Gonzaga WCC opponent preview: Santa Clara has NCAA Tournament aspirations

With three decades of experience as a Division-I head coach under his belt, Herb Sendek has seen the landscape of college athletics experience a myriad of changes. But there’s no time like the present for Sendek as he navigates the Santa Clara men’s basketball program through unprecedented times.

“Most recently, I think we have had the most significant changes since I've been doing this,” Sendek said. “And it appears that we're not finished yet with some of the court cases that are pending; that could be very impactful. Conference realignment continues, so I think it's been the most significant time of change, and it doesn't appear that we're across the finish line yet.”

Some coaches who’ve been around the sport for just as long have walked away from the game in part because of changes like NIL and the transfer portal. Meanwhile, Sendek and the Broncos did what very few other programs around the country were able to do this offseason — they didn’t lose a single player to the portal. In fact, Santa Clara brought back 76.1% of its minutes from last season’s 20-win squad, though you won’t hear Sendek take any credit away from the players who decided to come back to school.

“We just have been really fortunate,” Sendek said. “I don't think we or anyone else is immune from turnover these days, and so I don't want to stand on a desk and boast about that, because I recognize that nobody is inoculated against turnover in today's college athletics role.”

Indeed, Sendek was on the opposite side of the coin this time a year ago when he brought back 35.8% of his minutes from the Brandin Podziemski-led 2022-23 team. Despite losing key veteran pieces, the Broncos won their first six games of the 2023-24 campaign. They lost six of their next nine, only to bounce back with a 6-1 start to West Coast Conference play that was highlighted by a home win over Gonzaga.

Unfortunately for Santa Clara, it still had to face Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga and San Francisco on the road in the last month of the regular season. Who knows how things would’ve played out in the standings if not for letdowns against San Diego and Portland in between, as the Broncos finished one game back of the Dons for third place when the dust settled. Nevertheless, Sendek and company pulled off a third-straight 20-win campaign and their fourth in the last five seasons.

“Anytime there's adversity you can either become stronger or you can crumble and our guys definitely did a great job of staying with the process,” Sendek said. “We had to reinvent ourselves several times on the fly. We really were hit hard with injuries. I think we were one of the teams hit hardest in the country, when you look at games and minutes lost due to injury, we were at the very top of that undesirable totem pole. But it allowed for us just to continue to try to figure out ways to be our best, and our guys maintained a great attitude and stayed with it, and ultimately put together a good season.”

In a world of college sports where dollar signs are everything, the Broncos are selling an opportunity to win and move onto the next level. Sendek and his coaching staff have helped develop two first-round NBA Draft picks in the last three years in Jalen Williams (2022, Oklahoma City Thunder) and Podziemski (2023, Golden State Warriors). Based on early mock drafts for 2025, it looks as if Santa Clara will send its third pro off in a four-span once the 2024-25 season comes to a close.

Here’s an in-depth look at the Broncos 2024-25 roster and schedule.

GUARDS:

It’s hard to overstate how important Adama Bal’s return to college for one more year was for the Broncos’ aspirations of breaking through to the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-7 French guard had the opportunity to fulfill the NBA Draft process and potentially hear his name get called on draft night, though he opted to run it back with Santa Clara for his final year of eligibility. Bal was named to the preseason All-WCC team after putting up 14.4 points per game.

“We were very supportive of him going through the process, testing the waters, if you will, to see if his draft status merited him leaving school year early,” Sendek said. “Ultimately as we gathered information and he went through the process, we agreed that it made more sense to come back for his senior year, and most certainly, we welcome him with open arms and look forward to him building on the great success that he had last year.”

With so much returning talent on the roster, Santa Clara’s coaching staff didn’t have to pull from the transfer portal as much as some other teams did. However, the one addition they did make could prove to be a significant one, as Carlos Stewart transferred back to Santa Clara this offseason following his one year back home in Louisiana at LSU. The 6-foot-1 senior was an All-WCC player for Sendek in 2022-23, and heading into 2024-25, he earned preseason all-conference honors from the coaches.

Before joining the Tigers last season, Stewart put up 15.2 points per game and shot 40.3% from behind the arc with the Broncos as a sophomore.

