The Far Too Early 2026-27 Outlook

Really hope we can keep Bukky. Replacing rim protection is much harder than replacing guards in my opinion. I was behind our defensive hoop in the first half of the Kentucky game and you could see the Kentucky players thinking twice when getting near the rim. I know he was foul prone but for a guy basically playing his first year of D1 basketball, I liked what I saw.

Bukky and Jake plus what we have announced returning should be good enough to win the league if you can get at least one impactful transfer.

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Bob- totally agree on Bukky. Some of the silly fouls and resulting foul trouble were frustrating but he’s a unique talent that you don’t see often on mid-major programs. An athletic rim protector and perfect pick/roll lob target….those are combinations of talents in short supply and that can’t be easily developed.
Some people may focus on the talent areas lacking or lack of low post moves or whatever but numerous players have made long NBA careers with just those specific talents……DeAndre Jordon, Clint Capela, etc. Those guys rarely make a bucket beyond 5 ft and don’t possess great back to the basket low post skills or footwork….but they’ve been in the NBA 10+ years….teams didn’t keep them around hoping they’d turn in to Jokic or Embid, they use and take advantage of what they can do.

IMO, despite the numerous lob dunks and lobs over the top of the D, I still don’t think we used Bukky enough on O. We had the one set we used the first play of the game early in the season, then pivoted to using it one other time in the game often coming out of timeout. Then we’d see an occasional lob opportunity off a pick/roll. But we should have had three or four sets meant to open up the same in result scoring opportunity….Bukky with an above the rim opportunity. He’s such a long target that there are way opportunities and easier for guards to hit him compared with trying to run the same actions with Graves, or past bigs like Tilly and Vrankic (both below the rim guys who don’t elevate well).

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Bukky is unique and is a matchup nightmare. I am well documented for stating this. He has explosive athleticism and a specific skill set. Not inly is he a rim protector and a steady lob threat, Bukky is a reliable free throw shooter. Early in the year his spot up 3 shot from the top of the key has potential. However I believe there is room for development here; free throw ability is usually a measure of a shooters capability and I think that could mean positive things for a spot up perimeter 3 once in awhile. Looking forward to Bukky developing more he is still raw around the edges; while he fouls in that hedge he also gets a good number of steals too hoping to see him improve here as well. If he gets stronger and develops a post move to go to against 1:1 coverage that could be huge benefits. Can’t wait!

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Agreed - tons to like about Bukky physically. Most important will be to find his ON switch.

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Lets retool, give me Colby Garland to run the 2 and Jaeden Reid to run the 1. Two Guards that allow the redshirts/underclass rotational players to grow into their roles. These two are realistic options that could give us a strong balanced feel on both sides without reaching and overspending.

1.) Jaeden Reid (Northwestern)

2.) Colby Garland (San Jose State)

3.) Gehrig Normand

4.) Jake Ensminger

5.) Bukky Oboye

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https://x.com/Joe_NPH/status/1987617991140295124

This highlight displays how athletic Eli Jolin is.

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I’d have to say ā€œWowā€ twenty times for the required characters Quite impressive

Wow!

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Will be interesting to see what the coaches do with Alex Ensor next year. He has Bukky’s same 7’4" inch wingspan to go along with a 36 inch vertical. The one thing everyone mentions when writing or talking about Ensor is that he runs like a deer. If Redshirting is no longer a thing, do you still let him sit out the entire year so he can just focus on getting better and not worry about immediate results? Or do you hope to have him ready to be an impact player by conference play? Of course if he flashes any potential, he will have a long list of suitors in the off-season.

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If players are patient, the formula worked for graves

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https://x.com/SantaClaraHoops/status/2045205385745994021

Badibanga returning.

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Highlight reels are always that, so they need to be taken with reserve. That said, watching a big chase-down and shot block players is impressive. He indeed runs like the proverbial deer, and seems willing to mix it up. I’m guessing his role will depend in part with who returns, but the size, motor and athleticism are encouraging.

it would have been interesting to watch him hedging or defending in space, but he seems pretty mobile, too.

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Wasn’t sure where to put this, so putting here for now:

https://x.com/YahooSports/status/2046430785289224223?s=20

Bumping this as the latest status…

In my eyes

Starters:

Pg - Longcor

Sg - sash

Sf - Ensminger

Pf - Tadjo

C - Francis/gueye

6th men - Cochran, Darlan, Francis/gueye

Broncos like to play 5 out, so I’m going to start Darlan and bring Tadjo in off the bench.

Are we positive that Darlan is staying? I say that because we haven’t heard a confirmation from him. I saw that Normand went into the portal today. We hadn’t heard from him either.

I mean, Darlan has like 110 minutes to declare if he’s really going to transfer. He could, in theory, decide to go pro. But he wants the NBA, and he isn’t close to that absent a great year in college next year. We knew about Normand a couple of days ago, though it’s buried in the chain a bit at this point.

Thanks Pattymac. Just saw the Normand thing tonight so I’m late to the party. Given that he didn’t play at all this year, I’m surprised (although I did see the post a couple of days ago that the coaching staff was disenchanted with him but did offer him a little dough). As for Darlan, he could use an off-season of coaching. Since he’s already established in the rotation, it would seem to make most sense for him to stay at SCU. Anyplace else he would have to prove it to get minutes. Maybe he has a great season and we get to see what the buzz might be about. I like his flashes of talent and would love to see him become a player.

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Oh, and I read that the portal closed at 11:59 p.m. eastern time.

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Ah yep. Forgot the time zone aspect. No more transfers out, thank goodness.

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We’re going to be good.