If Wessels returns to NCAA, why would he come to us? Seems that he could play for a high major. Unless he sees us as a good way to get drafted given SCU’s recent history. Though our success hasn’t been for centers.
I think @Broncomusings was saying that Wessels might go back to SMC if he opts for another year of college. He’s not on the list yet but 'musings thinks that he may be trying to get a 5th year with the Gaels.
The team put out an Instagram post today with everyone seemingly in practice gear, including Jolin and Tadjo. That’s not to say that either is game-ready, and there’s no clear time stamp on the photo (could have been weeks ago for all I know). I just mention it to say that there are photos of Jolin and Tadjo seemingly out of boots and running (or jogging) with the team in drills.
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I saw on X that Wessels played against SMC today in Australia.
This lawsuit is a shit show. I almost just want them to approve 2022’s so we can move on.
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Without Bennett, I’m not sure I’d want to go back to SMC.
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From what I heard, Tadjo has been able to now do live 5 vs 5 full court play. Jolin had a minor foot hiccup but should not keep him out long. The full out battle for minutes is already happening.
Seems the coaching staff is trying to amp up the number of competition reps. Probably needed with a lot of new guys and Freshman….
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Co Pilot says Wessells signed a 1yr contract with the Sydney Kings of Australia’s NBL.
Interesting article in No Ceilings re: AZ transfer Sidi Gueye. Did the Broncos find another under the radar Pro? We’ll see.
Sidi Gueye | Big | Sophomore | Santa Clara
Closing out this piece is a prospect who may be an even bigger “calling my shot” play than Zac Foster: the now-Santa Clara Bronco Sidi Gueye. Gueye—from Senegal—came to Santa Clara after spending his freshman season with the Arizona Wildcats. A cool fact about Sidi is that he’s only played basketball since age 12, so less than seven years. Coming from Senegal, he played for Real Madrid prior to playing in the States. In perhaps Gueye’s biggest moment of exposure before college, he averaged 17.3 PPG, 8.7 RPG, and 1.7 BPG in the Adidas Next Gen U18 EuroLeague Finals. This led to him being selected to the All-Tournament team. This led Sidi to do something that many prominent international prospects do: commit to Arizona. In his lone season with the team, he played in 26 games. Though he played in a good number of games, it came while averaging 3.5 MPG—90 total minutes. In that time, Gueye averaged 1.3 PPG, 0.8 RPG, and 0.3 BPG.
What’s Working
Shot Blocking
In those 90 minutes Sidi Gueye played, he logged 10 blocks, per Synergy. For you math wizards out there—back me up here—that comes out to one block every nine minutes on the floor. Per 40 lovers, eat your heart out. Gueye’s tape shows a player who has awesome anticipatory skills and good fluidity. Having a reported 7’4” (+6) wingspan helps Sidi provide intriguing rim-protection ability, as he can high-point the ball or flip his hips in recovery and send shots off of the backboard. Even when you have the volume turned down on your film study, you can see Sidi directing traffic on the backline of the defense—showing awesome drop coverage instincts. Perhaps one of my favorite things that I’ve seen in his shot-blocking is that he can do it with either hand. Gueye’'s Block Percentage of 9.1 puts him in the same territory of players such as Flory Bidunga and above Tarris Reed Jr.—players who are considered prominent defensive-minded college big men.
Rim Running
I feel like I’ve pointed this out a couple of times at this point, but I want to (again) acknowledge that all of these projections and metrics are coming on a very small sample. That said, it’s still encouraging to see how natural Sidi Gueye looked as a rim-running play finisher in his limited playing time. Of all his shots, 77.8% were at the rim. This ranked in the 90th percentile in at-rim frequency. He converted 78.6% of those shots, which placed him in the 98th percentile in at-rim efficiency. Gueye has shown a couple of flashes of finishing around the rim with craft and touch, but he gets off the floor quickly. He looks to have good catching ability, which helps Sidi to be a credible lob threat. He has a motor that shows up on drives, as well as rebounding. His stride on cuts gives him advantages to establish position against the defense—which marries nicely with his quick, vertical ability.
What Needs Work
Decision-Making
There is certainly going to be opportunity to showcase more and better decision-making for Sidi Gueye, but the early flashes do show that he could stand to make strides in this area. Big men are asked to do more than ever with the ball and, if bigs cannot be trusted to have the offense extend through them, then their role will be restricted. To be fair to Sidi, he did post an Assist-to-Turnover Ratio of 1.0. That said, he did have an Assist Percentage of just 9.2, to a Turnover Percentage of just 20.1. The tape does show flashes of decent passes but, even on some credited assists, Gueye does show some potential struggles to find his teammates in stride and on target. For passes that are directly in front of him, or on some scripted reads, Gueye can do well. But there weren’t many times when he passed out of pressure, which obviously can alter the production for him. Some of that could be credited to inconsistent minutes and volatile lineups that he was rolled out with. If he takes on a larger role with Santa Clara, those tolerable takes could dwindle.
