Stewart started and played 22mins with 9pts and 4rebs in LSU’s blowout win over Miss Valley St.
Braun came off the bench for #1 Kansas and had 10pts, 5rebs, 3 assists and a block.
Jaden started for Seton Hall, played 19mins with 4pts, 5rebs and a block in their modest win over St. Peter’s.
That’s a nice stat line for Braun. Based on the box score, he was the first player off the bench. I don’t know if Jayhawks held anyone out due to injury, but Braun’s impact this year may be greater than I thought personally.
Thanks 92bronc!
Happened to catch LSU/Syracuse tonight. Looks like an absolutely terrible fit for Carlos Stewart from a basketball perspective. In the last 4 games he has scored a grand total of 10 points despite playing over 20 minutes a game. He just kind of floats around the perimeter on a bad Power 5 team with no point guard and selfish players. Appears to have lost his confidence.
Jaden is playing very well for Seton Hall. They are probably at best an NIT team but Bediako is providing them a solid double double threat every night.
Parker is only getting a few minutes a night for Kansas but they might win a national title so no shame in that.
Giordan Williams is averaging 3.3 pts for Montana in 21 minutes. Jacob Holt is averaging 4.3 points for Sacramento State in 13 minutes.
Are players (sorry “student athletes”) allowed to transfer back to a school?
Kidding aside, hope Carlos finds his way - he was able to go back home and play for probably his dream school. That’s an ideal scenario we can supply a former bronco.
We’ve gotten lucky in the transfer portal both with our imports (Podz, Bal, etc etc), but our exports have also shone well on SCU by providing players the opportunity to go to the next level - NBA or power 5 school.
But the grass isn’t always greener and that’s a very difficult decision to make to; one that you’ll never really know the answer to.
Saw Bediako last night vs #6 Baylor. He played well, looks like he’s calmed down a bit and they (Seton Hall) are leveraging his mobility. If he perfects a jump hook he would be unstoppable assuming he can muscle into position. Happy for him!
Saw Braun too, decent night with 10 minutes on the floor.
I think I’m having a conversation with myself on this one, but it is fun to keep on eye on our transfers from last year. Looks like Stewart is out with an injury, hasn’t seen any minutes in last couple of games and was listed as such. I think his season has been a bummer for him so far. Too bad.
Braun played well in a win vs. Cincy this week. He got around 10 minutes which is 2x his norm. Definitely a roll player now behind 1st rounder in Dickenson (who had some foul trouble), does the little things but doesn’t score much. Side note: Kansas has a freshman who is now starting (Furphy). His sister plays soccer at SCU! Kid is REALLY good…and as I understand it, he reclassified over the summer to be eligible to play college ball. He is from Australia, and over the summer @ NBA Int’l Academy games in ATL, was offered by KU. His lone offer to that point was…SAC STATE! Stingers Up! Now starts at Kansas. Maybe we can get him to transfer to be with his sister.
Seton Hall is a pretty solid team, #60 on KenPom. They have Bediako playing well, using his mobility quite well on defense. He’s been hard hedging the ball on the pick & roll and, at least last game, it was really effective. He’s fast enough to recover and get back into position. Really happy for him, seems to have settled down his happy feet and under more control when shooting. and really excelling in the rebounding column.
Any updates on how Jacob Holt is doing at Sacramento. I have kind of lost track of all our guys. Thanks for the summary.
I don’t think Holt is enjoying the success he hoped for in my opinion.
I did catch a game recently vs. Idaho State, and Holt was the lone defender on a 1 on 1 breakaway against M. Tomley - and he blocked the shot. I think they may have shared some laughs on that one.
Appreciate the updates…I did see where Miguel Tomley is averaging around 10 ppg on a bad Idaho St team.
Nonetheless, it is good to see former Broncos doing well elsewhere.
