Saint Mary’s Gaels
Saturday, December 13, 1:00pm
Omaha
Last Season: The Gaels went 23-12 a year ago, and beat Utah in the first round of the NIT before falling to Minnesota in the second round. They finished 11-7 in the WCC, good for fourth place, and advanced to postseason play for the seventh straight year (four NCAA berths, three NIT).
Last Meeting/All-Time Series: Creighton and Saint Mary’s have played five times previously, and SMC holds a 3-2 edge. The most recent matchup came in Creighton’s final BracketBuster game, a 74-66 loss out in California that damaged CU’s resume heading into March. This is the return game from that matchup.
Head Coach: Randy Bennett is in his 14th year in Moraga, and has built Saint Mary’s into a regional power that routinely challenges Gonzaga for WCC superiority, with 285 wins and seven postseason trips. He’s one of the best international recruiters in D1, if not the best, and has 17 former players playing professionally either in the U.S. or abroad. His program was hit with NCAA sanctions in March of 2013, however, stemming in part from his recruitment of international players. Those sanctions prohibited him from recruiting off-campus last season, and reduced their scholarships from 13 to 11 for this year and next, among other penalties.
Top Returners: Two starters return from last year’s NIT squad, headlined by All-WCC forward Brad Waldow. The 6’9″, 260 lb. senior averaged 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, while shooting 56.5% from the floor a year ago. He had eight double-doubles, and was a monster on the glass, grabbing 14 rebounds in a game against Santa Clara and 13 boards in four other games (Drake, Pepperdine, BYU, San Francisco). Waldow also blocked 49 shots.
Kerry Carter, a 6’2″ senior guard, started 19 games a year ago and averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds a game. The junior-college transfer from Citrus College made an immediate impact, leading the team in three-point attempts (172) and makes (68), while ranking fifth in the WCC with an average of 1.9 threes/game.
Former USC Trojan Garrett Jackson made his debut for SMC last year, and was a solid contributor off the bench, averaging 3.9 points and 3.6 rebounds a game. He had 10 or more rebounds in a game three times, and took on a larger role as the season progressed.
Key Losses: The Gaels lose three starters from last year’s team, including the bulk of their backcourt. Stephen Holt, a senior guard who was their second-leading scorer (14.9 points) and leading assist man (4.0/game), is the biggest loss. Holt played nearly 38 minutes a game and ran the offense, which will make him even tougher to replace.
Fellow guard James Walker III is also gone, after averaging 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds a game as a senior. He played almost 31 minutes a game, meaning their top two guards played over 85% of the possible minutes a year ago.
Also departed: starting forward Beau Levesque, who averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists a game last year.
Key Additions: The Gaels went heavy on transfers to restock their roster, including a pair of high-profile guards in Aaron Bright and Joe Coleman. Bright graduated from Stanford and can play immediately, and will likely be a huge part of the SMC attack this year — his career averages of 8.7 points and 2.9 assists will help offset the loss of Holt and Walker.
Coleman sat out last year after transferring from Minnesota, where he averaged 7.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in two seasons. The 6’4″ guard will team with Bright to form perhaps the best transfer backcourt in the country, and bring immediate experience to a deplete corps.