Bracketology 2023: Texas, Indiana and Saint Mary’s among week’s biggest winners

Saint Mary’s Gaels

From a Bracketology perspective, Gonzaga is the WCC team that’s projected higher on a seedline than Saint Mary’s. But on paper, the Gaels metrics are much higher, including a top-10 NET ranking. That’s mainly due to the elite efficiency in which they operate and the blowout victories they’ve had until the past week, including a one-point win over Saint Mary’s and a nine-point win over San Francisco on Thursday, despite being tied with four minutes to go.

The WCC doesn’t have many marquee opportunities outside of Gonzaga and the Gaels facing one another, which happened on Saturday in Moraga. But it was the Bulldogs who had the upper hand for most of the game until the final minutes. But Saint Mary’s found a way to come back and force it into overtime, before winning, 78-70.

It’s the second Quad 1 victory for the Gaels, joining a neutral site win over San Diego State. It also helps offset the pair of Quad 3 defeats they’ve suffered to Colorado State and Washington, which are anchors on their resume when it comes to battling for a top-4 seed in March.

This signature win helps them and assuming they meet up in the WCC Tournament title game, gives Saint Mary’s two more Quad 1 opportunities. If they don’t lose to anyone other than the Bulldogs the rest of the way and continue having superior metrics, the Gaels can move up from a 6 seed and be nowhere near the 8/9 seed range.