Santa Clara Basketball Rings in New Season with “Hoopfest”

Source: Elena Peng

Sparking a new tradition, the Santa Clara men’s and women’s basketball programs in conjunction with the athletic department hosted the first ever “Hoopfest.” In the spirit of the Midnight Madness trend taking hold across the country, the program brought students together in the hopes of igniting school support for the upcoming season. 

The event was free to students, where there was a bucket hat giveaway, free pizza (and alcohol, for those 21 and over) and an assortment of challenges that students could get involved in. These challenges included a knockout contest, a team shooting competition and a 3-point shooting contest alongside the men’s and women’s basketball players. 

“This event got me hyped for the basketball season and hoping that we can get a game over Gonzaga this year,” senior Scott Malton told The Santa Clara. “I feel with the bucket hats and the beer, the marketing for the sports events seems to be improving and hopefully that builds more involvement this season with students.”

Attendees got to meet representatives from both teams and get an understanding of the roster construction, play style and star players for this upcoming season. 

On the women’s side, the Broncos have a roster with several returning players, including Tess Heal, Olivia Pollerd and Marya Hudgins. Last season, women’s basketball was a pesky team, upsetting Gonzaga, dominating against Brigham Young University for their first even win in Provo and testing national power Stanford for all four quarters in Palo Alto.

The men’s team, on the other hand, has a smorgasbord of new faces. Santa Clara lost all of last season’s starters to transfers, graduation and declaring for the pros. The Broncos retained key rotation players Camaron Tongue, Christoph Tilly and Brenton Knapper from last year’s team, and regained Carlos Marshall Jr. after he was only able to play five games last year due to injury. Underclassmen Kosy Akametu and Jake Ensminger, among others, will likely gain rotation minutes over the course of the season and fortify the depth of the roster. 

Santa Clara has transfers aplenty, and many will look to contribute right away. There has been national discourse on the addition of Adama Bal, who came over from the University of Arizona–a move which signifies the ascension of Santa Clara’s program. Underrated pickups include Johnny O’Neill, Jalen Benjamin and Francisco Caffaro, the latter of whom was selected to participate for the Argentinian national team in their Olympic qualifying matchups, have already elevated their resume on the national stage and on the international court in the case of Caffaro.

“Every game is going to be a statement,” said graduate guard, Carlos Marshall Jr. “We aren’t going to take anyone lightly, we are going to stick with what we do and try to win games the best we can. I liked [events] like this tonight. They get students involved and make sure people come out and support us.”

Hoopfest was a modest success for the Santa Clara teams, the Athletic Department and the school community as a whole. Student turnout was in the low hundreds for the inaugural event, and attendees became emotionally invested in several contests and caused a ruckus for those who got picked in the crowd to participate. There’s a foundation for a raucous fanbase, and it’s on students to continue the initial momentum from tonight into the season if they want to be that bedlam like environment. 

The men’s season opens on Nov. 8 vs. Utah Tech at 7 p.m., and the women’s begins Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. vs. Hawaii.