I don’t know what Holt’s expectations were but he’s doing fine IMO…playing much more than he did or would have as a Bronco, about 16mins/game. Was starting but now coming off the bench, 6.2 pts, 4.8rebs a game, 12 blocked shots…solid #'s given the playing time. Also shooting 60% on FG, significant improvement from SCU, and 69% FT’s. Sac St. isn’t very good, 6-14, 2-5 in the Big Sky.
Tomley has averaged about 11.5pts on 35/36% shooting from 3 each of the past two seasons, starting and playing 25-30mins/game. Idaho St. also isn’t great, 7-13, 2-5 in the Big Sky.
And one more Bronco in the Big Sky…Giordan Williams is at Montana. Had a rough start to the season but has slowly improved. Has been very up/down with a couple of double digit scoring games including a high of 17 but also several 0-2pts games. Averaging 5.3pts, 3rebs, 28% from 3. 3pt shooting was his biggest contribution and strength as a Bronco, just under 40% for his career but has struggled at Montana. Maybe still working off the rust from his knee injury after sitting out a year. His team is doing much better…13-7 overall, 4-3 in the Big Sky.
So sad - we could have really used Carlos this year
Carlos…obviously, he had a very good season for us last year and was a talented player. But if he stays, someone else doesn’t transfer here, Bal or Bryan or Benjamin, maybe 2 out of 3 of them.
So at the end of the day I’m not sure it’s a net loss.
Carlos was only a part time PG for us, shared the duties with Podz and Carlos was really more of combo guard, shoot first guy. He probably would have helped with some of our PG issues at the beginning of the season but things have somewhat settled down there w/ Knappers play the last month. The team wide turnovers and occasional offensive issues (too much 1on1 and early 3’s) is more a result of the design of the offense and less on the PG’s.
It is a bummer for Carlos and I wonder if his knee issue(s) flared up. I recall he had an issue late in HS and again the offseason of 2022 (sat out the Euro tour games).
I agree with Hayward. Stewart had rare physical talent and at times was simply unstoppable. I like Knapper, but Carlos had a different gear.
Carlos has a very strong lower body to complement his strong upper body. I feel like his lower body strength is a contributor to his good ball-caretaking skills. Plus, he is better than any of our current PGs at driving to the hoop for layups.
I had heard that Carlos left largely for NIL reasons and that LSU has one of the largest NIL war chests in the country. If that’s all true, I don’t think SCU can compete with money + hometown. But if Carlos wants a do-over, I would have him back in a second.
I thought his move to LSU had more to do with being closer to his family…foggily remember something about a family member who was in poor health? I could be wrong about that.
I remember that was the case for the British recruit we had for like half a season… Walters or something was his name?
Jaden Bediako flourishing at Seton Hall…
A great feature about JB. Hard work and perseverance pay off.
Great find!
I enjoyed this nugget from the article:
"Tarry Upshaw, who coached Bediako throughout high school, said he foresaw a breakout.
“I told him, ‘The physicality of the Big East will help your game,’” Upshaw said. “When he was out west, you really couldn’t touch people. Their forwards are all pick-and-pop, Euro league kind of guys. You get Big J popping out to 18-20 feet, that’s not his comfort zone. At Seton Hall, the big guys get the ball inside. There’s grinding.”"
Also, this:
Over four years at Santa Clara, Bediako shot 54 percent from the free-throw line.
“I got on him about it,” Davis said. “I asked him, ‘How did you maintain your good grades way they were?’ He said, ‘I worked at it.’ I said, ‘Well, if you keep at this, over time your muscle memory will get better.'”
Davis tasked him with shooting 300 free throws per day: 100 in the morning, 100 in the afternoon and 100 at night. Bediako didn’t understand why it was split up that way. After a while, Davis showed him the data: His percentage plummeted in the evening session. Worn down by long days, he’d lose focus.
It was a lesson in consistency, and Bediako took note. So far this season he’s shooting 73 percent from the line. He’s also averaging career bests in scoring (9.1 points per game), rebounding (7.7), blocks (1.9) and field-goal percentage (.587). That kind of across-the-board spike is rare for an up-transfer.
“I’ve never been in the gym this much,” he said.