Darlan was a preseason All Conference selection, so he was a bit of a disappointment. I’m hoping he gets on a good offseason program to address a few of his weaknesses. Seems to have achievable upside - and we already know he can shoot.
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Darlan Instagram official. So now it counts.
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Darlan is such a tantalizing prospect, and it was a lot to join the team just a handful of weeks before the season. The NBA frame and athleticism are there. The coordination and systems thinking came more slowly, but he was definitely putting up his best games at the end of the season. So I have high hopes for his growth with a full off-season and a second year in Sendek’s system.
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I am optimistic about Darlan next year. No turnovers in 7 of the last 11 games. He shot 88.6 percent from the Free Throw line (39-44) which is a good predictor that we should see improvement from the 3 point line. Clearly the self creation was a turnover problem but he largely avoided that down the stretch. Maybe he develops that part of his game with a full off-season but if not I am perfectly fine with him being a valuable catch and shoot 3andD guy that gives us needed length.
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I’ll add that he needs to be able to play hard to the whistle but stop hard at the whistle. He was responsible for the lion’s share of the Broncos’ techs last season and probably prompted a few unfavorable calls against the team at other times by talking too much after the play.
I think going from the pros to NCAA ball is a harder adjustment in that way–you can get away with a lot more in the pro game. But adjust he must to be successful and a good teammate.
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I agree with Patty that we hopefully see a more mature Darlan next season. There were times that his emotions were visible when not getting a call, and the unnecessary three pointer at LMU that prompted a heated reply from Lions players and rightfully so.
I’d like to see him get stronger, and become a consistent force on the glass. As mentioned earlier, you can make the argument that he was the Broncos best FT shooter this season.
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Hope Darlan develops. I was more surprised at his reluctance and inability to finish strong at the rim - like dunk it as a 6’8" jumper should…
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I’ll say it: Darlan could be the best player on the team next year. Very easily. He’s so athletic that if the coaches can just get him to play mistake free ball (“NO TURNOVERS!” haha), he’ll be hard to take off the floor. The guard position looks pretty loaded to me.
Hopefully if Graves has a late first round grade he will come back and work to get up into the lottery. If he’s top 20, he’s gotta go and we put another feather in the cap.
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I wouldn’t get your hopes up on Graves. It’s NBA, Duke or LSU at this point. Too much $$.
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Two new players coming- both look like they have hitting the weight room!!
Men’s Hoops Adds Pair of Power 4 Transfers - Santa Clara University
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No complaints at all, more or less what I ordered up…another true big and capable guard.
Gueye especially softens the sting of losing Bukky; maybe not quite as tall/long as Bukky but still an above the rim guy and appears to have a good motor. We’ll be fine at the 5 w/ Tadjo, Chuk and Gueye…should be able to control the paint and boards.
Castillo, capable scorer at 10pts/game and 4 star out of high school. Nitpicking but he appears to be more of shooter/scorer than playmaker as his assists #'s are very low.
We’re at 13 scholarships, still 2 more that could be filled. I’d take a flyer on an athletic but raw wing or guard such as Kosy Akametu…high school, JUCO or transfer, doesn’t matter.
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Getting a double figure scorer from a Power 4 conference team is hard to believe. Even harder to believe is he might not average much more next year as a Bronco bc of the depth on hand.
Wish the season started tomorrow!
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Some of Castillo’s shotmaking and a few nice layups where he looks really smooth.
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Video from when Castillo played for Team USA. Team was loaded with Cooper Flagg, Ronald Holland, Koa Peat, and more…
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Can someone do the board a solid and put up a prospective roster by position? I would give it a go, but I know I would make multiple mistakes and get laughed off the board. My hoops IQ is admittedly not the highest.
Verbal Commits does a pretty decent job, though their timeliness and cleanliness has slightly fallen off in the last 4-5 years (probably has something to do with the 2k transfers).
Here’s my best shot at the prospective roster by (very rough) position according to how I see the Broncos using each player, rather than their Verbal Commits or ESPN position.
