Allen Graves has enjoyed a breakout redshirt freshman season at Santa Clara after sitting out last year. Now he has dreams of playing in the NBA, sooner than later.
In the meantime, the 6-foot-9 forward from Ponchatoula, Louisiana, has designs on helping the Broncos write some history with their first NCAA Tournament bid in 30 years.
Graves is not looking past Santa Clara’s quarterfinal matchup Sunday at the West Coast Conference tournament against an undetermined opponent. But he’s clear about the Broncos’ intentions at Las Vegas.
“Our mindset is to win it all,” he said, “and that’s what we plan to do.”
A victory in Tuesday’s championship game would guarantee the Broncos (24-7) their first ticket to the NCAAs since the days of Steve Nash. Santa Clara is the No. 3 seed and will have to get past No. 2 seed Saint Mary’s (27-4) on Monday in order to advance to the title game, likely against top-seeded Gonzaga (28-3), ranked 12th nationally.
The Broncos split two regular-season games against the Gaels but were swept by the Zags. Rated No. 41 by the NET computer, SCU could enhance its at-large resume by at least reaching the WCC title game.
Graves, the former Gatorade Player of the Year in Louisiana, is part of a deep and explosive Santa Clara roster. WCC coach of the year Herb Sendek has three first-team all-conference players — sophomore guard Christian Hammond, senior forward Elijah Mahi and Graves — at his disposal.
Despite starting just four games — none since Dec. 6 — Graves averages 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 41 percent from the 3-point arc. That led him to being named the WCC’s freshman of the year and sixth man of the year.
If Graves flew under the radar with outsiders entering this season, Sendek isn’t at all surprised. “I can only tell you I expected him to be a tremendous player this season and he most certainly has accomplished that,” Sendek said.
Over the past 15 games, Graves has been at a different level: 14.7 points on 57 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds, 30 steals, 25 assists,12 blocked shots and, perhaps most remarkably, only seven turnovers in 323 minutes. That’s one every 46 minutes on the floor.
His emergence hasn’t gone unnoticed by pro scouts, with NBAdraft.net projecting him to be the 29th pick by the Detroit Pistons this year.
“I definitely think that I’m an NBA player,” Graves said. “I told my family, told everybody that’s the end goal, for sure. That’s what I want to be and that’s where I’m going to be.”
Asked when he expects that to happen, he said, “As soon as possible. I believe I can do it this year. That’s the plan. I believe I’ll be declaring after this year, if everything goes smoothly.”
Sendek, who helped develop underrated recruits Jalen Williams and Brandin Podziemski into early NBA draft entries, said Graves “absolutely” has the potential to join them.
“He has an incredible work ethic and he’s passionate about the game,” Sendek said. “With his skill level, his basketball feel and IQ, his toughness, he checks a lot of boxes, and I think ultimately will be a very successful NBA player.”
Graves gives a lot of credit for his development to Sendek and his staff, but believes big brother Marshall Graves, who played at LSU, triggered his jump beginning in early January after paying a visit to Santa Clara.
“He basically told me to have an attack mindset when I’m out there,” Graves said. “Once I kind of figured that part out — and rather than trying to feel the game out, to take it — that’s when it kind of clicked for me and my confidence continued to grow. He’s helped me to have the season I’m having.”
The jewel of the current 15-game stretch came on Feb. 7 at Washington State, where Graves posted 30 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and zero turnovers in a 96-92 victory. That performance earned a productivity score of 35.7 from sports-reference.com, the highest any WCC player recorded in a game this season.
Graves said he’s not surprised by all of this, even given his modest starting point early this season.
“It definitely was an adjustment, trying to figure out my role, what I can do to push this team further,” he said. “And trying to figure myself out as well because I hadn’t played in a year.
“But I knew I could have a season like this. I kind set the expectation on myself to have a tremendous season, be a big impact on winning.”
WORK TO DO: Cal (21-9, 9-8) and Stanford (19-11, 8-9) each posted ACC road victories Wednesday night but remain on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble. The Cardinal climbed two spots to No. 63 in the NET rankings while the Bears remained at No. 64.
Cal visits Wake Forest (15-15, 6-11) on Saturday while Stanford plays at NC State (19-11, 10-7). Both need victories and probably a win or two at next week’s ACC tournament.
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