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LOCATION: Santa Clara, CA
CONFERENCE: West Coast
LAST SEASON: 14-15 (.483)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 8-6 (4th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 0/5
NICKNAME: Broncos
COLORS: Bronco Red & White
HOMECOURT: Toso Pavilion (5,000)
COACH: Dick Davey (Pacific '64)
record at school 121-78 (7 years)
career record 121-78 (7 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Steve Seandel (San Jose St. '81)
Vic Couch (Santa Clara '85)
Antonio Veloso (Santa Clara '96)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 21-20-16-18-14
RPI (last 5 years) 51-32-109-80-145
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference final.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Call it The Revenge of the Broncos. Player-of-the-Year candidate Brian Jones is back in the lineup at Santa Clara. That means Dick Davey's team will chase Gonzaga for the league title after suffering through an uncharacteristic sub-.500 season. Davey won't admit this, of course, but then this is a guy who would downplay his chances if he had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center and Michael Jordan at shooting guard. Psst, hey coach . . . in a preseason WCC poll, Santa Clara was picked No. 2 behind the giant-killer Gonzaga, with San Francisco and Saint Mary's giving chase. If the league race comes down to what happens in the two rivals' matchups, the dates to remember are Jan. 15 and Feb. 25. Talk about the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The point guard matchup is first-rate, with Gonzaga's Matt Santangelo squaring off with Jones. And it doesn't drop off much at off-guard, where Gonzaga's Richie Frahm takes on Nathan Fast.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B+ BENCH/DEPTH C
FRONTCOURT C INTANGIBLES B+
Yes, the Broncos will be "adequate" this year. They may be adequate enough to win the WCC Tournament title and make another trip to the NCAA Tournament. It all depends on Jones' health, and the ability of a less-than-imposing Santa Clara front line to come through. If form holds true, then Gonzaga meets Santa Clara in the tournament final on ESPN, then two of the nation's top backcourts will do battle. But March is a long way off, and coach Dick Davey is wary of San Francisco, St. Mary's, and Pepperdine. We like Santa Clara's chances to finish second in a close race with the Gonzaga. Then let the fun begin in the tournament. After all, the Broncos will be on their home floor. |
But we're getting ahead of the story. The big news at Santa Clara is the return of the 6-3 Jones, a junior all-WCC pick who averaged 15.6 points as a sophomore in '97-98. Jones redshirted last season after suffering a dislocated right kneecap and bone and tissue damage while playing in a summer league game on June 30, 1998. It isn't a stretch to say when Jones went down, so did Santa Clara. But after 500 hours of rehabilitation, Jones is ready to re-establish himself as a dominant offensive force in the league. In two seasons, he scored more points (812) than any player in school history, including Steve Nash, Kurt Rambis and Harold Keeling. "He helps us in every way possible," Davey said. "He seems to be 100 percent knock on wood." Jones has scored in double figures in all but nine of his 55 career games. He has a rare combination of size, speed, and explosiveness to the basket that makes him nearly impossible to cover one-on-one. "He's so strong, and so confident," Portland coach Rob Chavez said. "He can shoot from outside, he can penetrate. He's a good leader. He's got toughness. He's got a lot of characteristics that you want in a player. As an opposing coach, you just try to keep the ball out of his hands." Fast (15.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 60 assists, 29 steals) is the 6-4 senior off-guard who gives Santa Clara one of the top backcourts in the WCC. He was first-team all-WCC last season. He has elevated his game significantly in two years and become a feared threat from the perimeter. Fast scored in double figures in 25 of 29 games, including two 25-point efforts against heavyweights UCLA and Syracuse. He was, said the Broncos' staff, the most consistent player in an up-and-down season. Opposing defenses swarmed him, but he still averaged 18.3 points over the last nine games of the season and rarely seemed to take a bad shot. The guy who helped keep the Broncos afloat last season is back, too. Delano D'Oyen was the 6-foot point guard who had the impossible task of replacing the injured Jones. D'Oyen (9.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 96 assists, 24 steals) enters his junior season with a school-record .411 three-point percentage. D'Oyen will slip back into a reserve role, but he will be a valuable asset off the bench with his scoring touch. In the first two games of the WCC Tournament last season, he made 9 of 12 three-pointers in victories over Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. The starting forwards should be 6-7 junior Todd Wuschnig (8.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and 6-3 senior Darrell Teat (11.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg). Wuschnig is a fifth-year senior who has started 53 of a possible 57 games over two seasons and led the team in rebounding twice in three years. Teat was the Broncos' second-leading scorer and fourth-leading rebounder when he made 20 starts at small forward. He came to Santa Clara after two years at West Valley (Calif.) Junior College and immediately stepped into a leadership role. He shot just .318 from three-point range last season, but he is regarded as one of the best outside shooters on the team. Santa Clara has a hole in the middle because of the loss of 6-9 center Alex Lopez (10.7 ppg). Coaches would like to see 6-9 senior Jamie Holmes (6.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg) fill the spot, but Holmes' health remains a question because of chronic swelling in his right knee. The other options are 6-8 senior Chris Gomes (1.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and 6-11 sophomore David Emslie (1.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg). Davey, notorious for being tight-lipped about his team's chances, doesn't exactly gush about the Broncos' chances at winning a championship. "If our interior play steps up a little bit, we could be adequate," he said. Adequate? The Broncos will be more than adequate as they try to become the first host team to win the WCC Tournament. The event is an annual fixture at Toso Pavilion. The Broncos, sans Jones, did advance to the WCC final against Gonzaga before they were dissected 91-66. Logic says a rematch would be much closer this season. "You have to look at Gonzaga as the favorite," Davey said, "but USF's going to have the best team they've had in a long time. And Saint Mary's, obviously, is in there if (center) Brad Millard stays healthy. He's a real force." Santa Clara knows all about upset NCAA victories remember Arizona? and Davey loved it when Gonzaga toppled the form charts and became the nation's Cinderella team in March. "They give you hope, you know?" Davey said. "It shows that maybe there's an opportunity for the smaller schools to have success when you have the type of chemistry and effort Gonzaga puts into it. "We're on the cusp," Davey said of the WCC. "We're a league that's not considered major-major but we can beat some of the majors. It's hard for us to schedule games because a lot of the bigger teams want to play lesser opponents and get sure wins."
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