The defense is non-existent. There should ALWAYS be contact/pressure on the ball and ongoing attempts to force the ball over. It is as if we are trying to play defense via a staring contest with our arms at our waists. A hand should ALWAYS be in the line of vision and the other up looking to deflect a pass. This backing down while keeping 2 ft between the offense makes absolutely NO SENSE to me. Guess my child agrees with contact basketball and will stay forever in contact with the bench.
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The defense is just unbelieveable to me⌠at least the offense you can somewhat argue for what Herb is doing, at least when SCU confronted with man D (although I can think of a number of better ways to expose mismatches that donât create a plethora of turnovers and get easier looks).
But yeah, the D makes zero sense. To his credit Cam always has his body on a body when he is in the game⌠that probably drives Herb nuts.
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To phrase what Patty is saying here differently, weâve only lost to Portland/LMU/Pacific/BYU/Pepperdine/USD ONCE in the last two years. 22-1 in the WCC the last two seasons plus the beginning of this year against teams not named Gonzaga, Saint Maryâs or USF.
It was a game against Pacific sandwiched between roadies @SMC and @GU.
Which is to say, Herb has been very consistent against the WCC also-rans since the COVID year. Itâs easy to beat those teams on paper, but hard to do in practice.
All that said, I agree 10-0 against them will be tough this year⌠but if we have a big complaint against Herb for the last few years, it really canât be our WCC performance against RPI/NET 150+ squads.
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Those numbers are solid. Then again I think we all expect SCU to have a high win % against 150+ ranked teams, otherwise why even field a team.
Still, over those past 2 years SCU has had 2 near lottery picks and only NIT invites to show for it.
This is the most talented team SCU has seen in 20+ years and the expectations seem to be hoping for another visit to the NIT. Ugh. As I see it the only thing holding SCU back is the coaching.
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Betts, this team may be a little deeper, but weâre no more loaded with 4-star recruits than normal. When this team doesnât find a way to beat itself, it does pretty well.
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Forget about how many stars a recruit gets (thatâs all pretty meaningless when youâre talking about a high school kid). This team is hands down the most talented SCU team in 20+ years. Not to mention itâs the deepest squad the Broncos have had in decades as well.
As far a overall talent goes this team is way more loaded than ânormalâ⌠heck, thereâs 4 seasoned D1 transfers who all had seasons where they averaged double digit points in the past.
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That might be a bit over the top.
We can argue all day about how talented the team is or isnât. IMO, there are several rotation guys that have glaring weaknesses in their game, not because of lack of size or athleticism. In some cases itâs an issue of fundamentals and skill development in other cases itâs lack of physicality or toughness. Thatâs both on the player (commitment to improving) and coaches (player development). I canât think of single player who I would consider a complete and well rounded player who excels at a high level at both the offensive and defensive end, rebounds, etcâŚBryan is maybe the closest. Bal gets the attention but IMO has a lot of poor shot selection, doesnât defend well, and is a mediocre rebounder for a guy who is 6-7 with 7-0 wing span and above avg. athletic ability.
While this team has better depth than we usually see at SCU, very few coaches play a rotation of more than 9 guys as part of a core rotation (ie- each playing at least 7-10âŚI wouldnât count the guy who plays 2-4mins as being part of a core rotation).
And to state the obvious you can only put 5 guys on the court at a time and IMO weâve had a lot of teams whoâs best 5 is comparable or even better than whoever you consider our current best 5âŚespecially when our current best 5 probably lacks a true point guard. And sometimes you can have a bunch of talented guys who simply donât work well as a TEAMâŚthe whole is less than the sum of the parts.
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I think youâre spot on 92 with everything you are pointing out here.
Still, this team has 4 D1 transfers who all averaged double digit ppg at their respective schools⌠that in itself points to some pretty decent talent.
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Experience isnât everything. If it were, the most experienced player in our school history wouldnât have had THREE traveling violations against New Mexico.
The good and the bad are both attributable to the coaching staff, and I think we have to keep in mind the whole picture.
It is evidently very difficult to take SCU to the NIT or to produce a first round draft pick at Santa Clara, hence us not making the NIT between 1989 and 2022, nor producing a first round draft pick between 1996 and 2022. Herb has done both twice.
I think it is easy to envision why we ought to be 110% as good as we have been the last few years, including this year. That said, the last two seasons and likely this one are a notch above the historical norm.
It took a while to get rolling, but I think Herb has Santa Clara on a much more solid footing than in the last 20 years (though I worry about the reliance on transfers⌠who would have thought we might be saying âSanta Clara has had too many one-and-done lottery picks recentlyâ).
I do note Herbâs specialty has not been winning regular season conference championships. I love debating and reading debates about the specifics of the coaching, but as we all remember from the previous regime, it could certainly be worseâŚ
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Trust me, I get it. Would love to see some adjustments madeâŚthe subbing patterns and ball screen defense make me pull my hair out.
