By Woodrow Carroll
Those who follow the college basketball scene will be quick to say that there are no undefeated Division-I men’s programs remaining.. In fact, there are no teams with only a single defeat as we go to the latter quarter of college basketball’s regular season.
Going undefeated in conference action is no easy feat, either. Entering into this week only one team has avoided a league loss among the Div-1 men’s programs, the St. Mary’s Gaels of the West Coast Conference.
Entering this week, St. Mary’s was 21-6 overall and 12-0 in the West Coast Conference. The various conference standings around the country shows St. Mary’s stands alone undefeated in league play.
Moraga, Calif. is in the greater San Francisco area. For a long time, St. Mary’s biggest rivals were the University of San Francisco Dons and Santa Clara Broncos, two nearby long-standing rivals.
The West Coast Conference is comprised of nine schools. Seven of the Conference schools are in California. The two outsiders are Portland and Gonzaga (Spokane, Wash.). Gonzaga likely is the most recognizable name among West Coast Conference schools given the recent basketball success of the school.
In the distant past, St. Mary’s did reach the Final Eight in the 1959 NCAA men’s tournament only to be eliminated by eventual champion University of California. In recent seasons, the school has strung together winning campaigns, thanks in large part to its Australian connection.
Randy Bennett took over as head coach at St, Mary’s in 2001. His first team (2001-2002) ended up 9-20, but, things soon got better! Much better!
One of the players on Bennett’s first squad at St. Mary’s was an Australian, Adam Caporn. Thanks in part to Caporn, Bennett quickly established an Australian connection. Every team coached by Bennett since his arrival in Moraga, Calif. has had an Australian on the roster.
We are well aware that a conference such as the Big Ten will have multiple members in the NCAA postseason Tournament given the Big Ten’s reputation. Teams such as Illinois, 19-6 overall at the start of the week and Purdue, 23-3, would have to falter badly down the stretch not to make it to the Big Show. Conversely, for the Mid-American Conference to have more than one entrant would come as a surprise.
Teams in the West Coast Conference are caught in the middle for making the NCAA Tournament. As long as St. Mary’s continues to win games, the tournament picture looks good, However, the Gaels must be careful.
The West Coast Conference schedule was certainly designed with interest in mind. Thanks to a three-game road winning streak early this month, highlighted by a victory at Gonzaga, St. Mary’s holds a two-game edge over Gonzaga and San Francisco at week’s beginning. When Gonzaga plays at St. Mary’s March 2 to close out the regular season, it may be a desperate Gonzaga team the Gaels play.
Every season since 1999, Gonzaga has reached the NCAA tournament. Two games in back of St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference standings, Gonzaga might need a road victory at St. Mary’s to bolster its tournament resume. Given the rivalry between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s the March 2 meeting between the two teams has the making of a classic.