Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s no NCAA locks

In recent years, the West Coast Conference has received multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament, with Gonzaga and Saint Mary's most often representing the eight-team, private-school league.

That might not be the case this year.

Despite a difficult nonconference schedule, Gonzaga's NCAA resume isn't as strong as in years past. The Bulldogs are No. 65 in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index entering the conference tournament at Orleans Arena. The four-day event begins today with two first-round games.

Saint Mary's, meanwhile, took a hit last month when it lost three straight games, including a 74-66 loss to a 6-23 San Diego team, and saw its RPI drop to 49 after being in the high 20s most of the season.

While Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Saint Mary's Randy Bennett think their teams have done enough to warrant inclusion into the elite field of 68, neither wants to leave the decision to the NCAA selection committee.

"Our goal is the same every year -- to win the conference tournament," Few said of getting an automatic bid into the NCAAs. "Our guys are not even thinking about that sort of stuff. We played a brutal nonconference schedule, and that didn't let it get them down. We believe that will pay off for us."

Said Bennett: "I'm never confident. I don't trust any of those scenarios. The only thing I know is if we win (the tournament), we're in the dance."

Gonzaga, which shared the WCC regular-season title with Saint Mary's (23-7) at 11-3 and is the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, brings a 22-9 record into Sunday's semifinals. Of the nine losses, six have come against teams in the RPI top 50 (No. 4 San Diego State, No. 11 Notre Dame, No. 25 Kansas State, No. 33 Memphis, No. 38 Illinois and Saint Mary's).

The Bulldogs have quality wins over Xavier and Marquette, but their 65 RPI is a low ranking for a team looking to land an at-large spot in the NCAA field.

Still, Gonzaga has surged recently, having won seven straight and nine of 10.

"We've made a great rally," Few said. "We were three games back six weeks ago. But we started playing better defense, and we added three elements to our offense in Sam (Dower), Marquise (Carter) and David (Stockton), and we're a much better team."

Included in their recent run was an 89-85 overtime win at Saint Mary's on Feb. 24. By virtue of their tie with the Gaels for first place in the regular-season standings, the Bulldogs have a bye into the semifinals on Sunday, when they will play San Diego, Pepperdine or San Francisco in a 7:30 p.m. game.

Meanwhile, the body of work for the top-seeded Gaels, who have the WCC's Coach of the Year in Bennett and the Player of the Year in senior guard Mickey McConnell, also has question marks.

Saint Mary's has one win over teams in the RPI top 50 -- over No. 14 St. John's in mid-November. The Gaels have four losses to RPI top 25 teams (No. 1 Brigham Young, San Diego State, No. 18 Utah State and No. 23 Vanderbilt). The fact they've lost three of their past four games entering Sunday's conference semifinal also could work against them.

The Gaels will meet Portland, Loyola Marymount or Santa Clara in their 5 p.m. semifinal.

"I thought we bounced back against Portland," Bennett said, alluding to his team's 83-69 win last week. "We had a bad second half at San Diego and a bad first half against Utah State. Otherwise, I thought we played pretty well."

Few and Bennett agreed that if one team can spoil their teams' plans, it's San Francisco. The Dons, who are seeded third and will play the Pepperdine-San Diego winner in Saturday's quarterfinals, split with Gonzaga in the regular season and lost the season series to Saint Mary's, including a 68-66 defeat Feb. 12.

"They're good," Bennett said of USF (16-13). "They get after you, and Rex (Walters) has done a good job turning their program around. They're a dangerous opponent, no question."

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.