SANTA CLARA, Calif. – If one were to sit down, take a sip of coffee and begin crunching some season stat numbers for Santa Clara men's basketball in 2022-23, that individual would find themselves writing the phrase "first time since…" over and over and over. And that's a good thing. What the Broncos have achieved up to this point of the season has been nothing short of phenomenal.
And while the 2022-23 campaign is far from over – SCU is just starting to pack their bags for Las Vegas where they will begin their stay at the West Coast Conference Tournament beginning with Saturday's quarterfinal round – the accomplishments and accolades achieved during the regular season alone deserve to be celebrated.
Fortunately, we have sat down and crunched the numbers ourselves so that you don't have to (with many coffees downed in the process).
We'll start with the stat that matters most – wins. The Broncos posted 23 wins in the regular season, their most since the 1968-69 NCAA Tournament participant squad won 25. Those 23 wins are also already tied for the fourth-most in an entire season in program history.
(For those that are curious – the school record for total wins is 27 by that same 1968-69 squad.)
Of SCU's 23 wins, 11 came in WCC play. It's their most conference wins since 1994-95 when the Broncos were WCC regular-season champions with a 12-2 record.
With an 11-5 record, Santa Clara finished No. 3 in the league standings for the second-consecutive season. It's the first time since (catching the theme yet?) 2000-01 and 2001-02 that SCU has finished third or better in consecutive years.
The Broncos have posted back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time since the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons when a certain future NBA Hall of Famer was running the offense. Even more impressive is the fact that they have three 20-win seasons over the last four years, which includes the shortened 2020-21 year in which SCU only played in 20 total games due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the first time with three 20-win campaigns in a four-year stretch since Carroll Williams guided the Broncos to three-straight 20-win seasons from 1982-83 through 1984-85.
Santa Clara has 76 combined wins since 2019-20 – the most since that same Williams-led stretch from 1981-82 through 1984-85 when the Broncos tallied 79 total victories. It currently ranks as the third-winningest four-year stretch in program history.
- 85 wins from 1966-67 through 1969-70
- 79 wins from 1981-83 through 1984-85
- 76 wins from 2019-20 through 2022-23
Of course, if you talk about the wins, you also have to talk about the losses – or rather the lack of them. SCU's eight regular-season losses this year are their fewest since 2006-07 when the Broncos also lost just eight games prior to the WCC Tournament.
The Broncos got hot when they needed to the most by closing out the regular season with seven-consecutive victories over conference opponents. That is the longest win streak overall since 1997-98 (7-straight) and the longest in league play since the 1994-95 team won eight of their final 10 games vs. WCC opponents.
Turning our attention now to the scoring numbers, Santa Clara is averaging 77.3 points per game and has 2,395 total points on the year – sixth-most in program history. The Broncos have tallied 14 games with 80-plus points and are 13-1 in such cases.
If we were to turn our 'First Time Since…' piece into a novel, an entire chapter would have to be dedicated to sophomore guard Brandin Podziemski – a player Bronco, WCC and college basketball fans in general need no introduction to. For a quick reference guide, here's a look at some of the Illinois transfer's accolades:
- WCC Co-Player of the Year (first since John Bryant in 2008-09)
- WCC Newcomer of the Year (first since Jared Brownridge in 2013-14)
- First Team All-WCC
- 4x WCC Player of the Week (most in school history)
- 12 double-doubles (most in WCC this season and most by a Bronco since Bryant in 2008-09).
Simply put, Herb Sendek's decision to bring in the Greenfield, Wisc., product from the transfer portal has paid off big-time. Podziemski has 596 points on the year and with four more will become just the fourth player in program history with 600 points in a single season.
- Kevin Foster (2x) – 766 (2010-11) and 732 (2012-13)
- Jared Brownridge – 640 (2015-16)
- Dennis Awtrey (2x) – 619 (1968-69) and 614 (1969-70)
Podziemski, the first player in WCC history to win both Player and Newcomer of the Year in the same season, led the WCC in rebounds per game in league play (8.9) and was second in points per game at 21.4, as well as 3-point shooting at 51.2 percent. Overall, he is averaging 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 44.5 percent from 3-point range. "Podz" is one of just three players in NCAA D1 this season averaging 19/8/3 and has done so while playing in more games (30) than his two counterparts – Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis (27) and Chattanooga's Jake Stephens (20).
Podziemski was one of the three Broncos to earn a spot on the 2022-23 All-WCC Team with fellow sophomore guard Carlos Stewart earning a first team nod and team captain Keshawn Justice being named a second team selection for the second-consecutive season. It's the second straight year that SCU has put multiple players on the first team (Jalen Williams and Josip Vrankic).
But now is the time for Santa Clara to close the book on the regular season and all the great things they accomplished in it, and turn their full attention to what comes next – namely a quarterfinal game in the WCC Tournament on Saturday. The Broncos received a bye to advance straight to the quarterfinal round for the second-straight season (last time that happened was in 2015-16 and 2016-17).
What lies beyond the annual tournament in Las Vegas is anyone's guess, but with a 23-8 overall record, there's a pretty good chance that we will be using the phrase 'first time since…' once again very soon.
