The Broncos are Blazing!

SANTA CLARA – In the West Coast Conference annual preseason poll this year, Santa Clara came in with a ranking of 6 out of the 10 WCC schools. After finishing 21-12, making it to the semifinals of the WCC tournament, and receiving an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament, the Santa Clara men’s basketball team electrified campus last year. With the 2022-2023 season already started; the Broncos have already won 2 games in a decisive manner. With notable departures from last year’s team and new faces in the building, can the Broncos continue to win?

One of the largest events on campus last year was the explosion of star guard, Jalen Williams. The former 3-star prospect junior led the team averaging 18 points and 35 minutes a game. His performance led him to be invited to the NBA combine and eventually become a lottery draft pick when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Williams with the 12th pick of the NBA draft. However, while the loss of Williams’ minutes may be a critical loss, other key departures include PJ Pipes and Josip Vrankic. Pipes averaged the 3rd most minutes per game and 4th most points per game. Vrankic averaged the 4th most minutes per game and 2nd most points per game. Both players were critical to the success of the 2021-2022 team and will be missed in the upcoming year. 

With the Broncos returning players whose minutes add up to 66% of last year’s team, it was the job of Coach Sendek and coaching staff to find ways to replace the valuable veteran starters that led the team last year. To do this, they added 2 players from the transfer portal that have already had an immediate impact. 

Brandin Podziemski, the sophomore guard transfer hailing from Wisconsin played a reserve role at Illinois throughout his freshman year and entered the transfer portal after a disappointing tournament run for the team. The addition of a pair of veteran immediate impact starters and a host of top ranked freshman guards for the Fighting Illini also put his future in orange in jeopardy. The former consensus 4-star recruit who received high school offers from college basketball blue bloods Kentucky and Kansas, announced his commitment to be a Bronco in May. Carlos Marshall Jr., the graduate guard transfer from Tennessee State led the Tigers in scoring and is a notable presence from behind the arc. 

However, despite the success in the transfer portal, the Broncos also expect significant contributions from returning members as well. Standout players that had key contributions and should expect an increase in minutes and role from last year include Pre-Season All-WCC and last year’s Second Team All-WCC senior forward Keshawn Justice, forward Parker Braun, guard Carlos Stewart, and center Jaden Bediako. 

Men’s college basketball kicked off on November 7th with the Santa Clara Broncos facing off with Eastern Washington University’s Eagles at Leavey Stadium. After taking an early deficit in the beginning of the first half, transfer Carlos Marshall Jr. came off the bench and went on an 8-point run and showcased his 3-point shooting ability. However, the main star of the show was most certainly transfer Brandin Podziemski, the sophomore high school phenom delivered a show as he showcased his shot creating ability on the hardwood. Podziemski had 30 points shooting 9-20 from the field and 2-7 from 3-point range. The Wisconsin native had 5 steals and went 10-13 from the free throw line. Carlos Stewart, the sophomore from Louisiana played a starting role as well and scored 20 points going 7-18 from the field and 2-6 from beyond the arc. While Keshawn Justice did not have his best day going 1-10 from the field and tallying up 4 personal fouls, readers can expect greater things from the talented big man in the future as the team develops their chemistry. The Broncos won 84-72 and exhibited great rebounding on both sides of the court which allowed for extra opportunities but an area of improvement that they should look to build moving on is their shot efficiency as they shot at a 37% clip from the field and 32% from 3-point range. 

The Broncos played their second game of the opening week on November 10th at home and dominated the Georgia Southern Eagles winning 78-62. Powered by continued control of the glass with Podziemski having 4 offensive rebounds (!!!), the Broncos offense continued to take advantage of more scoring opportunities. Once again, the standout sophomore transfer Podziemski put up a ridiculous stat line shooting 10-16 from the field and 6-8 from beyond the arc. After his 30-point performance earlier in the week, he put 34 on top of Georgia Southern. The backcourt duo of Stewart and Podziemski continued to shine as Stewart had 14 points despite playing limited minutes due to foul trouble. The team collectively shot 43.6% from the field and 40.9% from 3, a large increase from the first game. While Podziemski’s scoring is a massive bright spot for the team, Keshawn Justice had another poor day as he went 0-9 from the field. The Broncos will certainly need Justice to get back in the swing of things if they hope to make an impact in conference play.

Looking behind the box score numbers can help gain a better perspective of how the team is performing. To do this, statistical analysis ratings were made to evaluate college basketball teams in comparison to the national landscape. Using Pomeroy Ratings on kenpom.com, college basketball teams are ranked based on their adjusted efficiency margin (AdjEM) which can determine how many points that a team could outscore the “average” Division 1 program by. Santa Clara is found ranked 104th in the country based on the past 2 games in AdjEM and are 5th out of the WCC teams behind Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, BYU, and San Francisco. Other key numbers to look at are Santa Clara’s offensive tempo which ranks 11th in the country, defense efficiency at 90th and offense efficiency at 136th. These numbers can help get a better understanding of how the team stands in relativity in the country and the conference. 

Head Coach Sendek has a tall task ahead of him in his 7th year of coaching the Broncos, but he may have struck gold with his transfer additions, the improvement of some of his younger players, and returning players. While improvements need to be made in offensive efficiency, it is still young in the season and the Bronco’s should continue to employ their young, dynamic scoring backcourt that is simply fun to watch. With the hopeful belief that senior leader Keshawn Justice will return to his form from last year, the Broncos could prove to be a dark horse candidate in the WCC and build upon the success of last year’s team. Watch out Gonzaga.