March Madness: Saint Mary’s draws the champs!

MORAGA — Saint Mary’s College will face defending national champ Villanova in its opening-round NCAA tournament game on Thursday at Hartford, Connecticut.

Making their 10th all-time NCAA tournament appearance, and seventh under coach Randy Bennett since 2005, the Gaels are seeded No. 11 in the South bracket.

Saint Mary’s is 2-1 all-time vs. Villanova, including a 75-68 win over the Wildcats in the 2010 NCAA tournament, a win that propelled the Gaels to their only Sweet 16 appearance.

Villanova (25-9) has won two of the past three national championships. They won the Big East Conference tournament title this season.

“I’m excited. Those are the kind of teams you want to play,” Bennett said. “We’re looking forward to it.”

With a victory over the Wildcats, the Gaels would face either No. 3 Purdue or No. 14 Old Dominion in the second round on Saturday.

The Gaels (22-11) secured the West Coast Conference’s automatic bid with a stunning 60-47 upset of top-ranked Gonzaga in the finals of the WCC tournament on Tuesday in Las Vegas. Saint Mary’s has won nine of its past 11 games, losing only twice to regular-season WCC champ Gonzaga since the start of February.

This is the first time since 2012 the Gaels will enter the NCAAs as the WCC tournament champion. As a result, neither Bennett nor the crowd of about 1,000 fans at McKeon Pavilion had to sweat out whether the team would land a spot in the bracket.

“This is pretty relaxed compared to Tuesday night,” Bennett said just before the pairings were announced in a reference to the WCC title game. “I forgot how nice it it to not be on the bubble.”

Saint Mary’s most recently played in the NCAA tournament in 2017, losing to Arizona in the second round. The Gaels were bypassed last season, despite taking a 28-5 record into Selection Sunday.