Who’s going dancing with the Gaels?
Saint Mary’s turned tables on Zags with stifling defense to earn spot in Big Dance
Today, 3 p.m. on CBS
Now that Saint Mary’s has given the Bay Area a rooting interest in the men’s college basketball tournament, aka March Madness, there are some things you should know.
First, none of this would be necessary if the Gaels hadn’t pulled off one of the greatest upsets in school history Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Their 60-47 victory over No. 1-ranked Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference championship game assured them of a spot in the 68-team field. With 11 losses, there was no other way for the Gaels (22-11) to get in.
1 >> Some coaches prepare their team for a big game with an inspirational speech or maybe an uplifting video. Randy Bennett chose a different tact.
He made the Gaels watch their embarrassing 48-point loss to Gonzaga on Feb. 9.
“(We watched) every second,” the Saint Mary’s coach told The Athletic. “I thought we kind of quit in that game and gave into them ... I knew we couldn’t move forward ‘til we hashed that out.”
They moved forward, all right. Using some stifling defense, the Gaels shockingly held the Zags’ highly rated offense to a seasonlow 47 points. The Zags, who hadn’t shot worse than 49 percent in a game this season, were held to 39.6 percent by the Gaels. 2>> Who says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?
Consider this: Saint Mary’s, with an undergrad enrollment of 2,658 students, had its basketball team referenced in 2,700 media stories and 9,700 social media posts by noon Tuesday, according to Joyce Julius & Associates.
3 >> This will be Saint Mary’s sixth tournament appearance since 2005, more than Cal (5) or Stanford (4), and the Gaels might be starting out close to home.
Longtime ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi forecasted that they would open in San Jose on Friday. As of noon Saturday, Lunardi had moved the Gaels to Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Official word will come today.
4>> Yes, Randy Bennett, one of the most respected coaches in the nation, is still going strong in Moraga. In fact, Gonzaga’s Mark Few (20 seasons) is the only coach this side of Texas with more longevity in one place than Bennett’s 18 years at Saint Mary’s.
Bennett’s overall impact has been remarkable since taking over a Saint Mary’s team that went 2-27 in 2001. His teams have won 70 percent of the time (414173) and he’ll now be coaching in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time.
The only thing more consistent than Bennett being on the Gaels’ bench is seeing his roster dotted with players from overseas, especially Australia. Two-thirds of the Gaels’ 15man roster come from outside the U.S. — five players from Australia, two from New Zealand and one each from Latvia, Estonia and England.
5 >> If you’re looking for a star on Saint Mary’s, look no further than Jordan Ford. Ford scored a teamhigh 17 points against Gonzaga in the WCC title game, but has been a much bigger factor throughout the season.
The 6-foot-1 junior guard from Folsom High School was the WCC’s leading scorer this season (21.3 points per game) and he’s made 42.3 percent of his 3-point attempts. Ford was also the only Gael on the All-WCC first team.