Saint Mary's
Since Feb. 25, they have played three games; one was a 76-69 win over BYU in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament, and the two others were losses to Gonzaga. The first, a 77-68 defeat on the Bulldogs' home court, was nothing to be too upset about.
But when both teams met for a rubber match in the WCC finals last Tuesday, Gonzaga overpowered SMC in a convincing 7751 win to claim its fourth straight conference title.
A sample of the comments from head coach Randy Bennett after the game: “We were awful... We didn't show up ... We let (an early deficit) bother us.”
Sunday, Bennett said his guys were feeling better after two strong days of practice and the hope they'd improve their shot selection after an ugly affair that saw them shoot 33% from the field.
“We've been working on it,” he said. “We'll get two more good ones this week.”
The Gaels will travel on Wednesday to Albany, where the winner of Friday's game with VCU will play the winner of No. 4 UConn and No. 13 Iona.
Bennett is banking on the experience most of his team picked up last year, when the No. 5-seeded Gaels beat No. 12 Indiana University 82-53 in the opening round before losing to No. 4 UCLA 72-56.
Now the Gaels “know what it's like to fly to the East Coast and have to play,” Bennett said. “You know how to manage your schedule better . ... It helps. I've had teams that have done it, gone back-to-back. It definitely helps.”
The sting of the most recent Gonzaga loss felt like a “kick to the guts,” senior Kyle Bowen said.
And while a national pundit picking VCU in an upset seemed to suck the air out of the Gaels' home court, the players weren't surprised.
“I heard it,” said senior Logan Johnson, the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. “He'll remember after the game what he said. We'll leave it at that.”
If Saint Mary's played its “gritty, not pretty” style of basketball with any success against Gonzaga on Tuesday, the momentum would surely be at their backs.
Instead, after a magical season in which they relied heavily on freshman Aidan Mahaney, the Campolindo product who joined Patty Mills as the only Saint Mary's freshmen ever to make the All-WCC team, the Gaels' blowout loss to Gonzaga has, for better or worse, turned them into underdogs.
“We love being doubted,” said Johnson, a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, presented annually to the top mid-major player in D-I college basketball. “We love being the odd-man out. A lot of people don't think we'll do anything. A lot of people didn't think we'd be a No. 5 seed again and be in this position. So we're just looking forward to proving a lot of people wrong.” seed. Jones said that the team is in an uncommon position, since it's a top seed in its region but also feels like it has something to prove after its Pac-12 Tournament letdown.
“We have a target on our backs,” said Jones, a senior who is playing in her final NCAA Tournament. “Which is interesting because we also feel like we have a chip on our shoulder, which is an interesting place to be in.”