Nov. 20, 2006

Next Up for the Broncos
Santa Clara University heads up to the East Bay to take on the California Golden Bears on Monday night at Haas Pavilion. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. PT and can be seen on Comcast Sports Net or heard on 1220 KNTS. The two teams have not met since 2001 when Cal pulled out a 67-60 victory. The Broncos are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2002-03 following their 83-72 win over Utah over the weekend.

Last Game for the Broncos
The Broncos won in impressive fashion in their first big test of the 2006-07 campaign. SCU overcame an early seven-point deficit to defeat the University of Utah Utes 83-72 at the Leavey Center. Sean Denison led the way with a career high 20 points, while Calvin Johnson chipped in with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Danny Pariseau contribued 12 points and eight assists while not committing a turnover. The Broncos led by as many as 15 points in the second half.

Head Coach Dick Davey
In his 15th season as the head coach at Santa Clara, Dick Davey has compiled a career record of 232-180 (112-84 WCC), which includes three 20-win seasons. Davey has also posted a 131-58 record at home for a .693 winning percentage. He owns the most WCC wins among active coaches and is the first Bronco coach to lead Santa Clara to four 10-plus win seasons in WCC play. A three-time conference Coach of the Year, Davey has coached Santa Clara to three regular season league titles, one WCC Tournament title, three NCAA Tournament appearances and five wins over top-25 teams. Davey served as a Bronco assistant for 15 seasons (1977-92) under former head coach and athletic director Carroll Williams and is a member of the prestigious Board of Directors for the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Bronco's 100th Season
2006-07 marks the 100th season of men's basketball at Santa Clara. The basketball team at Santa Clara first started in 1905 and became a varsity sport in 1917-18. In their 99 seasons, SCU has had seven All-Americans, 15 postseason appearances (11 NCAA, 4 NIT), three WCC Coaches of the Year, and one visit to the Final Four (1951-52). In 2006-07, the Broncos again face some of the top competition in the country as they attempt to earn their 16 postseason appearance.

SCU vs. California
Series Record: Cal leads 43-28
First Meeting: SCU 28-16 win in 1918-19
Record at SCU: Cal leads 15-9
Record at Cal: Cal leads 23-15
Record at Neutral Site: Cal leads 5-4
Biggest SCU Win: 44-23, 1930-31
Biggest Cal Win: 43-12, 1926-27
Dick Davey vs. Cal: 1-3
Notes: Cal won the last meeting between the teams 67-60 on Nov. 20, 2001 at Haas Pavilion ... SCU has faced Cal four times in the Dick Davey era with Broncos lone win coming in 1993-94 at Cal (12/4/93) ... That game in 1993 featured a point guard dual between two future NBA All-Stars Steve Nash and Jason Kidd ... Dick Davey was an assistant coach at Cal under Dick Roberts for five years before coming to Santa Clara in 1977 ... Bronco Athletic Director Dan Coonan formerly worked at Cal serving as executive associate athletics director prior to arriving at Santa Clara in August of 2004.

Hot Shooting From Field and Line
The Broncos had an excellent game shooting the ball against Utah on Saturday night. Overall, the team shot 60 percent from the floor and 92 percent from the free-throw line, while also making 50 percent of its three-point attempts. On the season, SCU is shooting 54 percent from the field and 84 percent from the line. Mitch Henke leads the way shooting an incredible 73 percent in the first two games.

Pariseau Makes Instant Impact
Senior transfer Danny Pariseau has made an immediate impact this season for the Broncos. Through two games, the former Eastern Washington point guard has dished out 15 assists and committed only one turnover, while also averaging 9.5 points per game.

2-0 For First Time Since 2002-03
By beating the Utah Utes on Saturday, SCU is off to its first 2-0 start since 2002-03. The team started out 3-0 that season.

Broncos vs. Pac-10
Under Dick Davey the Broncos have played at least one Pac-10 school every season of his tenure except 1996-07. SCU has posted a 9-18 record in 27 games against the Pac-10 since 1992.

Bryant Doing It All
Bronco center John Bryant filled up the scoresheet on Saturday against Utah. He scored only six points, but set a career highs with four assists and two steals, while also making two blocks.

