Nov. 8, 2007

Complete Weekly Release in PDF Format

Next Game
Santa Clara hosts Cal State Monterey Bay in the season-opener for both teams Friday night at the Leavey Center. SCU is looking to get the season started on the right foot in its only home game in the month of November. The Otters follow up the game against Santa Clara with a game against another West Coast Conference foe, San Diego, before beginning their Division II schedule. Catch all the action between the Broncos and the Otters at SantaClaraBroncos.com at 7 p.m. PT.

Last Season
The Broncos are coming off a strong 21-10 season and a 10-4 mark in West Coast Conference play. The team posted a 10-5 mark in non-conference games and had four players earn All-WCC honors, Sean Denison (Co--Player of the Year), Scott Dougherty (All-WCC), Danny Pariseau (All-WCC) and Brody Angley (All-WCC HM). Angley and John Bryant are the only two starters that return from last year's team that reached the WCC Tournament Championship Game.

Head Coach Kerry Keating
Santa Clara University named Kerry Keating head coach on April 6, 2007. In his first season on the Mission Campus, Keating, 36, comes to SCU with a long coaching backgroud at a number of top programs. Most recently, Keating helped UCLA reach back-to-back Final Fours as an assistant coach on Ben Howland's staff in Westwood. He has also served as an assistant at Tennessee, Tulsa, Appalachian State, Seton Hall, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

Season Openers
Santa Clara has won three straight season-opening games. The Broncos defeated Holy Names last year, while knocking of CSU Stanislaus in 2005-06 and Duquesne in 2004-05.

Angley In Top 10
Senior point guard Brody Angley had 119 assists last season, giving him 342 career assists. He is now in eighth all-time at SCU after passing Chris Lane (1984-88), Mitch Burley (1985-89) and Melvin Chinn (1988-92). Harold Keeling (1981-85) ranks seventh with 344.

Angley More Top 10's
Brody Angley also finds himself in the Top 10 all-time in steals at SCU with 125 after making 39 steals a year ago. Along with steals, Angley should find himself in the Top 10 all-time in games started as well. The Redding, Calif. native enters the year with 80 starts, six shy of Londale Theus (1976-80), who started 86 games. Angley has an opportunity to end his career second all-time if he starts 28 games this season. The all-time leader is Brian Jones (1996-01) with 116 starts. Kurt Rambis (1976-80) is second with 107.

Bryant Moving Up
Center John Bryant blocked 49 shots last season, surpassing his 37 from the 2005-06 season. Bryant's 49 blocks are the third highest single season total in school history. He surpassed Jens Gordon (1987-88), who had 48. For his career, Bryant now has 86 blocks, a total that places him fourth all-time in blocks in SCU history. He is seven behind Kurt Rambis (1976-80), who had 93 in his career.

Assistant Coaches: Young and Experienced
Santa Clara's assistant coaches, Lamont Smith, Sam Scuilli and Sam Scholl are all under 40 years old, but they are some of the most experienced coaches when it comes to the West Coast Conference. The trio has over 30 years of combined coaching and playing experience in WCC games.

Newcomers
The 2007-08 Broncos are young team. The team features 10 newcomers and eight freshmen on the roster. Only four players on the team averaged more than 10 minutes a game in 2006-07, Brody Angley, John Bryant, Mitch Henke and Josh Higgins.

Injury Update
Santa Clara has been hit by the injury bug during the preseason, as a number of players have missed practice time due to injuries. Right now, the team has three players out of action due to injury. Senior Josh Higgins has a left knee injury that will keep him out of the lineup for 4-5 weeks. Freshman Andrew Zimmermann has been battling a back problem during the preseason and is also out for SCU. Finally, freshman Scott Thompson is still recovering from an appendectomy and is unavailable for the Broncos.

Big D
Santa Clara led the conference last year by allowing just 63.1 points per game and holding opponents to .398 shooting. The Broncos had not led the league in scoring defense since 1991 when they allowed 70.0 ppg. 63.1 is the lowest point total allowed in the WCC since 2000 when San Diego held opponents to 62.6 ppg. 2006-07 marked the second straight year that SCU led the league in field percentage defense. The team held opponents to .406 shooting last year.

Conference D
SCU played great defense in conference games also, allowing 63.9 points per game, while holding opponents to .394 shooing. Both marks led the league. The Broncos had not led the league in defense since 1997 when opponents scored 63.0 ppg vs. SCU. They had not led the league in field goal percentage defense since 1999 when opponents shot .403.

