Jan. 13, 2005

By Matt Doherty

Special to CollegeSports.com 

You'd have to look hard to find a more compelling story in college basketball than the resurgence of Saint Mary's.

After all, it wasn't long ago -- four seasons, to be exact -- that the Gaels were among the worst teams in the country, stumbling to a 2-27 record. A 71-63 victory over Cal Santa Barbara was the small Catholic school's only win against a Division I opponent.

But over the past half-decade, Saint Mary's has seen its RPI steadily climb from 314, to 257, to 140, to 106, to -- this year so far -- 47. They won 19 games last season to tie for second in the West Coast Conference standings, and played Gonzaga close in the conference tournament quarters. Their absence from the NIT was among the most notable postseason snubs of last March.

This year, they've returned seven of their top nine players and have sprinted out to a 15-4 record. Victories over then-No. 11 Gonzaga, UNLV and Air Force have created quite a buzz on the tiny Moraga, Calif. campus.

SMC head coach Randy Bennett -- who got his start under current Washington coach Lorenzo Romar -- has managed to overhaul the perception of a once-broken program through creative recruiting, rock solid coaching and an ability to get it all organized. The Gaels have managed to land a number of overlooked players from abroad. The most brilliant such diamond in the rough has been junior forward Daniel Kickert -- the team's leading rebounder (7.1 per game) and second-leading scorer (14.1 per game) -- a product of Melbourne. Senior forward Frederic Adjiwanou, an important inside presence for Bennett, hails from Ambilly, France, junior seven-footer Reda Rhalimi was a member of the Moroccan Junior National Team, while freshman reserve Rafael DaSilva comes from Sao Paulo.

Kickert and Oakland-born Paul Marigney -- both all-WCC last year -- form one of the league's most potent one-two combos. E.J. Rowland, another California native, runs the point and provides scoring punch from the backcourt.

Under Bennett, the Gaels play a hard-nosed brand of basketball -- half-court sets and tight man-to-man defense have become the rule. SMC leads the conference in scoring defense (surrendering 59.2 points per game) and field goal percentage defense (.409). Their 3.89 blocked shots per game is also a conference-best.

What's more, Saint Mary's ascendance has seemed to mirror the steady improvement of the eight-team West Coast Conference. The WCC is currently ranked seventh in Conference RPI -- tops among teams outside the Big Six -- ahead of Conference USA, the Mountain West, the WAC and the much-ballyhooed Missouri Valley Conference. Aside from SMC, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara each are threats to unseat perennial league favorite Gonzaga, the nation's 20^th-ranked team. Even if the Gaels slip in the conference tournament, Bennett's team has already crafted an impressive tournament resume for itself -- and the conference has definitely earned an at-large bid.

Following a Jan. 15 date with Santa Clara -- a team that handed third-ranked North Carolina its only loss of the season -- the Gaels hit the road for a tangle with Pepperdine on Thursday, Jan. 20. That game will be broadcast on CSTV, and I will have one of the best seats in the house!

Matt's Last Column: Five For '05

Matt Doherty is an analyst for men's college basketball on CSTV and contributes to CollegeSports.com on a weekly basis. Doherty was previously the head coach at the University of North Carolina and Notre Dame. The 1984 graduate of North Carolina played on the Tar Heels' 1982 NCAA Championship team and also won two ACC regular season and tournament titles in his four years.