A Tribute to the Seniors: Marc Trasolini

March 8, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Santa Clara Broncos forward Marc Trasolini (15) shoots against Loyola Marymount Lions forward Godwin Okonji (22) during the first half in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Foster might have been Santa Clara’s best player, but Marc Trasolini provided consistency to this Santa Clara ball club. Combined with Foster’s talent, the Broncos had a fantastic season to top off the two players career. We already touched on Foster’s career, and now it’s Trasolini’s turn.

Before Santa Clara

Trasolini was a fabulous high school player at Vancouver College High School in Vancover, British Columbia. He averaged 28.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks per game during his senior year of high school. That stellar stat-line earned him the honor of 2008’s Mr. Basketball of the province of British Columbia and first-team all-Canada. His team finished third at the Telus British Columbia Boys AAA Championship his senior year. Along with basketball, Trasolini also participated in soccer and football during high school. He played on Canada’s U-18 national team following his senior year, where he was the teams third leading scorer.

Freshman Season

As a freshman, Trasolini started one-third of the games for the Broncos, putting up 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Trasolini averaged an astonishing 68.1% from the field, which is the best shooting performance in a single season in Santa Clara history.  He was named to the WCC’s all-freshman team in his first year at Santa Clara. The future seemed bright for the young Trasolini.

Sophomore Season

In his second year at Santa Clara, Trasolini emerged as one of the better players in the West Coast Conference. He averaged 13.7 points, 6.10 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game as a sophomore. His sophomore scoring average increased dramatically from that of his freshman year. Trasolini was a mere contributor offensively during his freshman year, but as a sophomore he showed that he could score as well as anyone on the floor.

Trasolini also emerged as a leader on this team, and took on that role for years to come.

Junior Season

Trasolini continued to produce while wearing a Broncos uniform. The junior averaged 12.8 points and 6.1 rebounds in his third season as a Bronco. Although he statistics were slightly down from his sophomore season, Trasolini still provided the Broncos a great deal of consistency that they hadn’t had in a long time.

Senior Season

Trasolini tore his ACL prior to the 2011-2012 season while playing in the international circuit  However, he was still eligible to play in the following season. Although he suffered one of the worst injuries an athlete can have, he followed it up with his best season yet. Trasolini averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in his fifth and final season as a Bronco. He was featured in the starting lineup for all 38 games in the 2012-2013 season, and was a major part of the Broncos championship run in the CBI tournament. Trasolini finished on the all-WCC team, and was a finalist for the Lowes Senior CLASS award.

Trasolini finished fourth in school history for career scoring with 1.699 points. He also finished seventh in career field goals made with 628, tied for fifth all time in free throws made with 383, sixth in career total rebounds with 846, second in  career blocks with 176, tied for first in career games played with 137, fourth in career games started with 109, and third in career minutes played with 3,824.

The British Columbia Native made a huge mark on the Santa Clara program. He may not of put up monster numbers, but he was the type of player that gave his all night in and night out. When it was all said and done, that’s truly what matters most. There was nobody on the Santa Clara roster in the past few seasons that exemplified themselves as a team player the way Marc Trasolini did. The Broncos will miss Trasolini not only as a player, but as a person as well.