It has been an eventful 2 1/2 months for Saint Mary’s since careening to a 3-5 start to a season in which the Gaels were supposed to do good things.
Well, the good things have arrived after all:
— Coach Randy Bennett’s squad has won 17 of its past 18 games to return this week to the AP Top 25 at No. 18. The Gaels were No. 23 in the preseason poll but dropped out by Week 2 and didn’t make it back until Monday.
— Among those 17 victories was a 64-62 road win over Gonzaga — the Gaels’ first in Spokane since 2018 — that provided Saint Mary’s with a two-game margin over the rest of the West Coast Conference at 11-0 and a lofty No. 14 spot in the NCAA’s NET rankings.
— The Gaels’ 76-51 win at Portland on Saturday was their 20th of the season. Excluding the 2021 COVID-shortened season, Saint Mary’s (20-6) has won at least 20 games in 16 consecutive seasons — the longest stretch by any Bay Area men’s team. Next longest: 10 years (1995-2004) by Mike Montgomery’s Stanford teams.
— Thanks to a tip by former Bennett assistants Eran Ganot and Dan Shell, we are informed that Bennett, with 527 career victories in Moraga, has moved past Montgomery (522 at Stanford and Cal) for the most by a Bay Area men’s coach.
Among coaches at the 25 Division I programs in the state of California, Bennett sits at No. 2 all-time. Topping the list: UCLA coaching icon John Wooden, with 620. And he’s not out of reach.
The Gaels are at home for four of their five remaining regular-season games, starting Thursday night against Pepperdine (10-16, 3-8). They face second-place USF (20-6, 9-2) next Tuesday and close out the WCC schedule on Saturday, March 2 when Gonzaga (18-6, 8-2) visits.
What does it all mean to the Gaels’ NCAA Tournament prospects?
“If they win out (in the regular season), they’ll absolutely get in,” said ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. “I think they can lose one of the two games (to) San Fran or Gonzaga, lose in the conference tournament and still get in. They’ve piled up a pretty good resume.”
Rivals clash at Stanford
The Cal women (15-10, 5-8 Pac-12) visit first-place Stanford (22-3, 11-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. The Cardinal resides at No. 3 in the AP Top 25, No. 2 in the NET rankings and is projected by ESPN as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Bears are enjoying their best season under fifth-year coach Charmin Smith, but the Stanford alum still is seeking her first victory over mentor and former coach Tara VanDerveer. The Cardinal has beaten Cal 10 times in a row.
But that’s nothing compared to Stanford’s domination over Washington State. The Cardinal’s 73-58 road win over WSU on Sunday improved its all-time record in the series to 75-0, dating back to their first meeting in 1983. And with Stanford headed to the ACC next season, WSU is unlikely to get another shot at the Cardinal anytime soon.
Cal’s 7-win climb out of the abyss
New Cal coach Mark Madsen stated a goal of pulling off college basketball’s biggest-ever year-to-year turnaround after inheriting a 3-29 squad. That won’t happen, but Cal’s 10-14 record represents an improvement of seven victories over 2023.
That’s the most by any of the six programs from major college conferences who had single-digit win totals last season. Close on the Bears’ heels is Minnesota, which is currently 15-10 a year after going 9-22.
Görener sets SJSU 3-point mark
San Jose State senior forward Tibet Görener, a 6-foot-9 native of Istanbul, Turkey, broke the Spartans’ record for career 3-point baskets last week, and now has 163 in his three seasons.
That got us thinking: What are the school records at the Bay Area’s other five Division I programs?
Cal’s Jerome Randle (2007-10) made 252 3s in his career, Matthew Dellavedova (20010-2013) connected from deep 288 times for Saint Mary’s, Khalil Shabazz (2020-23) owns the USF record with 299, and Stanford’s Chanson Randle (2012-15) made 304 shots from beyond the arc.
But the local standard is 431 by Santa Clara’s Kevin Foster (2009-13), who also owns the Bay Area scoring record with 2,433 points.
