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Saint
Mary's Gaels Updated 03/23/25 |
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Location: Moraga, CA Enrollment: 2,000 Cost of Attendance: $84,000 Venue: UCU Pavilion Arena
Capacity: 3,500 Conference: West Coast, WCC (1st) Record: 29-5 (17-1) NET Rank: Committee Rank: 27 Tournament History Appearances:
13 Final Fours: 0 Championships: 0 Win-Loss: 7-13 Most Recent: 2024, was a 5-seed, but
suffered the 5/12 upset, losing to Grand Canyon in the First Round, 66-75. |
Saint Mary's College of
California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college located in Moraga, California. Where the heck is Moraga? Moraga is a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Established in 1863, it is administered by the De La Salle Brothers and is considered a Lasallian institution. Not sure what that means, but other members include Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Manhattan University in NY, Lewis University in Illinois, and of course LaSalle University in Philadelphia.
Oliver Hall, the dining hall. Definitely has that monastery vibe. The Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team competes in the West Coast Conference. The team plays home games in the University Credit Union Pavilion, capacity 3,500; it is one of the smaller gyms in the WCC.
That's a big screen behind the basket. Their gym is not that big. I think everyone can see the court just fine. About the Team The current head coach is Randy Bennett, who is the school's all-time wins leader. He has been the head coach since 2001.
I can see why he went by Hershal. On March 1, 2013, the Gaels were placed on probation by
the NCAA for four years due to rules violations relating to recruitment of international
players by an assistant coach. Their two historic rivals are the San Francisco Dons and the Santa Clara Broncos, two other Catholic schools in the San Francisco Bay Area that are in the WCC. Roundtrip between all three schools is only 120 miles.
More recently, Saint Mary's has developed a rivalry with the Gonzaga University Bulldogs of Spokane, Washington, often finishing second to them. The Gaels have made 13 NCAA tournament appearances and have an overall 7 13 record in those games. Including this year, they have made four straight tournaments. The farthest they made it was the Sweet 16 in 2010. Under coach Randy Bennett, the men's basketball team
has become somewhat recognized nationally as one of the top non-Power 5
programs in the United States. He inherited a 2 27 team when he arrived in
2001 and began recruiting an Australian at the time. Since then, Bennett has
built a reputation of recruiting Australian players. The Gaels have had at least one Australian
player in every season since Bennett's arrival, including this year. Guess
which player is from Australia:
Players from: Idaho (1) = #15 Utah (1) = #2 Washington (1) = #11 Canada (1) = #14 Lithuania (2) = #3, #23 California (6) = #0, #9, #22, #24, #33, #45 Australia (3) = #1, #7, #8 The starters for every single game this year: #2, #3, #11, #23, #33. Two guys who come off the bench: #0 & #1. More Lithuania than Australia. With a little The Californians sprinkled in.
I know, I know. The Californians
was about Southern California, and not the Bay Area. But to us East Coasters, it's all California
and all those Californian towns are right next to each other. It only takes so long to travel between
towns because of the traffic. Even
though the length of California would go from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to
Hilton Head, South Carolina. The Gaels name Originally, the school was known as the Saints until 1926 when a sportswriter for a local newspaper called the football team "The Gaels." The Irish warrior quickly became the mascot and moniker for all the athletic teams, even though the no longer have a football team.
Gael, clearly not knowing what to do. Gael Force is the official student fan section supporting the Gaels at home games. Membership starts at $80. |
Prior
to that, Golden Globe and Academy Award winning actor Mahershala Ali attended
Saint Mary's on a basketball scholarship from 1992-1996.