But I have to think a big part of the reason why Herb entices and produces NBA talent is his system. Podz and Jalen both mentioned the pro-style system that does not necessarily win in NCAA. But at the same time, canât just dismiss what has attracted the talent in the first place.
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Iâve said this before on this board, but I think thereâs a real generational divide with SCU basketball fandom. You and I were born into the Keating era and having an NIT berth and NBA draft picks seems like an all-time height for SCU. Then taking a step back and nevertheless beating Gonzaga feels like the floor for the program has shot way way up.
But if you were around for the Nash years (especially if you became a fan during the Nash years), this would feel more like a tepid return to what SCU always should have been. And itâs frustrating to watch similar schools that lack comparable resources to SCU (Gonzaga, Saint Louis, Dayton, Loyola Chicago) to have tremendous basketball success during SCUâs 20+ years of futility.
We can argue all sides of the coaching or talent level. But I do think thereâs a psychological starting point for each of us that colors the analysis.
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Last year we had the conference co-player of the year and a second team all conference selection (plus Keshawn) so I donât think this yearâs group is necessarily more talented.
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Oops, correction. Stewart was first team all conference and Justice was 2nd team all conference. Apologies to those guys!
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I remember that game at Toso and was there as well. I walked away raving about Rambis who I believe was just a freshman and who blocked more than one of Bill Cartrightâs shots.
My first SCU basketball game was at the SJ Civic Auditorium and was coached by Bob Feerick. Also I have vivid recollection of nightime listening to the voice of Bob Blum broadcasting Bronco basketball involving the likes of Russ Vrancovich and Pete Lillevand, Gene Shields and Joe Weiss and I recall that they played various years in the early 60s.
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I became a fan in high school. Mike Stewart, Fred Lavoroni, and Jolly Speight. They were the next group after the Ogden, Awtrey powerhouse teams and were solid. Stewart ( still my favorite Bronco) was WCAC POY and led the team to victory over Marvin Barnes, Ernie D and Providence. When I got there inâ73, things went downhill, topped off by a 40 point blowout to UCLA, whose 88 game win streak had been snapped by Notre Dame the game before. They were back on track my senior year.
The USF game still rankles me. Two missed Rambis free throws and a Chuppy Fân Cox drive, and a shot from around eight feet lives in my mind.
The ups and downs have helped me appreciate how things are currently going, while holding out hope that meaningful post season appearances can be the rule rather than the exception. After nearly 3 decades, a run in the Big Dance would be nice.
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1993-96 was fun. In March 1993, it was sweet to watch Nash, as a freshman, drain the free throws to ice the win for 15-seeded SCU over 2-seeded Arizona. The outpouring of phone calls I got after that game was impressive. Then in 1995 the trip to Boise to open up the NCAA tourney against Erick Dampier and his Mississippi State squad. Unfortunately, we got crushed, but we did get to enjoy watching UCLAâs Tyus Edney go coast-to-coast in the final few seconds of their game to beat Missouri. The Bruins won the national championship that year. And then finally the trip to Tempe in the opening round of the 1996 Big Dance where we beat a very good Maryland team (they had a player named X-ray Booth, no kidding) before getting rolled by 1-seeded Kansas in the second round. I was fortunate to travel for both the 1995 & 1996 NCAA tournament games
Iâm not expecting to get into the Big Dance 3 out of every 4 years (that was certainly an aberration), but it would be nice to make it once or twice every decade.
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Great memories there. I ended up making a t-shirt for the '93 March Madness run and it sold out quick! Campus erupted after the Arizona win: couch bonfires, and hilarious morning after interviews! Pete E was a buddy and we were all very happy for him and the team.
Made the Boise trip as well, tough game vs. an SEC team. Had a blast taking over a downtown Boise bar with fellow alums and I remember a legendary fellow Rugby buddy streaking down the streets of downtown Boise that night. Classic!
Iâll have to revisit that Maryland game, but I remember Nash putting on a dribbling clinic.
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I remember that Boise bar. Nashâs best buddy from childhood, Damien, was there as well. What a character.
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Iâm aging myself here. I saw the Broncos games many times a youngster. My father was an SCU graduate interrupted by WW2. Straight on the train to Fort Ord from campus and on to Europe. Growing up in SF I got to see many games as a kid. Cable car classic, USF/SCU. I believe I have attended a game live with every coach since Dick Garibaldi. Saw Awtrey and Ogden brothers in person. Kevin Eagleson and Glenn Hubbard, two city boys. Listening to games on the radio with my dad. I was at that Chubby Cox game as a freshman. Heartbreak. Made the trip to Arizona when we beat Maryland. Also remember rooter bus trips to SF for games. Good times through thick and thin. 63 years old and still love the Broncos, even when they break my heart. This platform is great to vent, laugh and cheer. Go Broncos
God is not a Gael. Sorry for the long post
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