Santa Clara (22-7) (NET: 41)
1-5 (Q1), 7-1 (Q2), 9-0 (Q3), 5-1 (Q4)
Thirty years have passed since Santa Clara received an invite to the NCAA Tournament and we’ve certainly seem some fantastic basketball from this program recently. Herb Sendek has assembled another talented team and the Broncos boast some impressive metrics, especially with that NET as a WCC team.
They secured that necessary Quad 1 win against Saint Mary’s back in the middle of January in one of their best defensive efforts of the season. This resume is packed with Quad 2 wins and many of them date back to November, with impressive showings against McNeese State, Minnesota, Nevada, and Xavier back then.
The NET figure looks great and the overall play has been incredible, but Santa Clara has a resume anchor that is almost unexplainable: a late December loss to a putrid Loyola Chicago team. They truly have avoided upset or a miserable showing outside of that one pre-Christmas night but that one really hurts.
The Broncos would’ve loved to win one of those games against Gonzaga but were swept by the Bulldogs. Losing at Saint Mary’s this week was another missed chance at a Quad 1 win, but maybe there’s enough here? If the Broncos can’t win the WCC Tournament, they need to at least upset Gonzaga or reach the finals to have any shot at March Madness.
Seton Hall (19-9) (NET: 55)
1-3 (Q1), 5-4 (Q2), 7-2 (Q3), 6-0 (Q4)
Seton Hall began what looked like a bounce back season with a hot start, once sitting 14-2 and near the top of the Big East standings. Shaheen Holloway has coached some March magic in his career but is really trying to gain his footing with these Pirates.
Their lone Quad 1 win actually came way back in November, knocking off NC State at the Maui Invitational. Since then, they’ve picked up a number of Quad 2 victories, with all of those wins coming on the road, most recently winning at Butler and Georgetown.
It’s not exactly the most impressive set of wins, and then you have to consider those Quad 3 losses. They actually lost the home game against the Bulldogs back during a 4-game losing streak in mid-January and the news gets worse. The Pirates were swept by DePaul, with a 12-point home loss last week becoming another Quad 3 loss.
This thing is slipping away from a Seton Hall team that had looked better in recent weeks but can’t afford mistakes moving forward. They do have two enormous opportunities left, with Quad 1 chances at UConn and in hosting St. John’s and a single upset victory could really propel them forward.