The team plays home games at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, California and have been members of the West Coast Conference since its formation in 1952.

Much like the university football team, the Broncos played many home games in San Francisco, both at Kezar Pavilion and at the Civic Center.

Barsi's "Magicians of the Maplewood" included future Warriors Head Coach Bob Feerick as well as Santa Clara's first All-American, Ralph "Toddy" Giannini.

The Broncos dazzled crowds in excess of 20,000 at Madison Square Garden and defeated City College of New York and La Salle University by 20 points apiece during an exhibition match-up.

[3] Some of Santa Clara's earliest basketball stars, like Bruce Hale, Dick O'Keefe, and Stan Patrick, played in the NBL, the forerunner to the modern NBA.

Santa Clara forward Ken Sears appeared on the cover of the new Sports Illustrated in December 1954,[4] becoming the first basketball player, college or pro, to do so.

After leading the Broncos back to the NCAA tournament in 1960, Feerick left Santa Clara in 1962 to coach the NBA's San Francisco Warriors, who had just relocated from Philadelphia.

Replacing Feerick was Dick Garibaldi, a member of the 1952 Final Four team, who led the Broncos for eight seasons and compiled an overall record of 137–77 (.640).

Led on the court by Bud Ogden and Dennis Awtrey, Santa Clara reached as high as second in the AP poll.

Garibaldi resigned in the summer of 1970 to work for Converse shoes,[5] and Carroll Williams became the longest tenured coach in Santa Clara's basketball history, leading the Broncos from 1970 to 1991.

He experienced immediate success, thanks to a young Canadian point guard, Steve Nash, who led the Broncos to three NCAA tournaments in 1993, 1995, and 1996.

Nash went on to become Santa Clara's most decorated player at the professional level, twice winning the NBA MVP award.

Santa Clara's most heated rivals have traditionally been the other Bay Area WCC members, San Francisco and Saint Mary's.

In a time when the NCAA tournament field was limited to 16 teams, the winner of the rivalry series was often the WCAC representative.

The rivalry has remained competitive to the present day, however, it has lost some of its luster following San Francisco's self-imposed death penalty in 1981.

Santa Clara's Kevin Foster passed Stanford's Todd Lichti as the leading scorer in Bay Area college basketball history.

The earliest Santa Clara Bronco home games were played at the San Jose YMCA, located down the Alameda from the campus.

By 1927, however, the Broncos had adopted Kezar Pavilion, about 50 miles north of campus in San Francisco, as their home arena.

The San Jose Civic Auditorium was designed for stage productions, giving the building a unique feeling during basketball games.

Those sitting on the ground floor had an intimate view of the game, and opposing students were often state on opposite sides of the balconies.

During the Second World War, due to wartime travel restrictions, most home games were played at the smaller, on-campus, Seifert Gymnasium.

Following Santa Clara's successful run in the late 1960s, boosters and fans clamored to move the team to a modern, spacious, on-campus home.

The inside of the facility featured the main activity floor, two recreation areas, and team locker rooms.

A more permanent roof structure was built, and the interior of the building was renovated and brought to modern standards at a cost of $14 million.