WCC Leaders in 2006-07
Individually and as a team, Santa Clara rankedamong the best in the West Coast Conference in a number of statistical categories in all games last year. As a team, SCU was first scoring defense (63.1), field goal percentage defense (.398), rebounding margin (+5.2), and assists (15.16). The Broncos were second in field goal percentage (.464) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.02) . Sean Denison was first in the conference in field goal percentage at .591, while John Bryant (.528) was fifth. Bryant was seventh in rebounding at 6.7 per game, while Denison was eighth at 6.3. Bryant finished fourth in blocks at 1.58 per game. Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley were second and fourth in assists at 4.74 and 3.84 respectively. Pariseau and Angley were second and third in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.10 and 1.68 respectively. Scott Dougherty and Pariseau were third and sixth in 3-point field goal percentage at .420 and .404 respectively.

All-WCC
The Broncos had a number of players earn All-WCC accolades a year ago. Senior Sean Denison was named Co-Player of the Year and All-WCC First Team. The last Bronco to win the POY award was Marlon Garnett in 1997. Seniors Scott Dougherty and Danny Pariseau also earned spots on the first team and Pariseau became the first Bronco ever to be named WCC Newcomer of the Year. Junior Brody Angley was named All-WCC Honorable Mention. Santa Clara had never had three first-team All-WCC players in one season. In 1968-69, SCU had two All-WCC First Team players, Dennis Awtrey and Bud Ogden, and one second team selection, Ralph Ogden. In 1980, the WCC eliminated the second team all conference and put 10 players on the first team.

Academic Broncos
Santa Clara had four players named to the WCC All-Acamic team last year. Scott Dougherty, Mitch Henke, Joey Kaempf and Danny Pariseau all earned the honor. Henke was also named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII.

Bryant Leads Way
Sophomore John Bryant had a stellar end to last season for SCU in the WCC Tournament. He netted 13 points and had six rebounds in the championship game against Gonzaga, while also recording three blocked shots. In the semifinals, he scored 14 points in a win over Saint Mary's, while grabbing six rebounds and recording two blocks. On the final weekend of the regular season, he started his hot streak. He scored 20 points to tie a career high against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 24 and followed that effort with 26 against Pepperdine on Feb. 26. He also grabbed 13 rebounds against the Waves for his fifth double-double of the year.

Biggest Crowd
Santa Clara and Kentucky played in front of 21,961 fans on Dec. 19. That crowd is the largest crowd that Santa Clara has ever played in front of for a regular season game. The previous record was 20,225, set on Dec. 17, 2005 at the Dean E. Smith Center against the University of North Carolina.

Snapping Streak
Santa Clara had lost four straight games against Saint Mary's in the WCC Tournament prior to the game on March 4, 2007, including losses in 2005 and 2006. SCU snapped that losing streak with its 63-47 win.

VS. WAC Opponents
The Broncos played four Western Athletic Conference opponents last year and finished with a 3-1 record against them, beating San Jose State, Hawai'i and Utah State while losing to the Nevada Wolfpack. Against the eight current members of the WAC, SCU has earned a 154-71 record.

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. Angley was recruited in high school by California's head coach Jeff Tedford. 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.

Former Broncos Still Active
A number of former Santa Clara players are still plying their trade on the hardwood, including NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash for the Phoenix Suns. Here is a list of former Broncos still playing professionally:

Kyle Bailey - Ulm, Germany
Sean Denison - Tofas - Turkey
Brian Jones - Plus Pujol, Spain
Marlon Garnett - KK Split, Croatia
Steve Nash - Phoenix Suns, NBA
J.R. Patrick - Al Ahli, KSA
Doron Perkins - Bree, Belgium
Steve Ross - ASVEL, France
Jason Sedlock - Mt. Gambier, Australia

Four Sweeps
Santa Clara swept the season series from San Diego with its 80-72 win on Feb. 17, 2007. Santa Clara swept four WCC teams for the first time since 2000-01. During both of those years, SCU swept Portland, USF and Saint Mary's. In 2000-01, the Broncos also swept Loyola Marymount.

Steak Busters
Santa Clara snapped Gonzaga's 50-game home court winning streak with its 84-73 win on Feb. 12, 2007. Gonzaga also had a 56-game winning streak in Spokane broken that included games played at the Spokane Arena.

Leading the WCC
The Broncos shot .421 from 3-point range to lead the WCC in that category for the first time in school history last year. SCU also led the league in assists per game at 15.14.

Last Win at Gonzaga
Santa Clara had not won at Gonzaga since Feb. 24, 1996 prior to its 84-73 win on Feb. 12. The Broncos had lost 10 straight games in Spokane to the Zags. Overall, SCU snapped a 13-game losing streak to Gonzaga with the win. The last win against Gonzaga came on Feb. 22, 2001.

Exhibition Recap
Santa Clara fell 69-68 in its first exhibition game to CSU Stanislaus on Nov. 5 at the Leavey Center. John Bryant led SCU with 25 points and seven rebounds in the loss, while Mitch Henke added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.