What to Expect
This season for Sidi Gueye is going to be interesting on a few levels. For one, the Broncos have another opportunity to bring in another former Wildcat prospect to see how good they can be. It’s also interesting because Gueye was a clear international prospect who just didn’t get a lot of runway due to playing on a team with championship aspirations. Santa Clara had some success with a player in Bukky Oboye, who has since transferred, so can they find a way to reshape their big man rotation with a completely new player? The Broncos are always a team that finds a way to be captivating.
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KJ Cochran and Darlan were on the winning South Bay team for the SF Pro AM. KJ went for 44pts in the final.
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I think Sidi is going to be similar to previous Arizona transfer Adama Bal in that he’s megatalented and probably came to the US at least a year too early (even now he’s still just 18 years old). Difference is Sidi is a big which makes him IMO a more impressive get for SCU - bigs are always more in demand. Looking at the transfer portal lists he was at the top of my wish list and I was so glad to see his name come up here as a prospect.
I didn’t have Castillo on the radar but hopefully he is a big impact. I was hoping for Hamad Mousa but he elected to stay at Cal Poly for I don’t know what reason (I know NYT did an article on it, but it’s paywalled).
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The abridged version from that article on Mousa is he wanted to settle down (it would have been his third school in three years), he likes the Cal Poly system, and his family has a good financial situation. He wasn’t in a position where he felt like he had to chase the money.
One interesting bit of information from that article is Cal Poly has a $500,000 NIL budget. Mousa could have likely got more than three times that amount.
Nice catch on the pro am - would loved to have watched that live. Found someone who recorded the whole final below.
Takeaways:
- Cochran - can absolutely score in every facet, and his handling is off the charts. Check out the move at like the 35:00 mark. He hit just about every ft and open look. His pull up midrange game was also smooth. His weakness was defending… he was playing a bit like Messi, walking around a lot but was probably exhausted from carrying the team on the offensive side.
- Darlan - not his best game by any means. He’s a much better defender on guards/wings but was essentially their only big and had to take on some heavy loads down low. His offensive game was steady and he looked to facilitate much more than he did with us last season, a couple nice look passes.
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I am so excited to get the season started and see what we have and how we compete. Personally, I am confident that the coaching staff will get the most out of the guys.
Given that this team is an intriguing combination of knowns and unknowns, I thought it might be fun to project a little bit. Who will be this year’s MVP, Newcomer of the Year, Sixth Man, etc.
I think Jake is going to be the glue for what happens, so he would be my pre-season MVP. I’ll give the nod to KJ as the Sixth Man because I am guessing that Sash will start at the 2 and KJ comes off the bench. Most Improved? I’m hoping that Theirry takes a dramatic turn by learning to settle into team basketball and find the situations that fit his obvious physical gifts. I don’t think the Freshman will see much of the floor, but we may see some minutes from Alex if our bigs get in foul trouble, so he gets Freshman of the Year by default. Newcomer? Now that’s a Horse Race. David has tons of D1 experience, Sidi has size and athleticism that we don’t see a lot of. Chris, Noah and Brad were exposed to the program last year and might be ready for immediate impact.
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Note: my picks are assuming Mahi doesn’t return, as we haven’t had an update on that rumor of late.
MVP - sash gets the shine but Jake is unspoken glue guy as mentioned above.
6th man - Gueye or Tadjo (whoever doesn’t start)
Newcomer - the inverse of the 6th man (sorry that’s boring)
Freshman - i agree that i think we have so much depth right now it will be hard for a frosh to breakthrough.
I will say that if Longcor, KJ, or Darlan is winning any of these awards then that is a GREAT sign of getting some lift from an unexpected source. I often see through rose-tinted glasses… but sash, Tadjo, Gueye, Ensminger is an amazing base to have in the WCC - any extra significant contributions makes us a real power.
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I will take full credit due to my previous post jinx
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Thank you, Midwest! Our Hero.
Who knows what happens with eligibility, but for now this is huge.
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How will Herb spread the minutes around? Seems like a crowded locker room.
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Good problem to have, IMO. You always have injuries, etc. We have some depth and can withstand some injuries now.
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Now I’m excited.
SCU might need to go like 30-3 to be in the position they were last year, but with Mahi back, they might just do it. He could put up Podz-like numbers. He should be targeting WCC player of the year.
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