Herb Sendek Picks up First Commitment

6’11” Center Julian Roche chooses Broncos

Brent HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAApril 21, 2016

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]erb Sendek picked up his first recruit as men’s basketball head coach last week when Julian Roche committed to Santa Clara. The center hopes to make impact on a a team with only one player taller than 6’9”.

Roche, on his Twitter, lists himself at 6’11” and 236 pounds. He will add much needed size to the Broncos’ bigs.

Roche will likely compete for graduate Werner Nistler’s roster spot.

The big man hails from Canada and reportedly had a good showing at the NPH Showcase Camp as he continues to rebound from a March 2015 ACL surgery. The Program has not announced the signing.

The Broncos have also extended an offer to 2017 center Branden Carlson. He is a 6’10” forward hailing from Utah.

New Broncos men’s basketball coach Herb Sendek is continuing to fill out his coaching staff. Since announcing at the same time of his press conference the hirings of Julius Hodge and Barret Peery, Jason Ludwig has also been added to the staff.

Ludwig spent last year as the director of basketball operations at Mississippi State, following two years as the same role for Coach Sendek at ASU. From 2009 to 2013, Ludwig coached at UCLA.

Although former Bronco head coach Kerry Keating remains unemployed, his former coaching staff has not struggled to find new opportunities, as.

Associate head coach Steve Snell will head to the University of Denver.

Assistant coach Mike Peck has been hired as the Associate Head Coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Jesse Pruitt has joined the coaching staff at Stanford.

Elsewhere in the WCC, the University of San Francisco hired Kyle Smith as their newest head coach. Smith spent the last six years as Columbia’s head coach.

The University of Portland has hired Terry Porter as its head coach. Porter spent 17 years in the NBA as a player and brings experience as an NBA assistant coach and head coach. Porter will have to go up against his son Franklin Porter, a Saint Mary’s guard. Pacific hired Damon Stoudamire as its head coach. Stoudamire spent 13 years in the NBA as a player.

USF will have two big losses next season. Uche Ofoegbu will transfer elsewhere for his final season; he averaged nine points per game this season. USF star Devin Watson will also transfer away from the program. Watson led the Dons with 20 ppg to go along with 4.9 assists per game. Gonzaga forward Domantas Sabonis declared for the NBA draft.

Contact Brent Hanower at bhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.