Redshirt junior Brenton Knapper stepped up big with 16 points in that January win over the Bulldogs, though the 6-foot-tall guard dealt with his share of injuries as well. He averaged 6.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists while knocking down 38.5% of his 3-point attempts. Along with 6-foot-5 senior Tyeree Bryan (39.2% on 3-point looks in 2023-24), the Broncos’ backcourt can light it up from behind the arc on a moment’s notice.

“Brenton is the consummate teammate,” Sendek said. “He's the ultimate team player. He is all in, he's unselfish. He is a guy who has a big say in our culture. He's been with us now, this will be his fourth year, and he's a true point guard. He’s one of those guys who's very comfortable in his role of running a team, being a playmaker. Certainly he can shoot and score when the opportunity presents itself, but he's a true point guard.”

Sophomore Christian Hammond looks to build off the momentum he ended last season with, as the 6-foot-4 Arizona native scored 13 points in the WCC semifinal against Saint Mary’s to close his first year of college basketball. He figures to round out the backcourt with 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore Kosy Akametu, who played only seven games last season due to injury.

WINGS:

Another redshirt sophomore, 6-foot-9 German wing Jake Ensminger, earned a spot on the all-conference freshman team as the Broncos’ top rebounder in WCC play. He also had four consecutive games with 10 or more rebounds, including back-to-back double-doubles against San Francisco and Pacific. Depending on how Santa Clara deploys its guards in the lineup, Ensminger can play both the “3” and “4” spots for Sendek.

Camaron Tongue, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound senior, is the only player on the roster who’s played all four years at Santa Clara. Tongue does most of his damage around the rim, as he shot 52-of-97 (53.6%) from the field last season with over 75% of those attempts coming at the rim.

Stewart might’ve been Santa Clara’s only addition from the Division-I level, though it also added two talented newcomers to its frontcourt in 6-foot-7 junior Elijah Mahi (West Valley College) and 6-foot-9 incoming freshman Allen Graves from Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Graves was named the 2023-24 Gatorade Louisiana Boys Basketball Player of the Year — the same award Stewart took home as a senior at The Dunham School in 2021. Mahi, who’s from Toronto, Canada, was the California Player of the Year after averaging 17.5 points and 6.6 rebounds.

FORWARDS/CENTERS:

Santa Clara ranked No. 2 in the WCC in rebounds behind only Saint Mary’s last season, thanks in part to the frontcourt tandem of Johnny O’Neil and Christoph Tilly.

O’Neil, a 6-foot-10, 215-pound senior who transferred from American University, led the team in total boards with 182. He chipped in over 11 points per game on top of his efforts on the glass and ranked in the top 10 in the WCC in block percentage during league play (3.4%, seventh-best).

Tilly earned an All-WCC honorable mention nod after averaging over 10 points in league play last season. The 7-foot, 240-pound German forward posted 13 double-figure scoring efforts, highlighted by a career-high of 22 against Portland. Tilly also had 18 points and eight rebounds in Santa Clara’s loss to Gonzaga in Spokane.

Sendek and the coaching staff have an intriguing prospect in 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman Bukky Oboye. The Houston, Texas, native started his high school basketball career as a 6-foot-4 point guard, before a massive growth spurt made him into more of a frontcourt player. Oboye was rated as a three-star prospect according to ESPN and the No. 28-ranked high school player in Texas.

Luke McEldon could also see some time on the floor during his sophomore season. The 6-foot-10 forward from London played 11 games as a true freshman.

WRAP IT UP:

Prior to last season, Santa Clara hadn’t won 20 games in three consecutive seasons since the 1980s. It’s never won 20 or more in four straight years before, though based on the continuity, depth and experience the 2024-25 team possesses, there’s a chance Sendek and company make even more important history this season.

With Bal and Stewart leading the way, the Broncos could be in the at-large bid conversation if they can take advantage of some of their more prominent nonconference games. Knocking off pieces of the armor on Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s would certainly help the NCAA Tournament case as well, though more importantly avoiding losses to sub-200 KenPom teams in league play too. Put all that together, and Santa Clara could be dancing for the first time since 1996.

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