NCAA Basketball: Saint Mary’s will be the biggest debate on Selection Sunday

With the loss in the semifinals to BYU in the WCC Tournament, Saint Mary’s will be at the mercy of the Selection Committee. The last time it happened, it didn’t end well for the Gaels.

I had a feeling it was going to come for this for Saint Mary’s. It was when the team released their non-conference schedule, which once again was weak to say the least. I felt that they set themselves up for an auto-bid or bust, based on the lack of quality wins available.

That proved even more so in the Wooden Legacy Classic, where back-to-back losses to San Diego State and Georgia put them in dire straights. However, Saint Mary’s won 19 games in a row, including sweeping BYU and beating Gonzaga in Spokane, giving them their signature win.

The Gaels looked like they were coasting to a bid, but after getting destroyed by the Zags in Moraga, followed by losing at home to San Francisco, the bubble talk resurfaced. But as long as they don’t lose to anyone other than Gonzaga, they’ll be fine.

Now that theory is really going to be tested, after losing in the semis to the Cougars, 85-72. It ends Saint Mary’s season until Selection Sunday, with a record of 28-5, with a current RPI of 40, but with an ugly strength of schedule of 249.

Before this game, our own Bracketology said that the Gaels needed to win this one to have a good at-large shot. They were projected as an 11 seed and given a First Four Bye, which of course will drop in the next release.

The resume for Saint Mary’s has a great win over Gonzaga, a bad loss at San Francisco, and two okay defeats to the Bulldogs and Aztecs. Problem is, the next best wins are the two against BYU, who are hovering in the 70s.

Making bad news even worse for the Gaels is that their season is over, and will have to watch the gluttony of power conference teams have opportunities to enhance their resume. But what might make them nauseous is knowing that they’ll be rooting hard for rival Gonzaga to win another WCC title, in order to prevent BYU from being a bid thief.

This situation is very similar to what happened a couple of years ago, with Saint Mary’s getting left out despite having nearly 30 wins. It was because of their resume which didn’t stack up with other bubble teams.

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The fact of the matter is that those who are in favor of Saint Mary’s getting a bid are using solely the “eye test” because the resume isn’t there. Will the Selection Committee go that route, or will they punish another team for scheduling poorly? Expect the Gaels to be a highly discussed team come Selection Sunday – one way or another.