The Santa Clara Broncos gave March one of its iconic moments — and it came with an asterisk that became a legend. In 1993, 15th-seeded Santa Clara stunned second-seeded Arizona 64-61, with a skinny sophomore point guard named Steve Nash running the show. Nash would become a two-time NBA MVP, but it started in the Leavey Center, where the Broncos' precision offense made them giant-killers.
The Nash era brought three straight tournament trips (1995, 1996, 1997), with the 1996 team pushing Kansas to the wire. But Santa Clara's history runs deeper: the 1952 Broncos reached the Final Four, still the program's only trip to the national semifinals — a banner from the golden age of West Coast basketball.
The Leavey Center is one of the WCC's great home courts: intimate, loud, and full of Silicon Valley hoops junkies. Bronco basketball has always been about skill and smarts — the kind of team that dissects opponents with passing and shooting.
In the WCC's modern hierarchy, Santa Clara has been the program knocking on the door behind Gonzaga and Saint Mary's — winning 20 games, producing pros, and waiting for the March breakthrough that Nash made look so easy.
What defines the Broncos is Nash's magic and the 1952 banner. A 15-over-2 for the ages, a two-time MVP, and a Final Four from another era. In Santa Clara, they play the beautiful game — and the giants keep falling for it.
Steve Nash's 1993-96 brilliance launched a legend: the skinny sophomore — future two-time NBA MVP — carried the 15-seed past Arizona in 1993. His Leavey Center years were the overture to greatness.
The 1993 Arizona stunner deserves its own chapter: 64-61, 15-over-2 — Nash's precision dissecting the Wildcats. It remains the program's signature win and a March immortal.
The 1952 Final Four was the ancient standard: the program's only trip to the national semifinals — a banner from the West Coast's golden age. Every Bronco team since has chased it.
The Leavey Center's 4,500 seats give the program one of the WCC's great homes. In the league's wars, Santa Clara plays the skill-and-smarts spoiler — and the 1993 tape is the proof.
In Santa Clara, Bronco basketball is Nash's magic: the 1993 Arizona stunner, the 1952 Final Four, and the prettiest program in the WCC. The Leavey Center believes.
The 2025–26 season was the best Santa Clara basketball season in a generation — arguably since Nash. The Broncos went 26–9 with a program-record 15 West Coast Conference wins, earned their first NCAA tournament bid since 1996, and as a 10-seed took 7-seed Kentucky to overtime in the opening round before falling. It was the payoff of a decade’s slow build.
The numbers tell the story: 82.9 points per game, a top-40 scoring offense nationally and the fourth-best mark in program history; 87.2 points per game in conference play, fifth nationally; 14–1 inside the Leavey Center with a 13-game home win streak to open the year, tied for the third-longest in school history. The highlights: an 87–68 rout of Xavier at home, two wins in three meetings against rival Saint Mary’s — including a 62–54 home triumph — and a WCC semifinal win over No. 21 Saint Mary’s that sent the Broncos to the conference title game for the first time since 2007.
Three Broncos — Allen Graves, Christian Hammond and Elijah Mahi — earned First Team All-WCC and NABC All-District honors. Herb Sendek, in his 10th season, was named WCC Coach of the Year for the first time and reached 600 career wins. Five straight 20-win seasons. Five straight top-four WCC finishes. The Broncos are no longer knocking on the door — they kicked it in.
Sendek opens his 11th season with the program at its modern peak. The Nash banners and the 1952 Final Four are still the soul of the Leavey Center — but the 2026 team built its own legend. In Santa Clara, the beautiful game finally has its March moment back. The next step: winning in March, not just reaching it.
The Leavey Center seats just 4,500, but it’s one of the great small gyms in America — Silicon Valley hoops junkies, noise, and a program that plays the beautiful game. Santa Clara has always been the WCC’s skill-and-smarts outlier: Nash’s precision, the 1993 Arizona stunner, the 1952 Final Four. Now the Broncos have something new: recent proof. The 2026 run — 26 wins, a conference title game, an overtime classic against Kentucky — rewrote what this program believes about itself. Sendek’s 600th win was a milestone; the next one is the goal that matters. In Santa Clara, the encore isn’t a hope. It’s the plan.
The 2026–27 encore is the real test: defending a peak is harder than climbing to it. Sendek’s 11th season brings a roster in transition after three First Team All-WCC stars moved on, a league that now circles Santa Clara on the calendar, and a fan base that tasted March and wants more. The Beautiful Game has its proof. Now it needs its repeat.