Santa Clara forward Allen Graves (22) is defended by Gonzaga's Graham Ike during an NCAA college basketball game in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Three years ago, Randy Livingston told nearly every Southeastern Conference basketball program about Allen Graves, a high school player whom Livingston coached with the LivOn AAU program. No one besides Texas A&M showed much interest, not even Louisiana State University, where Livingston and Graves’s brother had played. Tulane University, another Division I school in Graves’s home state of Louisiana, didn’t prioritize Graves, either.
Instead of staying in the area, Graves ended up 2,200 miles away at Santa Clara University, a program in northern California’s Bay Area with a strong reputation under coach Herb Sendek of identifying under-the-radar players and developing them. Graves is the latest example. On Tuesday night, the 6-foot-9 forward is expected to be a first round pick in the NBA draft after redshirting two seasons ago and coming off the bench this past season.
“I think anybody would be lying if they said when he first got to Santa Clara almost two years ago, ‘Oh, he’s going to be an NBA player after two years in college,’” said Scott Garson, a former Santa Clara assistant who is now at UNLV. “Nobody would have thought it would have come that quickly.”
