Ganot on Saint Mary’s snub
Somebody always gets snubbed. That’s just the reality of college basketball and the NCAA Tournament.
Of course, it’s still painful when it happens to your team. Or in this case, your former team you are closely tied to.
One of the most notable snubs for this year’s tourney was Saint Mary’s out of the West Coast Conference. The Gaels had a 27-5 record, like Hawaii, but unlike the Rainbow Warriors didn’t have the luxury of an automatic berth when they lost to Gonzaga for their conference tournament title.
SMC won the West Coast Conference regular season and had a pretty impressive RPI of 38, and KenPom rating of 34. Besides the elite teams banned from the postseason, Louisville and SMU, Saint Mary’s was the highest-rated KenPom team not to make the tournament.
UH coach Eran Ganot watched CBS’ selection show to its two-hour conclusion and held out hope that his mentor, Randy Bennett, would get in. But SMC had to settle for the NIT.
“Those are great friends and brothers and family,” Ganot said. “Obviously with all that’s going on it’s hard to connect sometimes, especially during this time of year. But I speak to Coach (Bennett) all the time. I spoke to him earlier today.”
“I think they absolutely deserved (a bid), and I’ve been so impressed with, I think he’s the best coach in the country. I think what they’ve done this year: they have no seniors, lost five starters, and had a 27-5 campaign, won the regular-season championship. That’s unbelievable. Obviously perspective is everything; I learned that from Coach. The perspective here is they had another special year, and just really proud of them.”
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UH held a light practice at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym today. The Rainbows focused on their shooting and will steadily increase their intensity over the course of the week.
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UH’s web page for NCAA ticket distribution is up. Keep in mind it’s only an allotment of about 450 tickets total, so you might have to go through the secondary market (StubHub, SeatGeek, etc) or the NCAA’s ticket exchange.
H-Club and season-ticket holders get first crack. You can see when they’re available here.
I haven’t decided which team I resent more, Tulsa or Michigan in the battle of #11 seeds.
There is nobody in that committee room fighting for St. Mary’s.
If Gonzaga was the loser of the WCC final, the stalwart NCAA participant would probably have had the clout to get in as an at-large team.
Like UNLV under Jerry Tarkanian in the Big West, Gonzaga isn’t really a mid-major.
That’s why when it comes down to the the NCAA’s bewildering decision making NCAA stands for No Chance Against Asinine decisions.
St. Mary’s survived the NCAA snub hangover.
They will play better against their next opponent.
Son of Brad Pineau, Gaels’ leading scorer.
St. Mary’s is better than Vanderbilt.
Dan Monson needs to reign in Nick Faust.
Shot his team out of the game.