Five automatic bids went out on Tuesday night. All five were in what figured to be one-bid leagues, so a lot was on the line all the way around. Then one of the last games of the night happened and changed everything.
It was also a shocker. It was something surely no one saw coming.
Saint Mary’s has been a top challenge to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference for a while now. Randy Bennett has found a home there and made them into a consistent contender and NCAA Tournament team. This season, though, looked to be a bit different, not only going in, but as the season went on.
The Gaels lost a significant amount of experience and production from last season’s team. This season’s team had just two seniors, both up front, but one of them – Seattle transfer Aaron Menzies – hasn’t played after having hand surgery. That tells you this is not as experienced a team as last season’s.
The product on the court was a little more flawed, though they played a tougher non-conference schedule. They lost four in a row at one point, though only one was by double digits and none of them to bad teams. The problem is that the quality wins weren’t there – their best wins were at New Mexico State, New Mexico and Bucknell. Not bad, but none of them remotely resemble a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
Then they opened WCC play with a loss at San Francisco, from which they would rebound until they lost two in a row, one of them at Pepperdine. But the worst of it was three games after that, when they went to Spokane and were annihilated by Gonzaga.
Now Gonzaga is really good this year – their win over Duke to claim the Maui Invitational was no accident – but the fact that the Bulldogs so humiliated the Gaels had to be a very real sign that this was not the Saint Mary’s of recent years.
They would rebound to win five in a row and give Gonzaga a better game in Moraga before succumbing by 14 in the final regular season game. After fighting off San Diego in the semifinals, the stage was set.
Surely, the Gaels were not about to end Gonzaga’s 21-game winning streak, right? They weren’t about to reverse the regular season results and pull off a stunner, right? Gonzaga won WCC games by a conference record 27 points per game on average.
Well, the Gaels slowed the game considerably. They also slowed Rui Hachimura and defended the three-point line. They then took care of business at the offensive end, shooting 45 percent from the field, and on the glass, where they had a 34-27 rebounding edge, and the end result was a 60-47 win to take home the West Coast Conference Tournament title and earn an NCAA Tournament bid.
It’s entirely possible that the Gaels are bid thieves, though we won’t know for sure until we see the bracket. While they were getting mentioned as being on the bubble, that was in flux and it was far from a given they would be able to hang around, especially if more upsets happen. But they are in, and now the bigger question is if Gonzaga will be a No. 1 seed. The thought was that if they won tonight, they might have a chance to be the No. 1 overall seed, but you have to think that certainly won’t happen now.
Once the other four bids had been handed out, Saint Mary’s finished up the shocker of the night. Maybe the Gaels are better than what they showed earlier. Maybe Gonzaga had an off night. Either way, the result was one few if any outside the Saint Mary’s locker room thought it would be.
Side Dishes
Three bids went out early on, and if there’s one thing that was consistent, it was that it was a good night to be the lower seed. In the Northeast Conference championship game, No. 2 Fairleigh Dickinson rode the trio of Darnell Edge (21 points), Kaleb Bishop (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Jahlil Jenkins (20 points) to an 85-76 win at No. 1 Saint Francis U to win the title for the third time as a No. 2 seed. In the Horizon League championship, No. 2 Northern Kentucky made a ten-point halftime lead stand up in a 77-66 win over No. 1 Wright State. And in the CAA, No. 2 Northeastern opened up a 16-point halftime lead and then held off No. 1 Hofstra 82-74 to reach the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years.
One other championship game had a late tip, the Summit League title game between No. 4 North Dakota State and No. 2 Omaha. The Bison ran out to a 14-point halftime lead, but watch Omaha go on a couple of runs in the second half that totaled 24-10 and tied the game with under nine minutes left. Omaha appeared to run out of gas, though, as North Dakota State scored the next nine points, and Omaha never got closer than six from there as the Bison took home a 73-63 win.
The America East championship game matchup is set after Tuesday night’s semifinals, and it will have a familiar look. No. 1 Vermont cruised to an 84-51 romp over No. 7 Binghamton, while No. 3 UMBC blew rallied a 26-point second-half lead and needed two overtimes to take out No. 4 Hartford 90-85.
