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)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.