St. Mary’s men:
their NCAA Stung by snub, Gaels don’t have long to prepare for Tuesday’s NIT opener against Southeastern Louisiana.
Barely more than 24 hours later, St. Mary’s players reluctantly faced the reality of their omission from the NCAA Tournament.
They didn’t have any choice, of course — not with a new three-point arc slapped on their court and a first-round NIT game rapidly approaching. The Gaels host Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night at McKeon Pavilion.
Still, center Jock Landale and his teammates were stung by their NCAA snub.
“We all expected to make it,” Landale said Monday. “We thought we were an upset waiting to happen (in the NCAAs). Now we just have to prove a point.”
Landale yearns to show St. Mary’s is the team that started 24-2 — not the one that wobbled down the stretch, losing three of its final seven games. Those missteps created enough skepticism to keep the Gaels out of the big dance.
So now they head to the not-so-big dance, as one of four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT.
The Gaels need to rediscover their mojo from the season’s first 26 games. That run ended when Gonzaga smacked them 78-65 on Feb. 10, and the problems persisted in subsequent losses to USF and BYU, plus a narrow win over lowly Pepperdine.
Forward Calvin Hermanson said opponents started to double-team Landale more often and more creatively, using “junk defenses.” Landale insisted the Gaels can conquer those tactics.
“I think we have to get back to playing hard, gritty and tough,” he said. “We went away from that a little bit toward the end of the year. I don’t know if the Gonzaga loss kind of hurt some guys more than others, but I feel like we haven’t been playing as hard.”
Landale found encouragement in last week’s spirited practices, after St. Mary’s returned from the WCC tournament. Monday’s practice featured some new twists — namely, a white strip of tape 22 feet, 1.75 inches from the basket (the distance used in international competition) and light-blue tape outlining a wider lane.
Those are two notable “experimental rules” the NIT will use. The three-point arc is approximately 1 foot, 8 inches farther from the basket (not as much in the corners), and the lane is 16 feet wide rather than 12.
NIT games also will be divided into 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves.
“The three-point line will be a factor,” head coach Randy Bennett said. “Twenty inches is a lot.”
Hermanson leads the Gaels at 43.7 percent on threes. “It’s not that bad, honestly,” he said. “Today was the first day practicing with the (new) line, and I felt fine. I’m not worried about it.”
Southeastern Louisiana features a quick 5-foot-9 point guard in Marlain Veal, who averages 13.1 points and 6.1 assists. Jordan Capps, a 6-7 forward, leads the Lions with 13.2 per game.