Photo by: SMC Athletics / Piper Westrom
Kroner's Corner Season 2: Selection Sunday Here We Come
3/12/2026 9:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Once more, Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett and his staff must deal with the rest vs. rust dilemma in March.
The Gaels knocked off Gonzaga 70-59 in Moraga on Feb. 28 to earn a share of the WCC regular-season title. Then on Monday, SMC fell 76-71 to Santa Clara in the semifinals of the conference tournament in Las Vegas.
That means the Gaels will have played only one game in 2½ weeks once they return to the floor either Thursday or Friday of next week for their NCAA Tournament opener.
"To motivate the kids to really get after it in practice, you kind of need to know who you're playing, but we're going to find a way to get motivated," Bennett said after the Gaels' loss Monday evening.
"We've got plenty of reasons. We didn't play great tonight and the next game we play will be probably as tough or tougher."
Bennett wasn't happy with his team's defense against the Broncos, particularly in the second half, when Santa Clara went 17-for-29 (58.6%) from the floor, including 8-for-14 (57.1%) from beyond the arc.
"We have to have some good practices between now and Sunday," Bennett said. "If you get your name called (on Selection Sunday), the time elapses very quickly. You don't have much time for a good practice.
"If you play Thursday, you're travelling Tuesday. And once you get there, there aren't many quality practices. We'll figure it out. Fortunately, we've been in this situation a number of times."
The Gaels had reached the conference-tournament final in each of the past four seasons, so they had played two games in 2½ weeks heading into their NCAA opener.
SMC was a 7-seed last year and a 5-seed in each of the previous three years. With a NET ranking of 22 as of Wednesday, a semi-educated guess at their seed in 2026 is 7, 8 or 9.
Despite the loss, this season again ranks as an unqualified success for the Gaels. They're 27-5 and went 16-2 in the WCC. Three players – junior forward Paulius Murauskas and sophomore guards Josh Dent and Mikey Lewis – were named to the 10-man All-WCC team.
Swingman Dillan Shaw made the conference's six-man All-Freshman team as he combined strong defense and rebounding with an evolving offensive game. Centers Harry Wessels and Andrew McKeever combined to average 14.4 rebounds per game; McKeever leads the WCC at 9.2 boards per game.
"Our guys have confidence that they can play with about anybody," Bennett said.
Which team that "anybody" is will become known Sunday afternoon as SMC again holds a Selection Sunday watch party for fans at UCU Pavilion.
"I'm proud of these guys. They've done a great job," Bennett said about his players. "We'll try to fix some things that we didn't do well (against Santa Clara) and next time we play, hopefully, we'll get better."
High praise: Bennett and Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek each is 63 years old and each has put together a distinguished career.
They've combined for 1,189 victories. Sendek earned win No. 600 on Monday night. In his postgame news conference, Sendek – unprompted – gave Bennett quite a compliment.
"What Randy has done at Saint Mary's is as remarkable and as incredible as any job that's been done in men's college basketball in the last 30 years," Sendek said. "We really need to pause and think about that and appreciate it. …
"The consistency is just utterly remarkable. They're annually a Top 20 program in the country and I stand in awe. I really do, and (I) try to learn as much as we can by playing them, by watching tape.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall sometimes because in every facet -- their ability to evaluate, their ability to recruit, their ability to teach, to get guys to accept roles, even roles that aren't always glamorous — it's just remarkable."
Steve Kroner has covered Bay Area sports for more than four decades, mainly at KPIX-TV (Channel 5) and the San Francisco Chronicle. He recently finished his second season working as an analyst alongside Brian Brownfield on SMC men's basketball telecasts on ESPN+.
The Gaels knocked off Gonzaga 70-59 in Moraga on Feb. 28 to earn a share of the WCC regular-season title. Then on Monday, SMC fell 76-71 to Santa Clara in the semifinals of the conference tournament in Las Vegas.
That means the Gaels will have played only one game in 2½ weeks once they return to the floor either Thursday or Friday of next week for their NCAA Tournament opener.
"To motivate the kids to really get after it in practice, you kind of need to know who you're playing, but we're going to find a way to get motivated," Bennett said after the Gaels' loss Monday evening.
"We've got plenty of reasons. We didn't play great tonight and the next game we play will be probably as tough or tougher."
Bennett wasn't happy with his team's defense against the Broncos, particularly in the second half, when Santa Clara went 17-for-29 (58.6%) from the floor, including 8-for-14 (57.1%) from beyond the arc.
"We have to have some good practices between now and Sunday," Bennett said. "If you get your name called (on Selection Sunday), the time elapses very quickly. You don't have much time for a good practice.
"If you play Thursday, you're travelling Tuesday. And once you get there, there aren't many quality practices. We'll figure it out. Fortunately, we've been in this situation a number of times."
The Gaels had reached the conference-tournament final in each of the past four seasons, so they had played two games in 2½ weeks heading into their NCAA opener.
SMC was a 7-seed last year and a 5-seed in each of the previous three years. With a NET ranking of 22 as of Wednesday, a semi-educated guess at their seed in 2026 is 7, 8 or 9.
Despite the loss, this season again ranks as an unqualified success for the Gaels. They're 27-5 and went 16-2 in the WCC. Three players – junior forward Paulius Murauskas and sophomore guards Josh Dent and Mikey Lewis – were named to the 10-man All-WCC team.
Swingman Dillan Shaw made the conference's six-man All-Freshman team as he combined strong defense and rebounding with an evolving offensive game. Centers Harry Wessels and Andrew McKeever combined to average 14.4 rebounds per game; McKeever leads the WCC at 9.2 boards per game.
"Our guys have confidence that they can play with about anybody," Bennett said.
Which team that "anybody" is will become known Sunday afternoon as SMC again holds a Selection Sunday watch party for fans at UCU Pavilion.
"I'm proud of these guys. They've done a great job," Bennett said about his players. "We'll try to fix some things that we didn't do well (against Santa Clara) and next time we play, hopefully, we'll get better."
High praise: Bennett and Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek each is 63 years old and each has put together a distinguished career.
They've combined for 1,189 victories. Sendek earned win No. 600 on Monday night. In his postgame news conference, Sendek – unprompted – gave Bennett quite a compliment.
"What Randy has done at Saint Mary's is as remarkable and as incredible as any job that's been done in men's college basketball in the last 30 years," Sendek said. "We really need to pause and think about that and appreciate it. …
"The consistency is just utterly remarkable. They're annually a Top 20 program in the country and I stand in awe. I really do, and (I) try to learn as much as we can by playing them, by watching tape.
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall sometimes because in every facet -- their ability to evaluate, their ability to recruit, their ability to teach, to get guys to accept roles, even roles that aren't always glamorous — it's just remarkable."
Steve Kroner has covered Bay Area sports for more than four decades, mainly at KPIX-TV (Channel 5) and the San Francisco Chronicle. He recently finished his second season working as an analyst alongside Brian Brownfield on SMC men's basketball telecasts on ESPN+.
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