Since I can’t track who is in which “year” anymore, and since it seems to matter less and less, I made the chart according to “estimated years of eligibility remaining.”
| Position | Last Rodeo | 2 Seasons | 3 Seasons | 4 Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | Sash Gavalyugov | Brad Longcor III | ||
| Shooting Guard | David Castillo | KJ Cochran | Brayde Kuykendall | |
| Small Forward/Wing | Thierry Darlan | Noah Badibanga, Eli Jolin | ||
| Forward | Jake Ensminger | Chris Tadjo | ||
| Center | Francis Chukwudebelu, Sidi Gueye | Alexander Ensor |
Main takeaways for now:
- The team is young. Though this was the same last year, and I would have predicted too young to do better than the NIT. I was wrong. Young, tough, and talented is just fine by me.
- SCU has two clear players at each position. Sendek went all the way to a 10-man rotation for much of last season, which was rare for him. I’m not sure he goes as deep this season, but–notwithstanding any true frosh revelation–there are two guys at each position that SCU can put on the floor.
- Height is out. While reserving the potential for Ensor to test my suspicion of true frosh bigs, Santa Clara won’t put a true 7-footer on the floor for the first time since Vrankic held down the center position. And while Sash and Brad are listed at 6’3" and 6’4", I think both are getting a decent boost from a thick heel to get those measurements. Castillo is just 6’1". Cochran is definitely the biggest, but I think there are some shims involved to get him to 6’5" in shoes. Point being: the era of Santa Clara putting only guys 6’4" and above on the floor is over. Technically, it ended last season with Sash and Hammond and Knapper running the backcourt. This season will officially close that book for now. Last year’s team showed that tenacity and toughness are better correlates for defense and rebounding success than mere height. It looks like Sendek is eschewing height for height’s sake and finding players who can work together and fight even against the McKeevers and Saxens and Isaac Jacks of the conference.
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@PattyMac whether you are looking into a cloudy eight ball or not, this is really helpful. Thanks!
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Good job by Patty.
Recognizing most guys can play 2 positions or more, here’s my WAG on starters and depth chart. Much like last offseason there are a ton of question marks and a lot of potential combination of starting lineups.
PG / 1: Sash, Longcor, Castillo
SG / 2: Castillo, Cochran, Sash, Longcor
SF / 3: Darlan, Jolin, Cochran, Badibanga, Ensminger
PF / 4: Ensminger, Tadjo, Darlan, Badibanga
C / 5: Tadjo, Gueye, Chuk, Ensor
Depending on health/injuries predicting Kuykendall and maybe Ensor redshirt.
Related random thoughts/questions:
The competition for the starting job and PT at the 5 will be interesting, I could see any of Tadjo, Gueye or Chuk starting there; none of them are perimeter shooters which is fine, just need them to play with physicality, rebound, defend the post and paint and be efficient shooting at the rim when they get the opportunity to score, I don’t see any of them being 10pt+ a game scorers this season.
Is Longcor as good as some on here have stated and does he push Sash, Castillo, and Cochran for playing time???
Darlan is far from locked in as the starter at the 3 IMO. In terms of wildcards or potential surprises I’d look to 2 guys who can play the 3: Jolin who has looked darn good on tape and appears to be a fairly complete, mature player. Badibanga could surprise as well; like Darlan he’s long with some 3pt shooting ability. And the international and Euro pro ball experience for both Jolin and Badibanga is a benefit. The quality of players they’ve played against in pro ball is probably below D1 level but on average that competition is older/bigger/stronger than the competition at the high school level for most US high school recruits along with experience.
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I would have put Gueye above Tadjo, but admittedly I haven’t seen much video on Tadjo. The Arizona Wildcat podcasts on YouTube describe Gueye as being considered a future NBA prospect as he physically matures.. I haven’t heard that about Tadjo. Gueye appears to me to be a top defensive player with good low post offensive scoring skills, and Tadjo being defensive only. Also, is there any possibility Normand might return to the team? Anyone know why the coaches soured on him. He looked outstanding on You Tube videos.
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