The Saint Mary’s College men’s basketball team is flying high. For the second year in a row the Gaels are a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the first true mid-major (sans Gonzaga) to accomplish that in consecutive years since St. Louis in 2013 and 2014.
Saint Mary’s, located in Moraga, Calif. (near the Bay Area), also will be flying long. The Gaels have been sent to the Albany region, scheduled to play their first-round game at 2 p.m. Friday against 12th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth at MVP Arena.
The West Coast Conference team has some travel experience. The NCAA sent the Gaels to Hartford, Conn., in 2019 and to Providence, R.I., in 2010.
“You know what it is to fly to the East Coast and have to play,” said Randy Bennett, in his 22nd season as head coach at the school and coming off his fifth West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honor. “You know that day’s eliminated. It’s a nine-hour trip — six flying, and the East Coast time change. You know how to manage your schedule better.”
It may serve as a geography lesson for some of the Gaels, whose roster includes four Australians and a Lithuanian.
“I really wanted to go to New York,” Alex Ducas, a senior from Australia, said after learning of the draw. “That’s one place I’m really excited about. I’ve never been there before.”
Reminded that Albany is more than a stone’s throw from Manhattan, Ducas replied, “Someone told me that it’s a bit far away. It’s somewhere away from the West Coast, so we’ll take it.”
One thing that does work in the Gaels’ favor is that it is a Friday game. As a No. 11 seed, Saint Mary’s played a late afternoon Thursday game in 2019 at Hartford, losing to Villanova, 61-57.
“That helps on the East Coast thing,” Bennett said of playing Friday, “so you have a little time to get ready, get…
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