Saint Mary’s Gaels Out Of NCAA’s Tournament, #2 Seed in NIT
There were a lot of questions as to whether the Saint Mary’s Gaels did enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament leading up to Selection Sunday, they were left on the outside looking in when all the announcements were made.
Even taking home a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title, finishing with a 15-3 conference record, wasn’t enough for the Saint Mary’s Gaels. Their record was matched by the Gonzaga Bulldogs, and Gonzaga earned an automatic bid by taking the Conference Tournament Championship, as the second-seeded Bulldogs upset the top-seeded Gaels in the tournament finals.
As it turned out, Saint Mary’s needed that Conference tournament championship to earn an automatic bid, as their regular season resume just wasn’t enough to propel them into the NCAA Tournament. They did earn 27 wins, 26 of which came against Division I opponents, but just eight of those win came versus opponents inside the top-200 in RPI. Over the last 20 years, no team in the NCAA Tournament has had more than half their wins coming against opponents outside the top-200. Saint Mary’s had more than two-thirds of their wins against such opponents.
The Gaels played just two of their teams against teams from the “Power Six” Conferences, beating the Stanford Cardinal (who finished 8-10 in the Pac-12) 78-61, and falling to the Cal Golden Bears (who finished 12-6 in the conference and are a fourth-seed in the NCAA Tournament) 63-59. Of their 10 non-conference games, Saint Mary’s played nine at home, while the lone road game was in Berkeley against Cal, just a few miles from their campus.
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Instead of playing in the NCAA Tournament, Saint Mary’s will take part in the NIT (National Invitation Tournament). The Gaels are a number-two seed, behind the top-seeded Valparaiso Crusaders, in the aptly-named “Valparaiso and Saint Mary’s Quadrant”. In their first round matchup, Saint Mary’s will face the New Mexico State Aggies, who were the Western Athletic Conference regular season champions. They lost the WAC Conference Tournament championship game on a buzzer-beating three-pointer to the Cal State-Bakersfield Roadrunners. The Roadrunners earned the lone automatic berth in the conference with the tournament win.
Joining Valparaiso as number one seeds are the Saint Bonaventure Bonnies, who finished 14-4 in the Atlantic 10, and ended the year in a tie for the regular season championship with the Virginia Commonwealth Rams and the Dayton Flyers. They were all stunned in the conference tournament by the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. The South Carolina Gamecocks are also a number one seed. They finished 11-7, third in the SEC this season, but were upset in the conference tournament by the sixth-seeded Georgia Bulldogs
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The Monmouth Hawks, who finished 17-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and won the regular season championship, but lost in the tournament championship game to the Iona Gaels, are the last number-one seed. They gained a large measure of fame because of their bench celebrations that caused quite a bit of commotion.
Joining Saint Mary’s as two seeds are the BYU Cougars (13-5 in the WCC), the San Diego State Aztecs (16-2 in the Mountain West Conference), and the Florida Gators (9-9 in the SEC).
Next: Cal Gets School-Best Seeds, 7 Pac-12 Teams in Tourney
The 32-team tournament begins on Tuesday, and during the first three rounds, the higher-seeded teams host the games on their own home court.