Thursday, March 28

Saint Mary’s faces Indiana-Wyoming winner as highest NCAA seed in program history


MORAGA — There was excitement but no real drama, with everyone at Saint Mary’s College Sunday knowing full well that actually making the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was a foregone conclusion.

But that didn’t prevent a celebration among players, students and fans at around 3:30 p.m. when the Gaels learned they had received the highest seed in program history. Saint Mary’s plays its first game Thursday night and won’t have to leave the West Coast as the No. 5 seed in the East, facing the winner of a play-in game between Indiana (20-13) and Wyoming (25-8), who shared the 12th seed.

The Gaels (25-7) have twice been seeded No. 7 in 2018-19 and 2011-12. The doors at McKeon Pavilion opened at 2 p.m. at McKeon Pavilion to the sounds of the Saint Mary’s band. Gaels players were seated on the same floor where they compiled a 16-0 record this season.

“It was exciting, it was fun,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said. “We go down to the last bracket, the whole deal. I wasn’t stressed, just excited to see who we’re going to play.”

MORAGA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: The Saint Mary’s College men’s basketball team celebrates as their team is announced during the NCAA Selection Show Watch Party at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., on Sunday, March 13, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

Saint Mary’s played a bold schedule that included 10 wins against “Quad 1 and Quad 2” teams. Every loss came away from home. The Gaels were the only team to beat Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed, by 10 points.

Playing an ambitious schedule was one thing, but getting 25 wins out of it was above and beyond the call.

“It’s nice to get rewarded,” Bennett said. “To win 25 games is hard to do but that’s why we’re a No. 5 seed. You may play that schedule and get in with 21 or 22 — I think we would have got in with something like that. But they went ahead and finished it off and won a lot of those games.”

Upon entering the gym, four students sat at a table, taking credit card orders for NCAA Tournament tickets.

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MORAGA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: Saint Mary’s College head coach Randy Bennett, left, celebrates with his assistant coaches as their team is announced during the NCAA Selection Show Watch Party at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., on Sunday, March 13, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

Senior guard Tommy Kuhse, in his sixth year with the program, has experienced being left out of the tournament before and admitted to maybe having a case of “PTSD,” but conceded, “Obviously we wouldn’t have had all these people here if we didn’t know we were going to get in.”

It’s been a long road for the Gaels, who were 14-10 last season in a COVID year and lost a first-round NIT game to Western Kentucky. The previous year, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled, Saint Mary’s was in for a seed as high as No. 8.

“It’s really been a two-year season for this team,” Kuhse said. “I think we’ll look back on that and say that’s a pretty cool thing we did, but that’s not the biggest thing we’re talking about because we’ve got bigger goals than that.”

Knowing they were shoe-ins for the tournament, the Gaels could afford to be a little picky in terms of their destination rather than just being thankful to be invited to the dance. And Portland was a lot better sites such as Pittsburgh and Greenville, S.C.

MORAGA, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: The Saint Mary’s College men’s basketball team celebrates as their team is announced during the NCAA Selection Show Watch Party at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., on Sunday, March 13, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 



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