No. 21 Saint Mary’s heads into March Madness seeking 2nd straight WCC Tournament title

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) - In the fast-changing world of college basketball, some things remain constant.

Saint Mary’s, the small school in San Francisco’s East Bay region, keeps piling up wins at the rate that only the blue bloods of the sport can match.

The Gaes (27-4) are ranked 21st in the country after winning back-to-back outright regular-season titles in the West Coast Conference and head into the conference tournament with a chance to become the first team to repeat as champions other than Gonzaga since Pepperdine in 1991-92.

The success has come without changing the tenets of the program that coach Randy Bennett has instilled since taking a 2-27 team in 2001 and turning it into a consistent West Coast power.

"Teach what you know and know what you teach. That's for all of us," Bennett said. "We have a lot of reps building a team. It's what I'm comfortable with. You have to adapt but I don't think you have to full scale just switch what you're doing. We haven't and we won't. It's the more enjoyable way to do it. I assure you of that. We have guys that'll let us coach them up and we get to coach them.”

Only three teams in the nation have won at a higher rate that Saint Mary’s since the start of 2007-08 with the Gaels’ .768 win percentage in that span ranking behind only conference rival Gonzaga (.842) and perennial powerhouses Kansas (.807) and Duke (.799).

They’ve done it without the resources of the other top programs, playing in a small gym that holds about 3,500 fans and an NIL budget that is smaller than several other teams in the WCC and pales in comparison to the top programs in the nation.

"What we're selling here is the team and winning and something bigger than yourself," Bennett said. "We get those guys and they want to be like the Spurs back in the day. The guys aren't chasing every cent, every penny. They're chasing being part of something special."

The Gaels have done that this year.

Saint Mary’s swept Gonzaga, clinching a second straight outright conference title with a win at The Kennel in Spokane, Washington, on Feb. 22, that marked the first time the Bulldogs didn’t win at least a share of the regular season title in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1992 and ’93 conference seasons.

"To me they're still Gonzaga," Bennett said. "People come up to me and say, 'Does that mean you passed them?' No. We got them this year so far. Let's leave it at that."

Outsiders wondered whether the Gaels would be able to maintain their level of play this season after being hit hard by the transfer portal bug that has severely altered the world of college basketball in recent years.

Last season's leading scorer Aidan Mahaney transferred to UConn, key starter Joshua Jefferson moved to Iowa State and reserve Chris Howell going to UC San Diego.

Jefferson’s departure was expected and Bennett endorsed Howell’s decision to go to a team where he could be a starter. But Mahaney’s departure was a bit of a surprise since he grew up just minutes from the campus.

"Our guys didn’t flinch at all,” Bennett said. "Go do what you gotta do but we’re locking down here. That was one of our deals, 'Why can't we do this again?' We were pretty motivated."

While the addition of Arizona transfer Paulius Murauskas and talented freshman Mikey Lewis helped stem those losses, the Gaels thrived the way they usually have for much of the past two decades under Bennett by developing their own players.

Augustas Marciulionis, the son of former NBA star Sarunas Marciulionis, has gone from being mostly a reserve his first two seasons to becoming a back-to-back conference player of the year.

Mitchell Saxen decided to come back for a fifth season and was an all-conference pick after winning his second straight defensive player of the year award.

Luke Barrett has gone from a little-used walk-on to a a solid contributor.

"We just plugged a spot here, plugged a spot there," Bennett said. "That's just kind of what we know. Building, developing. That's our deal. Why go away from our deal. We didn't panic."

They just did what Bennett has done since arriving more than two decades ago. He is the fourth longest tenured coach in men’s Division I and has no plans to step away soon, saying he doesn’t know what he would do if he left coaching.

He still has more to accomplish despite his 560 wins and an 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament coming later this month.

The Gaels have made it to the second weekend only once in those previous 10 appearances, going to the Sweet 16 in 2010. He told his players before leaving for the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas that they have a chance to do something special this March but he isn’t looking ahead.

"We've checked a lot of boxes," he said. "The next is conference tournament. That's next and then we'll go from there."