Last Tuesday Santa Clara lost to Gonzaga 79-68 in the WCC tourney title game, but still earned an at-large bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. At 26-8, the Broncos are 1 win away from tying the record for the most in school history (27-2 in 1969), and are now heading back to the NCAA tourney for the 1st time in 30 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Santa Clara associate head coach Jason Ludwig about recruiting international players and making the NCAA tourney.
As an assistant video coordinator at your alma mater of UCLA you had back-to-back Final 4 appearances including the title game in 2006: what is the key to winning games in March? You have to be present in the moment and focus on what you can control. Right now it is just about having a great next practice, which is what we will put all our energy into.
You have spent the past decade working at Santa Clara for Coach Herb Sendek: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? There is a laundry list of things, but what makes him so unique is that he gives his assistants a lot of autonomy in every aspect of the program, so we have to master whatever we are in charge of. We get an incredible level of preparation in how to become a coach because he trusts us so much. He does not micromanage and just lets us learn/grow each day.
In addition to coaching, you have been responsible for recruiting players from Europe/South America/Canada: what is the secret to recruiting kids from foreign countries? Being in California helps because everyone has heard about our weather/beaches, which resonates with everybody. Spending time in a player’s country to show them and their families that they are wanted/appreciated is important. I have built relationships and made that a priority, which has helped.
You played a couple of fellow tourney teams in non-conference play (McNeese/St. Louis): which of them impressed you the most? It is hard to distinguish between the 2 schools since they are both very well-coached and want to play up-tempo. They are both very tough to play: we were fortunate to beat McNeese and came up just short against St. Louis.
SO G Christian Hammond scored 4 PPG as a freshman, redshirted last year, and is your leading scorer this year at 16 PPG: why did he decide to redshirt, and how has he been able to make such a huge improvement this year? We have been fortunate to have a great deal of talent come through our program over the past several years. 4 of our current starters have redshirted, which benefits their development and allows them to understand our system. Most of our redshirts understood that rather than waste a year sitting on the bench they can spend the year developing. I would put our player development up against anyone in the country, so Christian’s huge year is not a surprise to me.
You were the lead recruiter for Jalen Williams and helped develop him into a 1st-round pick and an NBA champion: what do you recall about 1st seeing him play in person, and how proud are you of all his success? We are so proud of everything that Jalen has accomplished because he is a great player AND a great human being: we love him and his family. The 1st time I saw him he was about 6’1” and still growing, but had a great feel for the game so I thought that he could eventually be something special. I would be lying if I told you that I knew he would become an NBA All-Star, but after he kept growing we always thought that his best basketball was ahead of him.
FR F Allen Graves also redshirted last year, and is now the 2026 conference ROY/6th Man of the Year: what makes him such a great player? He is the type of guy who never has a bad day because he has a great attitude and is incredibly coachable. When he steps in between the lines he is as tough as anyone who I have ever coached. He is relentless, gets his hands on the ball, and has really improved his offensive game this year. He is a complete player who can knock down threes, score in the post, and drive to the rim.
You are president/founder of the Latino Association of Basketball Coaches: why did you found it, and what have you been able to accomplish? It is something that I am very proud of. When I was a young coach I noticed that there were not a lot of people in college basketball who looked like me, so I thought it was important to create a support system for each other that can help them along the way. The biggest part is creating access for our members: I want them to get to know people around the country, build relationships, and continue to advance. A number of years ago a high school coach messaged us that he felt he did not belong and considered quitting coaching…but after he looked at all the other coaches listed on our website, he said it inspired him to stay in the business and have an impact.
You also co-founded the Young Coaches Social networking event at the Final 4: what are you going to do if your team is still playing in April?! I stopped doing that event about 6-7 years ago. I remember going to the Final 4 a while ago and seeing everyone spread all over the city, so we created a Thursday night event where everyone could come together. We were in Detroit and someone brought Bruce Pearl by as our featured speaker for 50 coaches: it eventually became a premier event featuring 200-300 attendees each April. I do not have enough time any more to run it so I had to let it go, but I am proud that it was such a success.
How do you feel about being a #10 seed, and what will it be like for Coach Sendek to face a Kentucky team where he previously spent 4 years as an assistant? We have a tremendous amount of respect for the Kentucky coaching staff. We had some great battles against them when they worked in our conference at BYU so we are all very excited.
