WCC Game 15: Pepperdine

BFem, you must be one PROUD and HAPPY Mama right now! Congrats to both you and Cam on a fantastic game. Keep it rolling!

8 Likes

Also, I must say that, while we still aren’t filling Leavey to the rafters, there is a noticeable uptick in attendance this season. It has seemed like the lower bowl is pretty much filled for every conference game. Lots of improvement needed still, but it’s trending in the right direction.

6 Likes

Yes, it’s good to see improved attendance and support from the students during league games; it’s about time.
The Broncos had better attendance in the 80s and 90s, and some really good teams, but those squads won with defense, rebounding, and physical play. They weren’t known for 3-point shooting or putting up big numbers.
This team pushes the pace, shoots well, and puts a lot of points on the board; most people prefer watching a style like that. I really hope the crowds get bigger next season, because this is an exciting team that deserves support. I’d love to see Leavey become the kind of place opponents dread.

3 Likes

Bennett is a lock for COY IMO, doubt the vote will be close. What he’s done with relatively modest talent and not much depth is impressive.

Sendek might get a vote from Bennett assuming they can’t or won’t vote for themselves. Or if GU beats SMC Saturday maybe Few gets a vote or two.

Been a lot of praise for Tilly and Tongue of late and rightly so.

But Knapper deserves some praise as well. With limited back court depth, his steady play and contributions of late and going forward are important. His last 2 games…a total of 14pts, 7 assists, 0 TO’s, 6/11 from the field. He seems to be playing with more confidence of late and provides nice quickness and athleticism off the bench with enough shooting and offensive production to keep the defense honest.

8 Likes

His hard work is paying off!! Definitely proud.

3 Likes

Knapper is going to just keep evolving and we have an extra year from him since he redshirt last year.

1 Like

I love guys who go for every rebound at BOTH ends - so many good things happen from that. And it’s become Cam’s calling card. Let’s Go!!!

3 Likes

I was just thinking the same thing watching the highlights.

3 Likes

Great effort by the whole team last night! Podz keepings putting in strong performances in front of multiple NBA scouts. It seems he’s good as gone after this year. Hopefully, Herb and his staff can go the portal and find a gem or two again this summer.

In regards to the comment about attendance, I agree that it was much better in the 90s for sure. I was lucky to attend at the same time Nash was there, which included 3 NCAA tournament appearances and wins against blue chip programs in the non-conference season each year. The student section was definitely much more engaged. It seems only a GU visit moves the needle at pretty much all WCC schools (save SMC and BYU). Our local rivals (SMC and USF) don’t even bring in too many like they used to. I think it’s going to take making the NCAA tourney and perhaps even a win there to excite the student population. Sustained success will keep them engaged over the coming years.

4 Likes

Coming out of COVID, we’ve tended to get between 1000-1400 in attendance in general. Our season low was 750 for Portland State. There were more sub-1000 games last year. Given that stated attendance is higher than actual attendance (and the fact that there’s 9 million people in the Bay), sub 1,000 is a horrible showing.

Attendance tends to go up slightly for league games. When we play an OOC team with lots of alumni (Nevada, various norcal state schools, but especially Pac-12 teams at home), there’s also a bump.

For much of this league season, we’ve been right around 1,800.

LMU at Leavey drew 2,800 and last night we had 2,000. LMU last week, for example, drew more than Stanford @ Leavey did last season, or Cal @ Leavey in 2019-20.

The building feels way fuller north of 2,000. I hope we continue to see an uptick and COVID habits recede further and folks start noticing our Broncos.

I would be interested to see what a home NIT game looks like.

For whatever barometer it’s worth, relatively hapless Stanford and Wazzu met in Palo Alto last night, which slightly outdrew our game at 2,300 folks.

1 Like

Re: Senior Night

Giordan Williams, Justice, Bediako, and Braun we’re all recognized.

What does that mean for a guy like Giordan who may still have 2 full years of eligibility? (Covid and injury this year).

Do we think he comes back?

I think Braun and Bediako are a lock to return.

I think it’s likely Giordan Williams has played his last game in a Bronco uniform.

1 Like

Giordan Williams is definitely gone and has no intention of returning…

1 Like

Cn anyone tell me where I can watch the game?

Can’t find it either. Does not appear WCCNetwork has it on their site, and the links provided by both schools does not work. Ugh.

1 Like

Wow what a start… 30-11 with 8 broncos scoring.

1 Like