And to think last night I was planing how we could take a red eye and call in sick to work if Saint Mary's made the NIT finals in New York.
Last night the Gaels suffered a gut wrenching loss on the road to San Diego State, losing out on a trip to the semi-finals for the NIT.
While this was far from the dream season, Ray Ratto had a nice blog post on the reality of SMC hoops following last night’s defeat.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ratto/detail?blogid=64&entry_id=37517
If the team’s off season goes the way this season did, Patty Mills, will leave, Carlin Hughes, Diamon Simpson, and Yusef Smith will graduate, and the starting five could include names like Mickey McConnel, Wayne Hunter, Omar Samhan , Clint Steindl, and Ben Allen.
After this season, where his team won 25 games and couldn’t beat out a Pac 10 team, Randy Bennett and his Aussie connect might be on their way to a school that actually cares about their basketball program.
Case in point: Gonzaga took what Mark Few was accomplishing, built the program, built a new stadium, and now they are a perennial powerhouse.
What did Saint Mary’s do? They got a new logo and put up a fresh coat of paint on the terribly outdated McKeon Pavilion. I think Bennett might have left by now had he not assembled such a good team these past few years.
Watching Mills miss that key free throw down the stretch last night, the first thing that came to my mind was how many games I’ve been to McKeon as a student and never once sat behind the basket – because there aren’t any seats there. We have a high school gym, and I don’t blame Coach K or Roy Williams or some other big school from not scheduling us – they have nothing to gain from it.
So congrats SMC- you were given a golden opportunity to turn this athletic program into something other than a joke – and instead, you pocketed the profits and just waited for the day Bennett decides he can’t take anymore. It could be coming sooner than most hoped – before we even won a NCAA tournament GAME.
While this was far from the dream season, Ray Ratto had a nice blog post on the reality of SMC hoops following last night’s defeat.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ratto/detail?blogid=64&entry_id=37517
If the team’s off season goes the way this season did, Patty Mills, will leave, Carlin Hughes, Diamon Simpson, and Yusef Smith will graduate, and the starting five could include names like Mickey McConnel, Wayne Hunter, Omar Samhan , Clint Steindl, and Ben Allen.
After this season, where his team won 25 games and couldn’t beat out a Pac 10 team, Randy Bennett and his Aussie connect might be on their way to a school that actually cares about their basketball program.
Case in point: Gonzaga took what Mark Few was accomplishing, built the program, built a new stadium, and now they are a perennial powerhouse.
What did Saint Mary’s do? They got a new logo and put up a fresh coat of paint on the terribly outdated McKeon Pavilion. I think Bennett might have left by now had he not assembled such a good team these past few years.
Watching Mills miss that key free throw down the stretch last night, the first thing that came to my mind was how many games I’ve been to McKeon as a student and never once sat behind the basket – because there aren’t any seats there. We have a high school gym, and I don’t blame Coach K or Roy Williams or some other big school from not scheduling us – they have nothing to gain from it.
So congrats SMC- you were given a golden opportunity to turn this athletic program into something other than a joke – and instead, you pocketed the profits and just waited for the day Bennett decides he can’t take anymore. It could be coming sooner than most hoped – before we even won a NCAA tournament GAME.
At least we get one more year of the best big man in the WCC! 
if u knew anything about St. Mary's i'd be worried
ReplyDeletePatty is probably not leaving...omar is a junior
the caption on the picture is correct because heytvelt is a Senior and we beat 2 Pac 10 teams this year alone
the only 2 places i could see Randy going to are Arizona who is indicating they want a big "name " coach or Oregon which still has Kent under contract.......nice try
Have you heard about leaving early for the NBA? THANKS...
ReplyDeleteWhat does Patty have to prove in NCAA at this point?
Your blog is garbage. Odds are Patty comes back, he is not even a projected 1st round pick. Patty comes back Bennett comes back (he'd only leave for a P-10 job anyway, Arizona is too sexy for him and Oregon isn't sexy enough, hell we beat them 2 straight years). As for next years team Diamon is a HUGE loss, he does WAY more than he gets credit for. Other than that we lose role players and reload with two highly rated recruits that were red-shirted by Bennett (something he is known to do) and get 3 very highly rated recruits one of which is Australia's best player. Hmmm 5 high rated recruits and most likely Mills. Sounds like we could be even better. As for McKeon if I had my way I wouldn't touch it. It has the charm of a Wrigley Field with hard floors.
ReplyDeleteIn college basketball - who redshirts if you are really any good?
ReplyDeleteI think people missed the point of this post - what has SMC done to capitalize on this success?
Answer: Not much
Comparing McKeon to Wrigley really kills your credability there Skells...