No. 21 Saint Mary’s heads into March Madness seeking 2nd straight WCC Tournament title

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MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — In the fast-changing world of college basketball, some things remain constant.

Saint Mary’s, the small school in San Francisco’s East Bay region, keeps piling up wins at the rate that only the blue bloods of the sport can match.

The Gaes (27-4) are ranked 21st in the country after winning back-to-back outright regular-season titles in the West Coast Conference and head into the conference tournament with a chance to become the first team to repeat as champions other than Gonzaga since Pepperdine in 1991-92.

The success has come without changing the tenets of the program that coach Randy Bennett has instilled since taking a 2-27 team in 2001 and turning it into a consistent West Coast power.

“Teach what you know and know what you teach. That’s for all of us,” Bennett said. “We have a lot of reps building a team. It’s what I’m comfortable with. You have to adapt but I don’t think you have to full scale just switch what you’re doing. We haven’t and we won’t. It’s the more enjoyable way to do it. I assure you of that. We have guys that’ll let us coach them up and we get to coach them.”

Only three teams in the nation have won at a higher rate that Saint Mary’s since the start of 2007-08 with the Gaels’ .768 win percentage in that span ranking behind only conference rival Gonzaga (.842) and perennial powerhouses Kansas (.807) and Duke (.799).

They’ve done it without the resources of the other top programs, playing in a small gym that holds about 3,500 fans and an NIL budget that is smaller than several other teams in the WCC and pales in comparison to the top programs in the nation.

“What we’re selling here is the team and winning and something bigger than yourself,” Bennett said. “We get those guys and they want to be like the Spurs back in the day. The guys aren’t chasing every cent, every penny. They’re chasing being part of something special.”

The Gaels have done that this year.

Saint Mary’s swept Gonzaga, clinching a…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/no-21-saint-marys-heads-200958883.html

Author : Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-03-07 20:09:00

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