In Part I of my three-part series, I examine the Gaels of Saint Mary’s, who last night missed their final opportunity for a signature regular season win. Barring a big run through the WCC tournament and a victory over Gonzaga in the conference championship, the Gaels will not make it to the NCAA Tournament.

The West Coast Conference has always been considered a mid-major conference with a major college basketball program at the top. Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs have won 20 games in nine straight seasons (or something to that effect) and have been the class of the conference. But last night, Saint Mary’s had a golden opportunity to lay claim that they, for at least this season, were on the same level as Gonzaga.

And for the first half, the Gaels proved to be exactly that. Eight minutes into the game, and Saint Mary’s was firing on all cylinders. WCC Player of the Year candidate Omar Samha

n was putting on a clinic in the post and the long balls were dropping for the young guards, who showed a great amount of grit and moxy throughout most of the first half. At the half, Gonzaga only had a three point lead thanks to a smooth 3-ball by Matt Bouldin at the buzzer. But by the end of the game, the Zags had pulled away convincingly, finally winning by 19 points.

This season has been a fairly big success for Saint Mary’s, which now has four losses – two to Gonzaga, and then one to Vanderbilt and USC. But the most impressive victories the

Gaels have are at Oregon and at Utah State, if you even consider those “signature wins”. Thursday was also their first true “road” loss, which sounds impressive, but that is largely because beyond those two aforementioned games, there really have been no tough tests for the Gaels.

As far as personnel is concerned, there is no doubt that Omar Samhan is one of the best big men in the country. He looked simply unstoppable against Gonzaga big man Robert Sacre in the first half Thursday night, but then he disappeared in the second half as he only scored five second half points. He finished with his average of 21, but for the most part looked fairly flustered

Matthew Dellavedova and the Gaels were thoroughly outplayed Thursday night in Spokane (Photo courtesy of Washington Post)

as the game got out of hand late.

And as Samhan goes, so too do the Gaels, who completely fell apart after halftime. Second-leading scorer Mickey McConnell failed to score at all, as Gonzaga continuously kept him in check and only allowed him to take five shots. Point guard Matthew Dellavedova looked solid in the first half, but was continuously harrassed by the bigger Gonzaga guards in the second half

as the Australian freshman finished with five turnovers and four fouls. And big man Ben Allen, who is listed as a center in the program, continuously strayed outside the arc, where he was 1-7. Allen, who was in foul trouble much of the game, began the game guarding Gonzaga freshman Elias Harris but was completely thrashed by the versatile big man. Harris finished with a team-high 19 points, including one emphatic fast-break dunk that Allen could only watch, as he played most of the second half with four fouls.

But if you have watched any Saint Mary’s game other than Thursday’s, you know that a report like the one above is rare. Usually, every one of those players is shooting a great perce

ntage from beyond the arc, while Samhan dominates an entire game (instead of his one strong half Thursday). In fact, McConnell shoots over 50% from beyond the arc on the season, but was completely shut down at Gonzaga. Both Australian players, Allen and Dellavedova, are generally successful in outrunning and out-shooting their opponents, but Thursday night was dictated by the physical play of the Zags. By continuously bumping cutters on defense and never giving shooters an ounce of daylight, the Bulldogs exposed every one of the Gaels’ flaws and took away their greatest strength.

It was a pair of games just like this last season that doomed Saint Mary’s tournament chances, too. A blowout at the hands of Santa Clara and then a home loss to Gonzaga proved to be the turning point, as the Gaels were the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament. There is no reason to believe this season will be any different.