Santa Clara guard Podziemski among top Bay Area players stealing spotlight
Almost no one had any idea when Brandin Podziemski arrived at Santa Clara last summer that he could become the best men's college basketball player in the Bay Area this season.
Most fans had never heard of the 6-foot-5 guard who averaged 1.4 points as a freshman at Illinois a year ago. Fewer still could pronounce his name: Poe-gem-ski.
Even coach Herb Sendek didn't expect 19.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game from the player the Broncos pulled out of the transfer portal.
“By any measure, he's had an amazing season,” Sendek said. “Not that we didn't expect good things from him. We did. He's obviously put it all together. Right from the get-go he has just had a marvelous season.”
Not everyone has been surprised.
“No, I expected a lot from myself,” said Podziemski, who scored more than 2,000 points in high school. “And I've always won so I expected that to happen. In terms of my play, I always felt I could play like this — I just needed an opportunity. A lot of expectations that we haven't accomplished yet that we have some time still to do. That's the focus now.”
The Broncos, although 19-8 and just one victory from back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the days of Steve Nash in 1995-96, will need to win the West Coast Conference tournament two weeks from now to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.
Podziemski's eyes are open to all possibilities. He scored a total of 22 points in his one season at Illinois, then had 30 and 34 in his first two games with the Broncos. He discounts those because “the other team didn't know who I was.”
Everyone knows him now,
and he has posted two more 30-point games, including 38 against Pacific. He is averaging 25 points and converting 50 percent from the 3-point arc over the past five games and his rebounding prowess has allowed him to assemble eight double-doubles.
“His rebounding is tremendous,” Sendek said. “I think that is a reflection of kind of a bigger answer to your question — his heart, his competitive spirit. He's that guy.”
Podziemski considers energy and effort his greatest assets. “That's what leads to everything. Playing to win and not playing for your individual stats.”
Podziemski credits teammate Keshawn Justice, a fellow Wisconsin native, for providing a scouting report on the school and basketball program he was joining. But he says another selling point was the way Sendek and his staff helped Jalen Williams develop into a player who became the No. 12 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
“It's definitely a big piece of why I came here, just knowing that a guy at a
mid-major school like Santa Clara can make it and be a super-hot pick and be valued right away where he's at now at Oklahoma City,” he said.
Still 19 for another week, Podziemski says he has no timetable for reaching the NBA.
“Right now, I try my best not to think about it,” he said. “I just want to stay in the present moment, value each day I have with my teammates and coaches, win as many games as we can and get to the (NCAA) Tournament.”
With apologies to Stanford and Cal, here are the four players that complete our five-man All-Bay Area team:
• Logan Johnson, Saint Mary's: The senior guard from Mountain View averages 13.7 points and is the defensive heartbeat for a team allowing fewer than 59 points per game, fourth-best in the country. Johnson has ramped up his scoring, averaging 19.6 points over the past nine games, including a pair of 30-point performances last weekend.
• Aidan Mahaney, Saint Mary's: The home-grown
point guard has been a revelation as a freshman, leading the nation's 17th-ranked team in scoring at 15.1 points per game. He has been his best in the big moments, such as when he scored 16 of his 18 points in the final 6 1/2 minutes of regulation and overtime in the Gaels' 78-70 overtime win over Gonzaga.
• Omari Moore, San Jose State: Moore is the best player on an SJSU team closing in on its first winning season in 12 years. The 6-6 senior averages 17.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists and is ninth on the school's career scoring list with 1,145 points. SJSU (16-10) needs just one more victory to equal the program's highest win total since 1976-77.
• Khalil Shabazz, USF: After three seasons in the shadow of ex-Dons star Jamaree Bouyea, the 6-foot-1 senior guard has assembled his best season on The Hilltop. He averages 16.3 points and 5.6 rebounds, has a 31-point performance among 11 games of at least 20 points, and quietly has climbed to No. 9 on USF's career scoring chart with 1,659 points.