Injury Update
Senior guard Joey Kaempf is available to play again after missing one game due to a concussion. He suffered the concussion in the team's exhibition game on Nov. 12 against Notre Dame de Namur. He missed the Holy Names game on Nov. 14, but was cleared prior to Saturday night's game against Utah.

Sharing the Ball
Santa Clara had a great night passing the ball against Utah on Saturday as the team piled up 25 assists on the night on 32 field goals. That total is the highest total in one game since Dec. 1, 2003 against Holy Names. Danny Pariseau led the way with eight, while Brody Angley chipped in with five. Mitch Henke and John Bryant had four apiece.

Welcome Back
The Broncos welcome two key players back for the 2006-07 season as both Scott Dougherty and Trsitan Parham are healthy again after injuries wiped out their 2005-06 campaigns. A foot injury kept Dougherty out all season. As a sophomore in 2004-05, he saw action in 29 games. Parham played only two games last season in what was to be his final season, but he was granted a medical redshirt due to a knee injury.

First Double-Double
After a breakout sophomore season, junior Mitch Henke continued his strong play in season opener against Holy Names as he scored 11 points and hauled in 11 rebounds to post his first career double-double. The 11 rebounds were also a career high for Henke.

Familiar Face
Bronco fans may recognize a familier face on the Broncos staff this season. Jamie Holmes, who played four seasons for the Broncos before graduating in 2001, is now the team's director of basketball operations. Holmes averaged 9.8 points per game for his career, including 13.6 his senior season. In his final year, he helped lead SCU to a 20-win season playing alongside the school's No. 3 all-time leading scorer, Brian Jones. Following his time at Santa Clara, Holmes played professionally overseas, including stops in the Netherlands and Australia.

Moving to the Four
After three seasons playing center for the Broncos, senior Sean Denison makes the shift this season to the power forward position, while sophomore John Bryant and junior Josh Higgins man the middle. Denison is looking for a big final season at SCU after increasing both his scoring and rebounding averages in each of his first three seasons. He has gotten off to a good start, averaging 16 points per game through two games this season.

Experienced
The Broncos are lucky to count on five fifth-year players on this season's roster. Scott Dougherty, Joey Kaempf, Tristan Parham, Danny Pariseau and Brandon Rohe all entered college in the fall of 2002. Due to injuries or redshirting, all five players still remain and hope to make an impact in their final season at SCU. While Dougherty technically has another year of eligibility left, he may finish his career this season.

Angley Aims For Top 10
Junior point guard Brody Angley has nine assists on the season, giving him 232 career assists and leaving him less than 100 assists away from cracking the Broncos all-time top 10 in that category. He needs 77 assists to pass Chris Lane (1984-88) and move into 10th all time.

Henke Makes the Leap
Of all the players that showed consideable improvement last season, Mitch Henke stands out above the rest. From his freshman to sophomore season, Henke improved his scoring average from 2.1 to 9.4 and started all 29 games after starting just one game as a freshman. Henke also bumped his rebounding total up from 1.9 to 5.6 while handing out 68 assists as a sophomore. He nearly posted a triple-double against Loyola Marymount at home, putting up 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He was the team's third leading scorer and one of the top three-point shooters. The Edina, Minn. native will look to have an even better year as a junior in 2006-07.

Brother in College Basketball
Junior Mitch Henke has a brother that is also competing in Division I college basketball. Junior Micth Henke's brother, Andrew, is a sophomore on the Air Force Academy men's basketball team. He appeared in 25 games as a freshman. Air Force is one of the teams in this year's Cable Car Classic, so if both the Broncos and the Falcons win, Mitch and Andrew will go head to head in the championship game on Dec. 29.

2007 Recruiting Class Signed
The Santa Clara Broncos have assembled one of their top recruiting classes in recent memory for the upcoming school year as they signed four highly-touted players to national letters of intent in the early signing period. F Ben Dowdell (North Nowra, NSW, Australia), G Zac Tiedeman (Santa Rosa, Calif.), F Scott Thompson (Meridian, Idaho) and F Andrew Zimmerman (Oostburg, Wis.) will all arrive on the Mission Campus in the fall of 2007. The new class should provide depth at point guard, small forward and power forward.

