Home. It’s a great place to be and it couldn’t come at a better time for our team after traveling close to 8,000 miles to start our season. Having fallen short against UAB at Arizona and then traveling the next week in back-to-back games in Athens, Ga., against Georgia and Arizona definitely took its toll on our young team, many of which are learning to handle college basketball for the first time. If we were playing horseshoes we would be a really good team right now. But close doesn’t cut it in college basketball, so we are really happy that we were able to bounce back last week with three straight wins after opening the season down four.

Our staff is really proud of our young team for battling hard with Georgia and Arizona; and having the wherewithal and focus to then win two on the road. The wins came first at Montana, a historically difficult place to play, and then against our cross-town rival, at San Jose State. Coming back home to play Sacramento State right before exams was a challenge in itself and we played well enough on the defensive end to come out with the win.

Today marks the end of the exam period and the first academic quarter; and tomorrow will be the start of one of the best times of the season: four straight weeks with no class and all basketball! We are looking forward to continued improvement, as upcoming games during this stretch will present many challenges. We also know at the end of those four weeks starts our annual challenge of competing in the West Coast Conference, which maybe the strongest it has been for some time.

I would ask our supporters, alumni and fans to gear up for some exciting home contests this month. Starting tomorrow night against Notre Dame de Namur, vs. Stanford on Dec. 23 and the 42nd annual Cable Car Classic this season including UTEP, Belmont and James Madison on Dec. 29 and 30.

Also note on Dec. 29 we will be retiring former Bronco great Kurt Rambis’ jersey. Kurt, who wore No. 34, has been the all-time leading scorer for more than two decades upon his Santa Clara graduation. He has been a great representative for the Broncos both as a professional player and currently as a coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. Please join us in welcoming Kurt and Linda Rambis back to the Mission Campus for our game vs. Belmont on Dec. 29 at 6 pm.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and I look forward to seeing you in the Leavey Center this winter. The Bronco basketball family would also like to extend its congratulations to Rhodes Scholar recipient and Bronco cross country runner Noelle Lopez. She is the first Rhodes Scholar in Bronco Athletic history and a great example to use for our team to keep its academic focus.

Go Broncos!

11.24.08

November brings many things to us. It’s the beginning of winter, the start of the basketball season and traditionally the chance to add new faces to our family by way of National Signing Day on the second Wednesday of the month. This season we were fortunate to add four members of the Class of 2009 to our family. Niyi Harrison of San Jose, Chris Cunningham and Robert Smith from Southern California and Ray Cowels from Minnesota comprise the newest members of our Bronco basketball team.

Niyi was the first to commit to us the summer after his sophomore year and is part of a Bellarmine High School team that should compete for a league championship.

Chris attends Diamond Ranch High School and Robert Smith at Perris High School, both of whom should also find themselves in post-season play as well.

Ray is one eight potential Division I players on his high school team, nationally ranked Hopkins High School.

We expect all four of these players to continue their competitiveness into their high school seasons and onto the Mission Campus next summer. We are equally, if not more excited, about their academic demeanor and their personal excitement of being a part of our community. We will keep you updated throughout the year on their progress and before you know it, they will be in uniform representing Santa Clara in the first class manner that they already conduct themselves in.

November has also started our season with our participation in the NIT Preseason Tournament. It’s a great opportunity to compete against teams that expect to play in postseason tournaments later this year. After falling short in our first two contests with UAB and Florida Atlantic, our next challenge lies ahead in Athens, Ga. with contests vs. University of Georgia and University of Arizona – both 2008 NCAA Tournament teams. Our young team is committed to improving and anxious to get back on the court to potentially avenge prior lost opportunities last week.

The Santa Clara basketball team wishes everyone a very happy Thanksgiving holiday and safe travels. We all look forward to seeing you in the Leavey Center on December 6 against Sacramento State.

Go Broncos!

Kerry Keating
Head Men's Basketball Coach
Santa Clara University

11.05.08

Basketball season will tip-off in just a few days and Santa Clara’s first contest is an exhibition with CSU Monterey Bay on Fri., Nov. 7 at 7 pm at the Leavey Center.

As is the case with all exhibitions, it’s more about us than the other team and we will certainly use the exhibition to get our new guys experience. This year’s team is so young, so this will give them the chance to play with uniforms and lights on.

We are excited about our season and we are working hard together in practice. The guys are definitely at the point where they want to see other faces and another uniform to play against. They are tired of suffering the consequences in practice when they don’t win and the other half of their team does.

Every guy on our roster, in his own way, has shown improvement in school and in workouts since the first day, but we all understand we are by no means anywhere ready to play yet. This will be a good test to see where we are at as we continue to get ready to play CSU East Bay on Nov. 14.

Having a team that is limited in numbers with only 10 players on scholarship -- it’s been imperative that we take care of our bodies and continue to focus on our strengths. We also have to focus on our conditioning and hopefully that will continue over into our season.

Our schedule has shaped up to be fairly formidable one with potential post-season predictions for teams like UAB, Arizona, UTEP, UNLV, Belmont and Montana, in addition to the top three teams in our league: San Diego, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga. We hope that this season will prove to be a valuable one for us not just in trying to help John Bryant and Calvin Johnson have a successful senior campaign, but also in the continued establishment of how our program will be in the future.

Go Broncos!

Kerry Keating
Head Men's Basketball Coach
Santa Clara University

10.27.08

Welcome back to a new season!

Bronco Basketball practice is under way and our first week is behind us! Things are progressing well thanks to our two seniors: John Bryant and Calvin Johnson.

We were able to take advantage of having our entire team together in the summer session during the month of August. The seniors, with the help of returning sophomore starter Ben Dowdell, did a great job of helping the seven newcomers get acquainted to school and to life as a Santa Clara basketball player.

With so many new faces that will see their initial playing time this season on an already limited roster, practice has been competitive and very much directed around teaching. We look to improve on our successes we had last year, while also getting better at our shortcomings which mean an attention to detail on defense and rebounding, playing unselfish and most of all, winning.

We are excited that John and Calvin are on track to graduate this year and look for big things from them this year.

We look forward to starting the season in a couple weeks. In addition to the new faces on our team this year, there have been changes made to our home facility. Most notably, permanent seating has been added to the south side of the building, replacing the old bleachers. With that, our student section has been expanded. Our goal is to utilize this opportunity to make the Leavey Center an even better environment to compete in. Come see for yourself and support this year’s team, starting with our first home contest, an exhibition vs. CSU East Bay on Nov. 7 at 7 pm.

Be sure to keep checking back for continued updates on our team’s progress and we look forward to seeing you all in Leavey this season.

Sincerely,

Kerry Keating
Head Men's Basketball Coach
Santa Clara University