Bryant continues to ready self, team for year

Santa Clara, Calif. – Bronco fans - if you aren’t excited about the Santa Clara basketball season this year then spend about five minutes with senior John Bryant and you will RUN to the Bronco ticket office to buy season tickets. Bryant, who is down to 275 pounds, says he is getting stronger and stronger each day. He can’t wait to start individuals in the next couple weeks with the first team practice set for Oct. 15. A preseason WCC Player of the Year candidate, Bryant returns as Santa Clara’s leading scorer. He led the WCC and SCU in field goal percentage, rebounding and blocked shots last year.

SantaClaraBronocos.com sat down with Bryant this week to find out where he was on the scale, how his workouts with strength coach Joe Siara are progressing and how the team looks early. He also talked about doing things for his last time as a senior.

SCU: When you lose as much weight as you have, do people ask you every day what you weigh now?

Bryant (big smiles): I am at 275 right now. It’s kind of a balancing thing because the goal was 275 and I have reached that so now it’s more losing more body fat. I want to get stronger. Muscle weighs more than fat so my weight might go up a bit, but I am much leaner. That’s what we are working on now.

SCU: How has Bronco strength coach Joe Siara helped you this summer?

Bryant: There are no words to describe how Joe has helped me this summer. He has been huge for all of us. Our program is set up now so that we don’t lift for more than 45 minutes each session so we get in there and get moving. So much of what we do in the weight room is based on game situations and what you need your body to do to be successful. We go through an exercise and it pays off later when you are playing. It’s very much geared towards basketball. Joe came to Santa Clara after working at Florida. They have been successful (the Gators won back-to-back national titles) so Joe is a good person to listen to.

SCU: Does Joe tell you any stories about the Gator basketball players?

Bryant: When we complain about getting up early he says ‘Florida gets up at 6 am every day and they win. These guys got up early and now look at them in the NBA’. He is really motivating. I started doing one-on-ones with him because I wanted to do some extra voluntary work-outs and that has helped me gain so much strength. I know more now proper technique so when we lift with the team, I can focus on each exercise even more. I am working in the morning now so I do one-on-ones with Joe in the afternoon a lot.

SCU: You have a summer job. Where are you working?

Bryant: With a local construction company, DEVCON. I am a warehouse guy. I help move stuff around the warehouse. The people there are fun and it’s not really hard work so it’s ok. I have to lift things so I get to work out at work. The boss always jokes I can clean the top of the refrigerators without a ladder. They are really cool guys.

SCU: You have been cooking a lot of your own food since you moved to an apartment. Have you cooked up anything special lately?

Bryant: For Labor Day we bar-b-qued a bunch of steaks and chicken for the adults and hot dogs for the kids.

SCU: What have you done this summer besides work? Any vacation?

Bryant: I haven’t gone home, but my family has come down here to go swimming at my apartment complex’s pool. I just hang out. I haven’t been on vacation. I’m just here working out – I will take a vacation after I get all the work done (smiles).

SCU: How are the new guys doing?

Bryant: They are doing really good. They are getting into the grove. Because they came in this summer they have been able to ease into things. The coaches can’t be around right now and because we have played a lot of open gym they have really gotten to know us. That will help a lot when we begin practice with the coaches. They have a lot to learn, but where they are now is the good start. I think they are doing really good job.

SCU: The full schedule hasn’t been released yet, but any games you spotted you are really looking forward to?

Bryant: I am looking forward to the preseason NIT. If we win both games at Arizona we would go to Madison Square Garden to play two games there in New York City. If I had an opportunity to play there, at Madison Square Garden, it would be a real highlight in my career. Madison Square Garden?!

I am also looking forward to playing two games in the Boston area around New Year’s. My Aunt Ethel lives in Vermont and she will be able to see both games so I look forward to that.

I always look forward to St. Mary’s – they are our rivals. I am ready for San Diego, too. They beat us twice last year. Turnovers killed us at our place last year so I would like to work to redeem that.