One of SCU Top Freshmen Big Men Ever?
"Big" John Bryant joined some pretty elite company with his rebounding and blocked shots stats through his first season as a college player. His 37 blocks surpassed Michael Norman (32 in 1980-81) as the most-ever for a Bronco freshman and his 180 rebounds are third on the list for SCU freshmen. Kurt Rambis (1976-77) is the all-time freshman rebounding leader with 313 and has the freshman single-game record with 22 against Saint Mary's. The former Los Angeles Laker also holds the freshmen record with 10 blocks against San Francisco. In addition, Bryant's field goal percentage of .590 is fourth-best on the single-season Bronco list for first-year players.

Re-Writing The Freshman Record Books
Bryant wasn't the only Bronco freshman last year who made an assault on the Broncos record books. Guard Calvin Johnson ranked third in freshman three-point field goals (41) and fourth in attempts (122). The Morton, Texas native tied the school's freshman single-game record, held by Steve Nash and Brandon Rohe, with six treys against Cal Poly. He also ranks sixth on the list for most steals by a freshman (29) and fifth in three-point percentage (.336).

WCC's Best Backfield?
The Broncos guard duo of Brody Angley and Calvin Johnson just might be one of the best football backfields in college basketball once again. The two combined for more than 11,000 yards of total offense in high school. Angley was the Northern Section's career leader with 4,650 total yards at Enterprise (Redding, Calif.) HS. Johnson was an all-state quarterback and defensive back at Class A Morton (Texas) HS. He passed for 3,661 yards and rushed for 2,766 in two seasons and led the Indians to two playoff appearances.

Four Starters Back
Santa Clara has four out of its five starters back for the 2006-07 season as Brody Angley, Sean Denison, Mitch Henke and Calvin Johnson are all back after starting most of the games last year. This year's expected fifth starter, John Bryant, does not lack experience as he appeared in 29 games and started 14 as a freshman in 2005-06.

Kaempf Back Again
Last season, walk-on Joey Kaempf was one of the feel-good stories of the year, earning a spot on the team after impressing coaches in a preseason game pitting a group of current students against some aspiring walk-ons. Kaempf impressed the coaches so much that they invited him to join the team even though he was not officially trying out. In his first season as a senior, Kaempf appeared in 24 games and started five. In the final game of the year against Saint Mary's at the WCC Tournament, he scored 21 points and pulled down seven rebounds. After such an inspiring season, the political science major opted to return to SCU for a fifth year in 2006-07.

Back With KNTS
The Broncos and KNTS have partnered for the third straight season to bring Bronco basketball to the Bay Area airwaves. Santa Clara will have most of its men's basketball games broadcast live on KNTS, including a 30-minute pre-game show. All games will be available on the Internet at SantaClaraBroncos.com.

Television Appearances
Santa Clara will be making a number of national television appearances in 2006-07 as ESPN ramps up its coverage of the WCC. The Broncos are scheduled to appear three times on ESPN channels. SCU appears on ESPNU on Jan. 29 against the Pepperdine Waves and on Feb. 5 against the University of San Francisco Dons. Both games tip off at 8:00 p.m. PT. Santa Clara will then appear on ESPN2 on Feb. 12 at Gonzaga at 9:00 p.m. PT. The Broncos regional television package will be announced in the near future.

Doing It With Defense
Observers of SCU hoops over the years know that defense has always been the cornerstone of the program. Last season's squad, despite games against the likes of North Carolina, Oregon and Mississippi State, among others, quietly posted some of solid defensive statistics. The team limited opponents to a league-leading .407 shooting and averaging 3.4 blocks (both the best in the Dick Davey era) and 6.6 steals per game.

Davey Wins At Home
Dick Davey owns a 131-58 home record in his 15-year career at Santa Clara for a .693 winning percentage. He recorded a 73-27 (.730) record in Toso Pavilion and has a 58-31 (.652) mark in the Leavey Center since the state-of-the-art building "re-opened" on Dec. 13, 2000.