Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups.
That turned out to be the highlight of St. Mary's evening.
The Gaels were looking to make a big splash against the Bulldogs on national television and they did. Just not the splash they were looking to make. This game was a worst-case scenario for a team looking to go to the Dance, like an acne outbreak on prom night. St. Mary's made it's case for the NCAA tournament. The only problem was, that case was, "Please don't take us."
Now the only question is, does St. Mary's deserve an at-large bid?
St. Mary's moved into the West Coast Conference finals with a convincing win over Portland. But was it convincing enough for the Gaels to get into the NCAA tournament barring Monday's finals outcome? Right now, St. Mary's looks deserving enough to get into the tournament. The Gaels are a much more complete team right now.
Almost as if losing Mills for a stretch made this team better. But St. Mary's looked impressive enough on Sunday night to make its case to be included in the field of 65.
The West Coast Conference tournament starts tonight in Las Vegas, but nobody is really going to be paying attention until Sunday when St. Mary's Patrick Mills makes his much anticipated return. No offense to LMU, San Diego, Pepperdine or USF, but like most opening acts in Las Vegas, nobody cares.
(Well not nobody. The WCC did sell out all of its all-tournament passes before the first tonight's tip-off. So maybe that move to a neutral court in Las Vegas wasn't a bad move afterall. Remember this when the Pac-10 and the other big schools play conference tournaments in front of empty crowds.)
Point guard Patrick Mills has been cleared to play in the WCC tournament which begins in Las Vegas on Sunday. (Don't ask why that conference chose Sin City of all places.) That's great news that not only greatly increases St. Mary's conference tournament chances, but also should impact the Gaels at-large bid hopes.
St. Mary's isn't in the tournament right now -- not according to any of the mock brackets out there. But should St. Mary's be given the benefit of the doubt in this instance? Should the tournament selection committee consider Mills' injury while figuring out the tournament resume of the Gaels? Uh, yeah.
And for that reason, St. Mary's should be given an at-large bid in the tournament.
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer was that he didn't respect the mid-majors. He famously complained that there were too many mid-majors in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. That was the year that George Mason upset Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to get to the Final Four.
This will be the first Packer-less tournament in decades as he retired after last year's Final Four. It's a shame for him because he would have loved the makeup of the brackets this time around. Going against the recent trends, it looks as if the major conferences will get most of the at-large bids, leaving the mid-majors out in the cold.
St. Mary's might have been the biggest winner in Saturday's BracketBuster following a huge 75-64 win over Utah State. The Gaels had been adrift in recent weeks, seemingly rudderless without star Patrick Mills.
But St. Mary's has been solid in recent weeks, fattening up on the weaker teams in the West Coast Conference. Saturday's win over the Aggies was a big exclamation point on the season, letting people know that the Gaels are still in the hunt for an at-large bid.
Not to say that St. Mary's is in right now; the Gaels still have a lot of work to do. But the team is squarely on the bubble right now.
St. Mary's point guard Patrick Mills and the other spectators at McKeon Pavilion are likely filled with the same 'what if' fantasies after Gonzaga defeated the home team, 72-70, on Thursday night. A crushing defeat for the Gaels who entered the season with tournament hopes.
You can never say never in college basketball. Not with conference tournaments looming a few weeks away. But any hope that St. Mary's had of getting an at-large bid floated away as the Gaels failed to rally for the second time this season against Gonzaga with their injured point guard languishing on the bench.
The BracketBusters series is going to finally force No. 22 Utah State to play somebody good. Well, sort of.
Utah State finally cracked the Top 25 thanks in part to a schedule that includes more cupcakes than a Duncan Hines display case. Utah State's strength of schedule is currently as shameful 275 -- and that includes games against BYU and Utah.
St. Mary's guard Patrick Mills will miss at least four weeks with two broken metacarpal bones in his right hand on Thursday night at Gonzaga. And with it, St. Mary's tournament hopes have taken a serious, serious hit.
The Gaels were a bubble team coming out of the WCC, needing a signature win against a Utah State-like soft schedule thanks in part to a first-round loss in the Anaheim Classic. They did schedule games with San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton and Oregon, so there was intent for a decent schedule. But still, St. Mary's is now likely going to have to win the WCC tournament to get a bid.
St. Mary's looked like the best team in the West Coast Conference on Thursday night. At least for a half. The Gaels were rocking in Spokane, and it appeared that there might have been a changing of the guard right there in front of the Kennel Club.
But then the game turned on Patrick Mills' right wrist. Literally. Mills injured his wrist and did not return for the second half. Neither did St. Mary's mojo. Gonzaga took advantage of the situation and went on to win, 69-62. The Bulldogs ended the Gaels' 15-game winning streak.
St. Mary's put in a valiant effort without Mills, but there were stretches where the team obviously missed Mills' leadership. Or his ability to take the big shot. There was a time in the second half when it looked like nobody on the court wanted to shoot the ball for St. Mary's. Shot-clock violations or desperate 3-point shots taken well beyond NBA range probably wouldn't have happened with Mills in the game.
But the truth is, you have to win with the guys on the floor. Losing Mills was an obvious setback, but guys like Diamon Simpson and Omar Samhan needed to take control on the floor. They never did, at least not before it was too late.
Mills' wrist is going to be one of the top stories to follow in the coming days.
NCAA Basketball 
Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups. 
St. Mary's moved into the West Coast Conference finals with a convincing win over Portland. But was it convincing enough for the Gaels to get into the NCAA tournament barring Monday's finals outcome? Right now, St. Mary's looks deserving enough to get into the tournament. The Gaels are a much more complete team right now. 
The West Coast Conference tournament starts tonight in Las Vegas, but nobody is really going to be paying attention until Sunday when St. Mary's Patrick Mills makes his much anticipated return. No offense to LMU, San Diego, Pepperdine or USF, but like most opening acts in Las Vegas, nobody cares. 
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst 
St. Mary's might have been the biggest winner in Saturday's BracketBuster following a huge 
St. Mary's point guard Patrick Mills and the other spectators at McKeon Pavilion are likely filled with the same 'what if' fantasies after Gonzaga defeated the home team, 
St. Mary's guard Patrick Mills will miss at least four weeks with two broken metacarpal bones in his right hand on Thursday night at Gonzaga. And with it, St. Mary's tournament hopes have taken a serious, serious hit.
St. Mary's looked like the best team in the West Coast Conference on Thursday night. At least for a half. The Gaels were rocking in Spokane, and it appeared that there might have been a changing of the guard right there in front of the Kennel Club.
