Love the post… hate the shorts.
I hope those aren’t replicated in our unis, such a mid aughts look. I’ve liked the classic piping look we’ve had the last couple seasons.
FYI - (Don’t know how to start new topic HOOPFEST) Tonight was Hoopfest at the school to get students down to Leavey and to pump up our bball team. They had some fun competitions and gave away hats and a pizza to students who came out. VERY disappointed in the lack of support from student body. Going to suggest to the organizers to include alum in next year’s event for a larger show of support.
Team they were supposed to scrimmage backed out for this weekend. Too many sick players. Going to try something else during week to get one more run in before the season.
Yes, it was a bummer that the event was just for students. I would have attended it with family if it was open to everyone. All I could do was follow the event via a few posts on social media, which I also think they could’ve done a better job at. And +1 to having a scrimmage as part of the event. It would be fun to see them playing, even if amongst themselves. Anyway, in previous years SCU was the only school in WCC not doing a hype event, so it’s better to have something rather than nothing.
I agree that they should open the even to the public. From what I’ve seen on social media, though, the event seemed to have decent attendance for a first time shot at a hype program. It looked like they had maybe 250 students there–that’s a lot for most SCU events. You can make a pretty fun student environment with 250 or so. While it would be great to have 1200 or 2000 or something, it’s just not a realistic goal. But whenever SCU breaks through to the NCAA tournament again, the interest should follow in a big way.
Were I consulted on the program, I might have suggested doing an outdoor event with a temporary court set up in the Sobrato Mall. It would be much more costly and weather could pose an issue, but also more novel and you could get a lot more walk-through traffic, including from the community off campus.
Anyways, glad that they are trying something, and I wouldn’t be too down on the attendance at this point.
And whose fault is this, our braindead athletic’s leader, who’s forced out those who weren’t in lockstep with her off based decisions. And why are we always one step behind on everything? In the Big East Conference this is a blowout event mainly put on for season ticket holders, a nice perk for non students to step up and support the team…
Well, they did offer free pizza and beer
USF edged USC in their secret scrimmage. I have rolled my eyes at the fawning over USF this preseason and last based on goodwill fumes from the Smith/Golden era. But, with the usual secret scrimmage caveats, this seems like good indication that USF will have some talent to contend with.
Just noticed that SMC beat Hawaii by 30+ on Oct. 20th in a Maui wildfire charity scrimmage.
Mahaney with 25pts on four 3pointers made.
Marciulionis: 22pts, 6 assists.
SMC is pre-season top-25. Not sure I’m sold on that as they lost their top 2 defenders in Logan Johnson and Kyle Bowen and they hung their hat on Def and rebounding the past few years. Logan was their only power conference level athlete in their playing rotation.
The counter point(s)…never underestimate a Bennett coached team…he’s the best coach in the WCC IMO and gets more out of the talent he has than anyone in the league. And if they Hawaii game is an indication, maybe Marciulionis is ready to fill Logan Johnson’s shoes. Joshua Jefferson steps in to the starting lineup for Bowen and Harvard transfer power forward Mason Forbes, who sat out last season at SMC with an injury is healthy and could provide frontcourt depth and productivity off the bench.
Not just best coach in the WCC…he is probably top-10 in the country in getting the most out of players.
Agree…just going easy on the SMC accolades.
And trying to avoid a debate or the board descending in to chaos as there are one or two here who get their feelings hurt if you don’t bow at the Sendek altar or suggest there are others coaches who may have a leg up on him.
Possibly the most accurate prediction I have seen roll out so far this year: SI’s Preseason Men’s College Basketball Top 25 … and More - Sports Illustrated
On this Podcast they discussed, “Is Santa Clara the best NCAA Tournament bet outside of Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s?” https://youtu.be/8b-XsgbCEb4 They did a really good job debating the NIT changes.
Yes, nice to get some love, and slip inside the Top 100 at #92.
Whether it is ‘accurate’ or not remains to be seen and won’t be known until the season is over or at least nearing conclusion.
I think GU’s #14 and SMC’s #27 rank are a little high. Splitting hairs maybe but I see GU on the edge of the Top 25 and SMC as closer to 40ish and a tourney bubble team.
And saying we (or USF or LMU) is the ‘next best bet’ for a tourney invite after SMC and GU might sound good but doesn’t really mean much when there’s a huge gap in the probability of GU and SMC making the tourney compared to anyone else in the WCC.
See Torvik’s Tourneycast probability below. I don’t buy Torvik’s low expectations for us, I suspect we’ll at least be over .500 and hopefully 20+ wins. But note USF’s 3.3% Tourney probability as the 3rd place team…way behind SMC.
| WCC Conference Info 2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOURNEYCAST | ||||||
| RK | TEAM | PROJ. REC | SEED | AUTO | TOTAL | |
| 11 | Gonzaga | 22-6 (13-3) | 5.2 | 46.5% | 96.2% | |
| 12 | Saint Mary’s | 25-5 (13-3) | 6.2 | 45.6% | 94.6% | |
| 120 | San Francisco | 17-13 (8-8) | 12.6 | 3.3% | 3.3% | |
| 148 | Portland | 15-14 (7-9) | 13.5 | 1.5% | 1.5% | |
| 156 | Loyola Marymount | 14-14 (7-9) | 13.6 | 1.0% | 1.0% | |
| 171 | Pacific | 16-15 (6-10) | 14.1 | 0.9% | 0.9% | |
| 172 | Santa Clara | 13-17 (6-10) | 14.4 | 0.7% | 0.7% | |
| 202 | Pepperdine | 12-18 (5-11) | 14.6 | 0.4% | 0.4% | |
| 228 | San Diego | 13-17 (5-11) | 15.4 | 0.2% | 0.2% |
Torvik even moved us up last week. I noticed we made a big leap from 190-something to 172. I know that he does a manual edit of some of the numbers preseason to account for any outliers. I assumed that was the reason.