SCU: Last year the WCC sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament. Is the conference going to be good again this year?

Bryant: Yes, really good. San Diego and Gonzaga and St. Mary’s went to the tournament. It got a lot of attention for the WCC so I feel like more talent wants to come here to this conference. It’s going to be a tough year, but we have to get it done.

SCU: Have you thought much about this being your last year?

Bryant: I haven’t sat down and thought about it, but once in awhile a thought crosses my mind. Today I was thinking ‘Brody is gone.’ All those talks Coach Keating had last year for the seniors – when he would say ‘this is your last time you will do this’; and that will be Calvin Johnson and I this year. I have thought about that a little bit and it will really hit home when school starts and individuals start. I will try to focus on the year and try not to focus on it as my last year. I want to focus on it as my best time. I want to try to have the best season I have ever had as my last year and let people remember that.

Santa Clara’s John Bryant Readies Self for Senior Year with Workouts, More Weight Lost

Santa Clara, Calif. - Tipping the scales at over 350 pounds when he came to Santa Clara his freshman year, John Bryant’s goal at the beginning of this summer was to get down to 275 pounds by the start of basketball practice in October – his senior season. He weighed 275 pounds on July 25 so he has set his sights on a new goal: 270 pounds.

“I am working really hard this summer to get my body in shape and lose the weight I don’t need,” said Bryant, a self-proclaimed late-night snacker in high school. “I am conditioning, conditioning, conditioning – get it? I am trying to eat right and work to cut out fast food. I eat more chicken and veggies; and I am working out all the time. I stay away from the 99 cent cheeseburgers and spend a bit more on healthy food. I am always doing something, always working out. It’s pretty simple to do, but it can be tough – the rewards we hope will be worth it.”

Already the school record holder in career blocked shots, the 6’10 center from San Pablo, Calif., enters his senior year looking to go out with a bang on the basketball court. An eight-team league that saw three teams in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, last season Bryant led the West Coast Conference in blocks (2.45 bpg), rebounding (9.6 rpg) and field goal percentage (.583) and was second in scoring (18.0 ppg). A legitimate WCC Player of the Year candidate looking to build on those numbers, Bryant has been working out 2-3 times a day this summer.

Bronco head coach Kerry Keating said Bryant has made an obvious commitment to his body this off-season and it has translated to a much better mindset as well. That has also carried over and become contagious for his teammates.

“We spoke about this a year ago with John and his family,” said Keating. “He has natural ability, but for him to reach his fullest potential, he would have to match that with his body and his mental approach. We definitely hit some highs and lows last season, but I think the overall results in his effort last season helped him realize that this was not on necessary for him, but for our team as well.

“John is a leading candidate for Player of the Year in the WCC and that in itself is high praise because of the talent in this league. However, the bigger challenge for John is now stepping up to lead seven newcomers on an already shortened roster - and he and Calvin have done an admirable job of starting that leadership this summer,” added Keating. “Just as impressive is the fact that John has only four classes left to graduate, and his commitment in the classroom will aid in his improvement next season by adding more time to his daily routine so that he can get more reps in on the floor or in the weight room with the strength coach.

“John is putting himself in a position to succeed in basketball beyond Santa Clara, and two things will help that: his personal approach and our team's success. He fully understands that now; the biggest challenge lies ahead, but he has put himself and our team in a more prepared state to take it on full steam ahead,” continued Keating.

Bryant is looking to improve on his numbers from last season and he believes there is no question he can do better.

“In some games I didn’t do my best. I have to push that aside and really compete at the highest level in every game regardless of who we are playing,” said Bryant. “I want to work to do my best every time. I also want to shoot better at the free throw line (he shot .74% in 2008). I have really been working on it. I am training my body to stay in a rhythm shooting free throws after a set of shooting. I treat it like a game situation. After a shooting set, I go to the line – hoping I am tired like in a game. I spend a lot of time shooting free throws.”

