Why this is the biggest week ever for Saint Mary’s basketball
In his 25th season, even having coached 813 games at Saint Mary’s College, Randy Bennett hasn’t come across a week quite like this one.
“It’s definitely fun and it’s definitely scary,” he said. “It’s just intense.”
All of the above at least begins to describe how the final week of the regular season in the West Coast Conference unfolds for the Gaels.
If things go right for Bennett’s squad, the Gaels will walk away with at least a share of an unprecedented fourth consecutive WCC regular-season title. If things go sideways, they could be left in third place headed into the conference tournament and sweating their NCAA tournament status just a bit.
On tap are matchups against the other two teams crowding the top of the WCC standings. Both of them already claim victories over the Gaels. But Saint Mary’s gets the rematches at home in Moraga.
The big week gets started Wednesday night (8 p.m., CBSSN) when the Gaels (25-4, 14-2) take on century-old Bay Area rival Santa Clara (23-6, 14-2) in a duel of teams tied for second place.
No. 11 Gonzaga (27-2, 15-1), sitting one game ahead of the Gaels and Broncos in first place, comes to town on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN) for what has become an annual WCC showdown.
“It’s never come down to this,” said Bennett, the seven-time WCC Coach of the Year. “It’s come down to the last game before. But it’s never come down to playing the other two best teams in the last weekend.
“Everything’s on the line: conference championship, top (WCC tournament) seed, chance to increase your chances to go to the NCAA tournament. For all of us, it’s all on the line.”
If that’s not enough, Saturday will be the final regular-season conference matchup ever between the Gaels and Zags before the Spokane school departs for the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference.
Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga has become the best basketball rivalry on the West Coast. Consider this:
— Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s have finished in the top two of the WCC standings in 13 of the past 14 seasons and 16 of the past 20
— Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga has either won or shared the regular-season crown the past 25 years
— The past 14 WCC tournament titles have been won by either the Gaels or the Zags
“It’s hard for any program to stay good for that long,” Bennett said. “And two of them in the same league is an incredible story.”
But Bennett won’t mention Gonzaga to his players until Santa Clara is in the rearview mirror. He has no concerns his team might be peeking ahead. “Not at all. Our guys know what’s up.”
The Broncos have their attention after snapping an eight-game losing streak in the series with a 62-54 conquest of the Gaels at Santa Clara on Jan. 17.
“They’re good,” said Bennett, whose team was forced into its worst shooting performance of the season. “They just have better players than they’ve had that play together better than they have. We have to do what we do at a higher level.”
Saturday will be consequential and historic.
Bennett and Gonzaga’s Mark Few have locked horns 70 times since Bennett came on board for the 2001-02 season. No two coaches in the country can match their 30 meetings over the past 10-plus seasons.
“We’ll miss it. Mark will miss it, I’ll miss it, we’ll all miss it,” Bennett said of he rivalry.
Few began his head-coaching career two years earlier than Bennett, but both are now 63 and fixtures on their campuses. Bennett calls Few a friend.
“We grew up together, really,” he said. “We were part-time assistants, making no money. You don’t have that many guys around anymore who came up with you, and he’s one of them.”
Bennett inherited a team that was 2-27 the year before and the Gaels lost their first eight games against Gonzaga.
“It took us four years before we beat ‘em. Then we got ‘em at our place — I remember the game like it was yesterday,” he said of the 89-81 victory in 2005, when Oakland native Paul Marigney, wearing bright red Adidas, scored 30 points. “That’s one of our biggest wins ever. We had to break the ice. You’ve got to get the belief.”
The Zags have remained an obstacle, but the win-loss ledger is 5-5 since the start of the 2022-23 season.
“They made us better,” Bennett said. “People say you shouldn’t give them any credit but they’re the No. 1 winningest program in college basketball over the last 25 years. It’s crazy. No shame in that.”
The Gaels shared the 2023 WCC title with the Zags and won it outright the past two seasons. “That is pretty special because who we’ve had to go through to get there,” Bennett said.
With a fourth straight title on the line, Bennett made it clear that Saturday is not about trying to deny the Zags a last hurrah in the WCC. “The motivation is we’re trying to do something that’s never happened here.”
