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Saint Mary’s vs Arizona State: 3 key storylines for Hall of Fame showcase matchup

By John Vaccaro

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 11: Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary's Gaels brings the ball up the court against the San Diego Toreros during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 11, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Gaels defeated the Toreros 69-62. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 11: Jordan Ford #3 of the Saint Mary's Gaels brings the ball up the court against the San Diego Toreros during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 11, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Gaels defeated the Toreros 69-62. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

Two Resumes in Need

At this point in the season, it seems clear that both Arizona State and Saint Mary’s will be in the running for a spot in the NCAA tournament again this season, but they both have challenging conference schedules standing between them and the tournament.

For Arizona State, the Pac-12 is tougher than we’ve seen in the last couple of years. Nine of the conference’s 12 teams currently have only one or two losses and three of those teams are ranked in the top 25, with Colorado having just been removed from the rankings this week. That could be very good for ASU or very bad. If they make it through the conference schedule without taking too many losses and maybe even getting wins over Arizona and Oregon, then they could see themselves finish the year in the top 25 and get a 6-seed or better in the tournament.

However, if the Pac-12 cannibalizes itself in basketball as it did in football, then teams like ASU will need strong wins outside of the conference just to make the field of 68. Saint Mary’s is one of their last chances to get one of those.

As it stands, ASU has some good wins, but it is really hard to tell if their non-conference resume will end up actually being a strength when it’s time for the committee to make their decisions. St. Johns, Georgia, and San Francisco all have the potential to be strong wins, but they could also fall apart in conference play just as easily. San Francisco already has a bad loss on their resume and could easily see their resume crumble if they can’t beat BYU, Gonzaga, and Saint Mary’s in-conference. St. John’s has already lost tp Vermont and will have to face tough competition in the Big East. Georgia’s offense could carry them through a lot of games this year, but if they don’t start defending then they’ll have a rough SEC season,

Saint Mary’s is in the same situation we see them in every season. No matter how good they are, their best-case scenario is probably being the second-best team in their conference. The difference this year is that they’ll have more competition for second place. BYU has shown that at their best they can beat strong competition, but also have the capacity to lose to average teams like Boise State on their bad nights. Depending on which version of BYU shows up in conference play, they could be a threat. San Francisco also looks like they’ll be stronger than usual this season and they pose one major problem for Saint Mary’s. The Gaels play abysmal defense against 3-point shooters and San Francisco has been making it rain from deep this year.

Saint Mary’s also doesn’t have the greatest non-conference resume at this point in the season. They have a bad loss against Winthrop and might not end up with a signature win depending on what Utah State does the rest of the year. Wins over Arizona State and Nevada this week wouldn’t be signature wins, but they should at least both be viewed as good wins by the end of the season.

Much like ASU, a win in Wednesday night’s game would provide them with some cover if they stumble in conference play and need a boost to their resume to find themselves in the field of 68.

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