“I'm really excited for and proud of John, and he deserves this chance at a senior season to remember. He's working hard and will continue to into the fall, and I hope that the results speak for themselves,” said Keating. “The team is feeding off our senior leadership and especially off the visible change in John's body - they all have improved significantly in a short amount of time, and that bodes well for our future.”

Off the court, Bryant enjoys cooking. He learned his culinary skills from his parents and an uncle who used to work as a chef and is now in catering at Cal.

“I cook a lot,” said Bryant. “I like to cook ribs, beans, corn on the grill and artichokes. I took a picture and put in on my phone the last time I made it – it looked so good. I just moved into a new place and once it’s all set up, I want to have the guys over for a team BBQ to build team chemistry. I will grill some steaks and chicken – just simple stuff.”

Bryant will miss playing with departed seniors Brody Angley – who he calls ‘one hell of a player’ and Mitch Henke – who he says ‘is smart period’.

“They are good guys. Brody was a great all-around player and great guy – ask anyone on campus,” said Bryant. “But, I am looking forward to the new players we have coming in as well. I have played with all of them. They can all shoot. I think Perry Petty is going to be really good because he can handle the ball. Last year we were plagued with turnovers and we need ball handling. When we didn’t have Brody in the game, we couldn’t handle the pressure. I think Petty will be of great importance. I look forward to working as a leader with Calvin Johnson. We have a lot of young players so we will have to step up into that role even more.

“I hope to go out with a bang my senior year,” said Bryant. “The first three years went quickly. I want to finish up my fourth year here on a high note. I expect a lot of our team. We are working harder than we have ever worked, we are in here 2-3 times a day, lifting, conditioning, getting shots up. I think it is going to be a lot more fun because we are going to afford ourselves a chance to play at a more high tempo when we need to.”

“The goal is to win the WCC, but that’s always the goal. I know we will have fun. You have got to have fun. I am going to make it fun because it’s my last year here,” said Bryant. “This is my last summer I will spend here so I am making the best of it. It’s been a real change of mentality. I didn’t work as hard my freshman year and that’s on me, but the three years have gone by so quick.”

Bryant shattered the blocked shots record set by Nick Vanos (159, 1981-85) and enters his senior year with 162 blocked shots. He also has the school record for most blocked shots in a season: Bryant had 78 last season, topping Vanos’ 67 in 1983-84. He is No. 23 on the career scoring list with 1,071 points. The school record is 1,736 points set by Kurt Rambis in 1976-80, a feat that is attainable after putting up 558 points in 2007-08.

“The blocked shots record is nice, but it’s doesn’t really matter right now,” said Bryant. “When the blocks come, they come. I don’t think ‘I want to get four blocks tonight’. I don’t think about the records, the other stuff, the hype – it doesn’t matter. If it happens, it happens and if the blocks come, the blocks come.”

Bryant is also working on his three point shot. He laughed and said it’s every big man’s dream – to shoot the three in games.

“I can shoot it, but I score around the basket and that’s where I am most effective. But now it’s my senior year and I want to shoot a couple in a game,” said Bryant who was 0-1 from last season beyond the arc. “The big guys dream is shoot to shoot the 3. Maybe not the dream, but sometimes you get tired of staying under the basket and posting up – it’s a dream to be out there dribbling and shooting 3s like the guards.”

His favorite part of playing is dunking. “The most exciting aspect of the game is the dunk and especially if it’s on somebody. Dunking on somebody just adds another level to it – making it more fun,” said Bryant. “A dunk is always a crowd pleaser. With the weight falling off, my athletic ability has been growing and so fans will hopefully be seeing more dunks.

“I want to ask the fans to come to the games this year and support the Broncos,” said Bryant. “Come watch us play! It should be a fun time! We play Stanford at home this year and have a number of really good WCC home games as well. And then there is always the fan-favorite Cable Car Classic. I can’t wait for us to tip!”

And with Bryant dunking or blocking shots, or even attempting a three here and there, Bryant is sure to see his hard work pay off as he hopes to make his senior year his best.