I think you may be a little low on SMC, 92. I see them as neck-and-neck with the Zags or possibly ahead given their greater depth and consistency. If Ike gets injured again or is limited, the Zags have only 5-6 proven players left and will have to run untested frosh for stretches to maintain their usual frenetic offensive pace. SMC is less talented overall, but deeper and precise as any Bennett team is. They’re vulnerable to the loss of Logan Johnson being more significant than expected on defense or a sophomore slump for Mahaney. But if neither of those happen (the early receipts from scrimmages seem to indicate that they’re as good as ever), then SMC may be the power in the conference this year.
A point made on Zack Farmer’s pod, that 'femme linked to, is that Santa Clara is the only team of the SCU/LMU/USF division to have a schedule that has meaningful potential to yield a tourney invite (concurrence from Will Maupin). LMU and USF would have to be pretty much perfect to get there which leaves SCU as the most likely team by default.
I was able to watch GU’s exhibition game on Friday night that was televised on a local station here in Spokane. I might change my tune slightly and nudge them up to ~#20 from borderline Top25.
Zags played NAIA Lewis-Clark St. (from Lewiston, ID…not to be confused with DIII Lewis & Clark College in Oregon). L-C St. is historically a very good NAIA team…they are better than Menlo College on our schedule.
Zags starters were as expected: Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Steele Venters, Anton Watson and Graham Ike. Ike appears to be healthy and dominated with 24pts, 7rebs on 11/13 shooting in just 19mins. Ike is not a leaper but he can replace Timme’s low post scoring, great and hands and touch around the rim. Ike is stronger and a better rebounder and low post defender; Timme is probably a better passer, playmaker and runs the floor better.
Nembhard dished out 10 assists in 23 mins and gives them the floor general they lacked last year. Off the bench, their back-up bigs had very good games, Ben Gregg w/ 10pts, 4rebs, 2 blocks in 17mins, and RS Frosh Braden Huff had 21pts, 9rebs, 3blocks. Huff will surprise people…he’s not a phenomenal athlete but has decent size and he knows how to play and where to be on the floor, is active and is very skilled offensively including a very good 3pt shooter.
PattyMac alluded to some young bench players…they will be fine, I wouldn’t underestimate or dismiss them because of their age. It looks like 4star, 6-6 guard/wing Dusty Stromer will get the most backup guard/wing minutes. He did not look nervous, lost or overwhelmed. Instead he was active on the boards and on D w/ several deflections and blocks. He filled the stat sheet in 22mins with 8pts, 6rebs, 2assists, 2blocks in 22mins. He’s not a freak athlete, more like Cory Kispert. I would not be surprised if he pushes Venters for playing time or even the starting role on the wing.
And very late signee, 6-4 guard Luka Krajnovic from Croatia looked comfortable. He’s strong and aggressive, he didn’t score much but he’s a playmaker and had 7assists and worked well in pick/rolls. The Zags don’t really need a back-up point guard as I suspect one of Nenbhard or Hickman will always be on the floor but Krajnovic gives them a nother playmaking option and additional depth if they actually need a 3rd pt guard due to injury or foul trouble.
The WCC title still runs through Spokane IMO. Here’s my simple GU - SMC comparison: Ike > Saxon; Watson > Jefferson; will give SMC and Ducas the edge over Venters and GU’s starting backcourt is better than SMC’s. GU’s backup bigs are little better than SMC’s, definitely better scoring threats. And GU’s back-up backcourt, while young are as good or better than SMC’s. The caveat is the intangible of Randy Bennett coaxing the max out of his squad and head to head I expect SMC will ugly it up with physical defense and deliberate offense and could take GU out of their rhythm.
The start of the season has arrived, the Broncos don’t play until Wednesday but the 1st real CBB games are tomorrow. Here’s the slate of WCC games for the week.
Monday:
Stanislaus St. @ SMC; Bethesda Univ @ USF; Concordia-Irvine @ Pepperdine; Sam Houston @ Pacific; Long Beach St @ Portland; Sonoma St. @ USD.
A lot of non-D1 opponents. LBSt - Portland about the only game of interest.
Tues:
Westcliff @ LMU
Wed:
Utah Tech @ SCU; Lewis & Clark @ Portland; Jackson St. @ USD
Thurs:
New Mexico @ SMC; Pepperdine @ UCDavis; St. Francis ¶ @ USF.
We’ll get a preview of St. Francis, I’m sure our coaches will be in attendance. New Mexico is also a future opponent.
Fri:
Yale @ Gonzaga; Pacific @ Cal. Both Yale and Cal are future Bronco opponents.
Sat:
St. Francis @ SCU; USD @ UCSD
Sun:
USF @ Boise St.; Lafayette @ Pepperdine; UCRiverside @ Portland; Yale @ LMU; Weber St. @ St. Mary’s
Will get a game thread up for our Utah Tech game tomorrow.
Looks like Thursday, Friday, and Sunday will have the best slates. Though I may peak at Pacific vs Sam Houston since that was SCU’s NIT opponent.
I’m glad that SCU vs Stanford is next week, so at least there’s an exciting Bronco game in the near future. I’ll probably make my way to that one.
FUN FACT. One of Cams best friends from AAU and High School, Casey Simmons will be playing for YALE this year.
I wanted to see how Pacific matched up since Sam Houston knocked us out at home last year.
USF scored 82pts…in the 1st half. May say more about Bethesda than USF but still. Up 50pts, 82-32.