A Dream 30 Years in the Making: Santa Clara Men’s Basketball Is Heading to the Big Dance

Sports

Mar 15

Bukky Oboye ’28 and the Santa Clara men’s basketball team react to hearing their team received an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament on March 15, 2026. **(Nina Glick/The Santa Clara)**

Santa Clara men’s basketball is officially headed to March Madness for the first time since 1996. The Broncos received an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament after finishing the regular season 26-8 and placing third in the West Coast Conference with a record of 15-3.

Last week at the WCC tournament in Las Vegas, the Broncos advanced to the finals after defeating the University of Pacific in the quarterfinals and Saint Mary’s in the semifinals. Their win against the Gaels marked Santa Clara’s second victory over Saint Mary’s this season and their second Quad 1 win, strengthening the team’s case for an NCAA Tournament bid.

On March 15, otherwise known as “Selection Sunday,” the NCAA revealed the 68-team bracket for March Madness. Santa Clara earned a No. 10 seed in the Midwest region.

This marks the program’s 12th NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since 1996, when the Broncos were led by future NBA Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash ’96. In their first tournament appearance in 1952, Santa Clara advanced to the Final Four.

Santa Clara men’s basketball team and their fans react to hearing their team received an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament on March 15, 2026. **(Nina Glick/The Santa Clara)**

Newcomer guard Allen Graves ’29 has received national attention for his performance this season. He has been named a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, given annually to the top freshman in Division I men’s college basketball.

“We’re not done yet. Obviously, our starting goal was to make the NCAA tournament, but we still got games to play. We want to go win games. We want to make noise in the tournament,” said Graves.

Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek has now won Coach of the Year with four different programs, across four different conferences: Miami OH, NC State, Arizona State and Santa Clara. Sendek has led each of those programs to the NCAA Tournament.

From 1989 to 1993, Sendek was an assistant coach at Kentucky under Rick Pitino, the only coach to also have won Coach of the Year with four different programs and take at least four teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Next up: Santa Clara will face No. 7 Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 20, in St. Louis, Missouri, at 9:15 a.m PDT, which will be streaming on CBS.