcast preview out soon. I’ll link it whenever they post it.

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The Three Man Weave preview is out! This is probably the best free college basketball preview out there. This year, they are shifting their operations to a pay-for-entry forum/server for all read materials. I think it’s $6 per month if anyone is interested.

But the podcast preview has posted to YouTube and Spotify. They project the order as I would: Zags, SMC, SCU, and USF at the top. Then Wazzu and LMU. Then some mix of Oregon State, an improved Pacific, and Portland. San Diego and Pepperdine are at the bottom.

Notably, they are quite excited about the Broncos this year, citing the depth of talent and return of a quick dribble drive scorer in Carlos Stewart. The addition of Elijah Mahi also gets a shout out. They believe that the ceiling is an NCAA bid and the floor is the NIT. Let it be so.

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Overall good but a few misses including the Matt dude re: the return of Carlos Stewart stating he was our best player 2 seasons ago…um, Podz???..league MVP, lottery pick…

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I think that was just a mistake. He mentions Podz at the very end and even at the part you reference, the other hosts seem like they are about to jump in and correct him. His Stewart analysis is right otherwise.

And hey, much respect to these guys not just trying to skim KenPom or Torvik rankings and spin it into a preview, which is what most previews do. The fact that they jump SCU up two spots from the Torvik rankings (Santa Clara is currently 5th) and mention 6-7 Santa Clara players, including basic qualities and potential is all pretty darn good for three guys trying to cover all 350+ D1 basketball teams.

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For the next ~2months we will hear about: 1) strong depth, 2) significant # of returning/experienced players.

But IMO there are also some critical question marks:

  1. Can Tilly and O’Neil improve their physicality and toughness? That’s particularly important against some of the better bigs in the league such as Ike and Saxon.
  2. Bal’s growth and improvement. Can Bal improve his offensive consistency and avoid killing the ball and player movement on O with too much 1on1 iso ball? He needs to step up more consistently against the top opponents. He frequently disappeared against better teams and wilted against physical defenses such as SMC.
  3. Can Sendek actually take full of advantage of our supposed depth? We were deep last season as well but the depth primarily benefitted the Broncos when someone was out short term with an injury (Tilly, Marshall, Bal each missed a game or two, Knapper missed ~10 games). But when all or most guys were healthy, I don’t feel like Sendek fully took advantage of the depth.
  4. Can Stewart return to the player he was for the Broncos in 2022/23? He missed a lot of games w/ injury at LSU, and struggled when he did play. He has dealt with several injuries over his career; is he damaged goods or diminished physically? That’s a concern for an undersized guard who relies so heavily on his elite athleticism.
  5. Knapper is the only true point guard on the roster. I suspect Stewart gets the start at PG but he’s more of combo guard, shoot first guy. Lack of consistent play and contributions from a true point guard or playmaker was one our weaknesses last season and IMO contributed to the high TO’s and often sloppy play on offense.

Not a concern, more of curiosity as is usual in most seasons…who starts and gets the most PT. I feel like Tilly, O’Neil and Bal are near locks to start, Stewart probably is as well if he’s healthy. So who starts at the final guard/wing spot? Bryan or Mahi? Or does someone like Ensminger suprise and sneak in the starting lineup.?

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would love to see O’Neil back on the wing where he is more comfortable and Tongue in the 4.

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This is the most important question of all of the ones you’ve listed. We need to be able to bang inside if we want to climb into the next echelon of college basketball. We can’t just rely on Tongue to be physical.

I watched a good chunk of Mahi’s play in the state JC championship tournament. From what I saw, he is a very good ball handler. And despite being a prolific scorer, he showed off some crisp passing.

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