For nearly a quarter century Randy Bennett has been building success at Saint Mary’s and he’s never left that potent mid-major in Moraga. The Gaels have made several postseason appearances over the years, including four straight trips to the Big Dance. In fact, Saint Mary’s has actually won the WCC regular season title three years in a row, including outright titles over Gonzaga the last two, but the future will look quite different after this offseason.
Major pieces of the program saw their brilliant careers end, as Bennett and company seek to replace Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen among others. Getting Paulius Murauskas back for his junior year is enormous, as the Lithuanian forward shined as a sophomore and will play a major role this upcoming year. Further down the rotation, a few players transferred, leaving returners like Mikey Lewis and Harry Wessels to take bigger roles moving forward.
Outside of Gonzaga, transfer portal battles aren’t exactly breaking news in the WCC, but Bennett and his staff has quietly added to this roster. Freshmen Liam Campbell, Mantas Juzenas, and Dillan Shaw each could play significant minutes in their collegiate debuts while a pair of new faces emerged from the portal. Jazz Gardner is the first new name in Moraga and he’s a 7-footer who spent last season in the WCC at Pacific and has untapped potential.
The other addition is another former WCC piece in Tony Duckett, a 6-5 combo guard and California native who suited up for San Diego as a true freshman last year. Duckett averaged 10.4 points and 2.0 rebounds, carving out a more significant role for himself as the season progressed. That included a career-best 31-point effort against Loyola Marymount during league play.
The sophomore season is very important and Duckett’s new surroundings will only help matters. He’ll quite possibly shoulder a significant load for a Gaels team trying to replace Marciulionis and Jordan Ross from last season. We mentioned how Duckett’s production increased especially in WCC play, though the hope is that his shooting numbers can also improve after making 34% from long-range and 38% total from the floor.
Expect Murauskas to be an impact player and probably the leading scorer and rebounder for the Gaels, but don’t be shocked to see Duckett making waves just the same. He’s spent a year growing his game in the WCC and it’ll be interesting to see if he can take that next step. Not everyone saw this recent surge coming for Saint Mary’s but if they’re going to be a conference champion again than Duckett needs to be an impact player.