I think all 25 of Carlos’ points came in the second half! Regardless, he was absolutely dominant, from both distance and at the rim.
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Does margin of victory play into the NET rating calculation?
Directly, no. Indirectly, yes. It factors in Offensive and Defensive Efficiency which is obviously going to be better when you beat a team by 23 than by a point or two. So in short, every possession matters.
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Obviously SCU hit shots in the second half. Shooting can come and go. What was really impressive was the physical defensive play… for some reason guys weren’t afraid to touch their opponents tonight? Play D like that and this team is dangerous, whether the shots are falling or not.
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I think it was a lot more than just “hitting their shots”.
For most of the first half, USF’s zone defense was stifling, so our boys were settling for often-contested 3’s. Also, there was little movement, mostly guys standing around watching the ball handler try to iso and make a play.
In the second half, the shot selection was so much better. I’d guess that Coach gave some guidance (re-education?) on how to break the zone. There was motion, there were multiple aggressive moves to the rim by Carlos and Mahi. The perimeter opened up as the defense collapsed.
To your point, the defense in the second half was even better than the first half, leading to a lot of transition opportunities. That was fun to watch. Putting up 56 points in the second half while holding the opponent to just 26 put a big smile on my face.
I sent a tongue-in-cheek text to @TheWeave and asked him if he thought a 1990 LMU style of play could be successful in the modern college game. Given that we are 10 or 11 deep, and many of our guys seem to have stamina and speed, we might be able to pull it off.
Westhead is only 85 years old, maybe we can coax him out of retirement? 
And perhaps Kimble and Fryer can be his assistants?
For those who are too young to remember, the 1989-90 LMU squad AVERAGED 122.4 points per game. During the regular season, they beat SMC 150-119 and USF 157-115. In the second round of the Big Dance, they beat the previous year’s national champion, Michigan, 149-115. That team’s best defense was their offense. The pace of play was exceptionally entertaining. They were in such good physical condition that they could effectively just wear the opponents out.
I sincerely doubt HS would ever implement such a style of play. Basketball purists were appalled by Westhead’s teams. It went against the orthodoxy!
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Buckets:
I was at SCU from 85-89 and remember those LMU teams well. We played them tough and saw them in the WCAC championship game both in 88 and 89. We just couldn’t get by them, but our roster was no slouch with players like Weiss, Gordon, Burley, Connelly, Lane, Appiah, etc…The Broncos had talent.
I think LMU 1988 squad may have been their best with Gathers, Kimble, Fryer, Peabody, and Corey Gaines plus a pretty good bench. Leavey (Toso then) was standing room only for those games.
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great win for the boys, best half of the season relative to expectation. Hoping for the best for Coach Davey. Onwards to Los Angeles next week (maybe Spokane depending on the fire containment/air quality since Gersten is open air with construction going on).
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Does anyone know the Don’s bball message board url?
(I like to chase ambulances.)
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After the game heard they think it was a blood pressure and dehydration issue with Dick Davey. Took him to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t anything more serious.
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It’s a subreddit. But be nice to the Hilltoppers. They’re in mourning:
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Second best defensive performance of the season, per Torvik. And despite feeling like SCU lit it up in the second half, the offense was actually pretty pedestrian by SCU standards on a tempo-adjusted basis. It really was the defense that shone today.
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Oh, I remember. I was there 87-91. Those games were ELECTRIC.
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I am no basketball guru and call me crazy, but nearly every Bronco in the 10-man lineup can run the floor, handle the rock, score, and (mostly) shoot the three and aren’t demonstrating great defense. So Put in the hard work to get into track-meet shape, substitute like they were three lines in hockey and they could literally run teams off the floor.
Pipe dream i know.
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Sendek is one of those orthodox purists who would shudder at this suggestion.
Going back to the 89-90 LMU team…SCU did a decent job “containing” them. We lost 113-100 at Toso (held them well under their 122.4 average). I remember attending that game, it was televised on ESPN (a big deal back then) and Toso Pavilion was PACKED and the crowd was LOUD. I don’t remember if Reis played a lot of minutes in that game, he was definitely not the poster boy for full-court athletic stamina.
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Broncos up to 66 in NET rankings with the win over USF. USF slips to 76
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Rewatched the game today. It’s pretty amazing how quickly the run happens. Even at the 11-minute mark in the second half, SCU only has a one point lead at 40-39. Then Santa Clara scores 37 points in a little more than 10 minutes to just bury the Dons. It took only 5 minutes to go up by 18.
That’s definitely not sustainable…that’s Gonzaga level offense on a good day in Spokane. But man is it fun when it’s your team over its biggest rival.
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Very good week for the Broncos. Both directly with the two good wins and WSU laying an egg vs. Pacific. WSU would be tied w/ Broncos for 3rd but for the Pacific loss, instead the Broncos are alone in 3rd, a half game in front of USF.
Surveying the landscape……
- SMC is undefeated but all 5 of their games have been vs. the bottom teams. That said, they are pummeling everyone with wins well over 20 points and leaving no doubt they are an upper tier team and the odds on favorite for 2nd place. They have another easy one vs. Pepperdine Saturday but their schedule then flips for the following month+ playing 8 straight games vs. top tier teams incl two vs. the Broncos. That stretch will determine if they can finish yet again in the top two. Bennett can’t be pleased with the strangely unbalanced schedule.
- For SCU/USF/WSU/OSU it’s all going to come down to who can avoid bad losses to the bottom half teams while also managing to be over .500 vs. the top half. Right now, SCU and USF have stayed clean vs. the bottom half while OSU and WSU have already coughed up a bad loss.
- We’re all feeling good about the Broncos at the moment, but they can’t overlook the upcoming LMU game (if it’s played); while LMU is 1-4, they’ve had a difficult WCC schedule to date and showed they can beat decent teams w/ their 20pt win over OSU. After that the schedule gets tougher for the Broncos with a 4 game stretch of: @ GU, v. WSU, @ OSU, and v. SMC. Need to be at least 3-2 and ideally 4-1 over that stretch if the Broncos want to maintain a legit shot at 2nd place.
I wasn’t able to watch this week’s games live (games were at ~2 to 5 AM where I am). But it’s been nice to wake up to good outcomes and have combed the box scores, Torvik, this site and scanned the game video on 2x. Getting my dose of Bronco hoops when/where I can.
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