Getting out a head of this a bit, so hoping not to confuse anyone.
But the Feb 10th game at San Francisco link is LIVE with 150 total tickets available - which will be the biggest group yet.
There’s options available for including the tailgate before hand, as well as a bus from Leavey Center for anyone coming from the South Bay.
Bumping this again… we’re tracking to sell out our allotment! Get your tix now, and if you haven’t been before - it’s an amazing alumni event for those in the area.
It’s always fun taking over the hilltop.
See you all there!! Looking forward to it!
Pre-view:
Tip-off: Saturday, 7pm @ War Memorial
TV: ESPN+
Line: Torvik- USF -9, 80% win probability; ESPN- 84% win prob, no line yet.
Rankings: SCU: (NET- 112 / Torvik- 142) USF: ( 63 / 83)
USF:
The Dons are 19-6, 8-2 in the WCC. Pepperdine gave them a little trouble on Thurs., Pepp briefly took the lead early in the 2nd half, but the Dons recovered and pulled away for a 80-74 win.
Starting Lineup:
The headliner for the Dons is Mogbo. He should be league MVP and is a handful, an athletic and strong above the rim player. As an example, he has 68 dunks on the season…more than any entire team in the league, twice as many as some. By comparison, the entire Bronco squad has 36, Tilly leads with 12. Mogbo never attempts 3’s but he contributes in every other way. He scores in a variety ways and efficiently and as of yesterday led the nation in FG%. The Dons like to get him the ball at the top of the key or high post and let him attack the rim off the dribble and is a very good ball handler and passer for a forward (2nd on the team in assists).
As a team, the Dons are almost a polar opposite of last year’s team. Last season they relied on dynamic mighty might 6’ and under guards Khalil Shabazz and Tyrell Roberts, were 2nd in the country in 3pt attempt rate and were a mediocre defensive and rebounding team. This season, they rely heavily on forward Mogbo, and defend and rebound much better while shooting fewer 3’s.
It will be interesting to see who gets the defensive assignment on Mogbo. Tilly has a slight length advantage but Mogbo is much quicker. O’Neil is quicker than Tilly but not as strong. And neither Tilly nor O’Neil are physical players or particularly strong and there is risk they get bullied by Mogbo. Cam might be our best bet to guard Mogbo, maybe we’ll see more of him.
Hopefully the Broncos have flushed the terrible USD game and are motivated to get back in the win column. A Bronco win will move them in to a tie with USF for 3rd and hold the tiebreaker.
Prediction: The vocal Bronco fans in attendance help power the Broncos to an exciting win, 78-75.
Will be on the hilltop. Looking forward to the pregame Bronco event, and to a Bronco win. Hoping that we can limit the turnovers and get hot from long range. Thanks for the excellent summary, 92.
I’m a bit jealous of all of you who get to attend the game.
Left the Bay Area 20years ago but from college through the 90’s to early 2000’s attended many Bronco games at USF. Lots of good times at War Memorial, Kezar Pub, et al.
Make sure the Dons know you’re there…
Midwest has done a great service helping revitalize the tradition on the Hilltop and deserves a lot of credit.
I have a good feeling about this one. USF has looked vulnerable in their last few games. Mogbo is a beast, but the rest of the supporting cast is roughly as talented as Santa Clara and, frankly, I think SCU’s talent goes a fair bit deeper.
Give me 78-69 SCU on the Hilltop. Ensminger continues his breakout with a double-double.
Hmmm…that’s not good…we’ll see if he plays, if not, maybe Bryan is healthy enough to return. And curious if the backstory emerges.
Will be at least 175 strong tonight, hoping we can quiet the home crowd early and often.
76-63 broncos
First poster longtime lurker… just heard Bal injured himself in practice yesterday. Won’t be playing tonight.
MRI results on knee were all negative
Ouch, that hurts. Also gives someone else the opportunity to show what they can do.
SCU is deep, but I’m not sure if they’re deep enough to keep up without Marshall and Bal. Yikes.
No other team in the conference seems to have nearly as many 1-2 week injury recoveries as SCU. Anyone know what’s up with that?
This…doesn’t sound good…
Got my attention… anyone with more insight?
Looks like Carlos is able to go tonight- Bal is out. https://x.com/thod_24/status/1756496596240678929?s=46&t=PXTiTKoGV0aVfWCl4sMW5Q
yep, all of that^. I was reminded to not take Santa Clara Media Relations staff for granted my God, USF was a series of inconveniences but we are here.
7pm tip on https://kscu.org/
We’ll see how the squad reacts to the Bal and Marshall issues. Sometimes adversity can make a team rally around each other, focus and come out with a little more energy. We’ve suffered from some horrifically bad starts, especially of late, really can’t afford to do that tonight.
And…the spread had dropped to Dons -7.5 this morning but is now up to -9.5 presumably because of the news on Bal.
Marshall not starting
As long as he plays. Who finishes is more important than who starts.
And appears Bryan has returned, he’s in the starting lineup along w/ Ensminger.
