What lies ahead for local squads
There has been no shortage of compelling storylines in the Bay Area college basketball scene so far this season.
At the top of the list are the Saint Mary’s men, who lost five of their first eight games to open the season, and now have the longest active winning streak in the nation and have supplanted Gonzaga as the team to beat in the West Coast Conference.
And across the Bay, everyone knew Tara VanDerveer would pass Mike Krzyzewski to become college basketball’s all-time leader in victories.
But third-ranked Stanford — expected to be a middle of the pack team in the final season of the Pac-12 — has emerged as a serious contender to win the school’s fourth national championship.
Before the regular season transitions to conference championship week and everything that is March Madness, here is a look at how the local men’s and women’s teams have fared and whether they have any realistic chance of dancing in the postseason:
Saint Mary’s (22-6, 13-0 WCC)
Season
to date: The Gaels have a 14-game win streak that is the longest in the nation, lead the NCAA in rebounding margin, are the only men’s team in the country still unbeaten in their conference, and have clinched a bye to the semifinals of the WCC tournament. NET ranking: 15
Postseason chances: The 18th-ranked Gaels — projected by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament — will have their depth put to the test after starting forward Joshua Jefferson (10.2 points, 6.5 rebounds) suffered a season-ending left knee injury.
USF (21-7, 10-3 WCC) Season to date: The Dons showed how close they are by hanging with Saint Mary’s in a 70-66 loss on Tuesday in Moraga. But they remain winless in six Quad 1 games, a significant blemish to their resume. NET ranking:59
Postseason chances: USF still can secure one of two byes into the semifinals of the WCC tournament but will need to beat Gonzaga at the Chase Center next Thursday to get it done.
Stanford Pac-12)
Season to date:
(12-13, 7-8
Stanford, powered by 7-foot-1 Parisian Maxime Raynaud (15.1 points, 10.0 rebounds), boasts victories over Arizona and UCLA but has struggled to find consistency. NET ranking: 103
Postseason chances: Barring a run through the Pac-12 tournament to an automatic bid, Stanford will miss the NCAAs for the 10th straight season, its longest drought since the 1980s.
Santa Clara (17-10, 8-4 WCC)
Season
to date: The Broncos’ depth that has produced eight players who led the team in scoring at least once. Santa Clara, which owns a victory over Gonzaga but lost twice to Saint Mary’s, faces the Zags in the rematch Saturday in Spokane. NET ranking: 107
Postseason chances:
The Broncos haven’t played in the NCAA tournament since Steve Nash played for them in the 1990s and it’s going to take a surprise outcome at the WCC tournament to end that drought.
Cal (11-15, 7-8 Pac-12) Season to date: A year after Cal went 3-29 record, first-year coach Mark Madsen has brought fans back to Haas Pavilion, thanks to guard Jaylon Tyson (20.3 points) and Fardaws Aimaq (17 double-doubles). NET ranking: 119
Postseason chances:
Arizona has dominated Cal twice but perhaps no one else would be eager to face this confident bunch in the Pac-12 tournament.
San Jose State (9-18, 2-12 MWC)
Season to date: A season sweep of Air Force is all the Spartans have to show for 14 conference games. NET ranking: 239
Postseason chances:
Even winning once will be challenging in a ferocious Mountain West tournament that is projected to feed a conference-record six teams into the NCAA field.