The Case for Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's is located in California and they a part of the West Coast Conference. During the season they went 25-6 (10-4 in WCC). They lost to Gonzaga in the WCC tournament final on Monday night 83-58. They still have one more make up game to play at home on Friday vs Eastern Washington. As for their resume, there are some good wins and losses of interest. Let's start with the pros. Wins over Utah State in bracketbusters, San Diego State and Providence. The cons, lost all 3 meeting with Gonzaga, including the 25 point conference championship loss. They went 6-3 without their star player, Paddy Mills, who broke his hand in the January 29th loss at Gonzaga. They were 18-1 and nationally ranked before the injury. But the committee may leave them out based on the fact that none of their big wins are over a lock for an NCAA tournament bid. Normally the committee gives a little slack to teams who suffer injuries. But they do have one more game to show the committee they are worth a bid. I don't see them missing the tournament, but if we see some more shocking teams win tournaments (example Georgia winning the SEC last year) there probably won't be as many at-large spots. I think they are safe, but you never know. Oh, and by the way, if they win Friday they will have 26 wins and what does 26 wins get ya?