Sedrick Barfield scored 19 points and had three of Utah's four 3-pointers in overtime and the Utes beat Saint Mary's 67-58 on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden.
Jordan Ford made a wide open 3-pointer with 45.3 seconds to go and Saint Mary's won its program-record 30th game of the season with an 85-81 victory over Washington on Monday night to reach the NIT quarterfinals.
The Gaels will have big shoes to fill next season as they prepare for the departures of their All-American big man and their underrated point guard.
With the first round of the NCAA tournament about to tip off, here's one more quick look at the 30 *best* teams in college basketball, according to BPI. All but two earned a berth.
Jock Landale scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting for his 20th 20-plus game of the season and Saint Mary's made 13 3-pointers in an 89-45 rout of Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night in an NIT opener.
USC, Notre Dame, Baylor and Saint Mary's, snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee, are the No. 1 seeds for the National Invitation Tournament.
Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis and Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett told ESPN on Sunday that the new quadrant system makes it more difficult for mid-majors to make the NCAA tournament.
Yoeli Childs scored a career-high 33 points to lead BYU over No. 20 Saint Mary's 85-72 in Monday night's West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
This is going to be a rough wait until Selection Sunday for Saint Mary's. Their at-large resume is basically one win at Gonzaga, a gaudy record (including a great record away from home) and very solid predictive/quality metrics.
After a couple of upsets en route to its Big Ten title, Michigan has jumped up to 14th in BPI's latest rankings. Florida also a big mover in the last week.
The final regular-season look at Power Rankings looks nothing like the first one, that's for sure. We look back and some hits and misses -- yeah, don't remind us about Arizona State being No. 1 -- and peek toward the madness ahead.
Jock Landale had 17 points and 19 rebounds, and No. 22 Saint Mary's withstood a scare from Pepperdine in the West Coast Conference quarterfinals Saturday night, holding on for a 69-66 victory.
Villanova currently leads BPI's rankings, just edging out Virginia by 0.1 points per game.
Jock Landale had 19 points and eight rebounds in his final home game, and No. 22 Saint Mary's beat Santa Clara 67-40 on Saturday.
Jordan Ford had 18 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, and No. 22 Saint Mary's rolled to a 75-61 victory over Pepperdine on Thursday night.
Start the upset alerts now. If the NCAA tournament started today, a few underdogs -- headlined by Texas -- could surprise in the opening rounds.
| TEAM | CONF | GB | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gonzaga | 17-1 | - | 32-5 |
| Saint Mary's | 16-2 | 1 | 30-6 |
| BYU | 11-7 | 6 | 24-11 |
| San Diego | 9-9 | 8 | 20-14 |
| San Francisco | 9-9 | 8 | 22-17 |
| Pacific | 9-9 | 8 | 14-18 |
| Santa Clara | 8-10 | 9 | 11-20 |
| Loyola Marymount | 5-13 | 12 | 11-20 |
| Portland | 4-14 | 13 | 10-22 |
| Pepperdine | 2-16 | 15 | 6-26 |
| AP |
|---|
| 25 |
| Final Fours | 0 |
| Tournament Record | 5-9 |
| Championship Seasons | None |
| Tournament Appearances | 9 |