Rutgers dismissed forward Issa Thiam from the team after he was arrested on domestic violence charges, but he appears to have bigger concerns than basketball. The junior has been charged with simple assault, false imprisonment and making terroristic threats, and has been ordered to surrender his passport. More important than basketball, the native of Dakar, Senegal may be facing deportation as well.
Coaching news continued to come out on Tuesday, and the Houston Chronicle reported that Billy Kennedy is out at Texas A&M after eight seasons. While the Aggies had some success, they made the NCAA Tournament just twice in that time.
Tonight’s Menu
Just one more bid will go out tonight as most of the big boys get going.
- The Patriot League championship game has No. 1 Colgate hosting No. 2 Bucknell (7:30 p.m.)
- A busy day of ACC Tournament action starts with what might be an at-large elimination game as No. 8 NC State battles No. 9 Clemson (noon), then No. 5 Virginia Tech takes on No. 12 Miami (2 p.m.) The evening session has No. 7 Louisville battling No. 15 Notre Dame (7 p.m.) and No. 6 Syracuse taking on No. 14 Pittsburgh in an old Big East battle (9 p.m.)
- The Atlantic 10 Tournament gets going with first round action in Brooklyn as No. 12 George Washington takes on No. 13 UMass (1 p.m.) and No. 11 Richmond plays No. 14 Fordham (3:30 p.m.)
- In Kansas City, the Big 12 Tournament gets going with No. 8 TCU taking on No. 9 Oklahoma State (7 p.m.) and No. 7 Oklahoma taking on No. 10 West Virginia (9 p.m.)
- The Big East Tournament has first round action at Madison Square Garden between No. 8 Providence and No. 9 Butler (7 p.m.) followed by No. 7 St. John’s taking on No. 10 DePaul (9:30 p.m.)
- The Big Sky Tournament gets going, and the first game is a very early tip when you consider they’re playing in Boise, Idaho, as the women’s semifinals take over in the evening. It starts with No. 8 Northern Arizona taking on No. 9 Sacramento State (11:30 a.m.), then No. 7 Southern Utah faces No. 10 Idaho State (2 p.m.) and No. 6 Montana State takes on No. 11 Idaho (4:30 p.m.)
- First round action in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago has No. 12 Rutgers battling No. 13 Nebraska (6:30 p.m.) and No. 11 Illinois taking on No. 14 Northwestern (9 p.m.)
- In the Conference USA Tournament in Frisco, Texas, first round action has No. 8 Louisiana Tech taking on No. 9 Florida Atlantic (7 p.m.), No. 5 UAB taking on No. 12 Middle Tennessee (7:30 p.m.), No. 7 FIU battling No. 10 North Texas (9:30 p.m.) and No. 6 Marshall taking on No. 11 Rice (10 p.m.)
- The MEAC Tournament has the first two quarterfinals on tap in Norfolk, with No. 1 Norfolk State taking on No. 9 South Carolina State (6 p.m.) and No. 2 North Carolina A&T taking on No. 7 Copping State (8 p.m.)
- In Las Vegas, first round action in the Mountain West Tournament starts with No. 8 Boise State playing No. 9 Colorado State (2 p.m.), then No. 7 New Mexico takes on No. 10 Wyoming (4:30 p.m.) and No. 6 Air Force takes on No. 11 San Jose State (7 p.m.)
- The Pac-12 Tournament gets underway in Las Vegas, starting with No. 8 USC battling No. 9 Arizona (3 p.m.) and No. 5 Colorado taking on No. 12 Cal in the afternoon (5:30 p.m.) In the evening session, No. 7 UCLA takes on No. 10 Stanford (9 p.m.) and No. 6 Oregon plays No. 11 Washington State (11:30 p.m.)
- The SEC Tournament has first round action in Nashville with No. 12 Missouri taking on No. 13 Georgia (7 p.m.) and No. 11 Texas A&M taking on No. 14 Vanderbilt (9 p.m.)
- In Katy, Texas, the Southland Conference Tournament has first round action with No. 5 Lamar taking on No. 8 Houston Baptist (6 p.m.) and No. 6 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi taking on No. 7 Central Arkansas (8:30 p.m.)
