St. Mary’s Gaels
With less than 6 weeks from us having a bracket in our hands, let us begin to countdown and break down this years March and the madness behind it.
Every day we will look at a different angle of the beauty that is the bracket. From top seeds to bubble teams and every team in between. Which styles of play can be a problem for teams and which teams are on my radar for wearing the glass slipper.
With still 6 weeks to go standings can and will change.
March Madness, St. Mary’s Gaels
- St. Mary’s Gaels
St. Mary’s is on a 10 game winning streak capped of by the impressive win over Gonzaga this past weekend. The Gaels are 20-3 on the season, 10-0 in conference play, and 3-1 against quad 1 opponents.
St. Mary’s is currently seeded as a 9 seed in the Midwest bracket, however I am almost certain that will change. Look for them to seeded somewhere around the 6 seed line. Ranked 22nd in NET rankings in the nation, the Gaels are looking to make an impressive run come March.
Offense
Ranked 31st in offensive efficiency scoring 1.18 points per possession, this team is in shorter terms “complete”. They are 6th in the nation in offensive rebounds grabbing close to 41% of the offensive rebounds available to them.
Outside of offensive rebounding this team is nothing special on the offensive side of things. Shooting percentages are low in every aspect, 32% from 3, 51% from inside the arc. For a team that crashes the glass and gets to the free throw line a lot, they do not shoot it well from there, only 67%.
This teams slow pace is usually a bug that bites them in the tournament since they usually cannot make up a deficit. This season is no different, they will count of defense to advance. However, as we all know, at some point you need to put the ball in the net to win games.
Defense
Defensively though, they are ranked 11th in the nation in defensive efficiency only giving up 0.91 points per possession. If they can hold a team to less that 60 points, they will have a chance to win, other than that, see ya later alligator.
Their defense metrics are an illusion when diving deep into the numbers. It is their slow pace that allows their defense to look elite, holding teams around 60 points is impressive none the less.
Six players on this team average north of 9 points per game.
Sets at a Glance
St. Mary’s plays their own version of bully ball. They lull you to sleep with a slow pace, doing everything on their own time, and then end up with a great one on one matchup late in the shot clock.
They drive to create one on one’s on the block with two talented big men who understand how to score. By driving towards the block where the big man will eventually post up it again lulls the defense to sleep so to speak.
The big man on defense hedges over to help on the drive, then the driver kicks the ball out to the corner, like almost every other team. However, this man in the corner is looking to shoot second.
As the driver clears the block he just drove too, the big man follows behind him posting up. The big man on defense trying to recover from helping on the drive in now caught off guard and put at a disadvantage. The corner guy dumps the ball into the post which is now a one on one matchup.
The guard is following the driver, and the defender on the corner guy will leave a player wide open if he helps. He is also trying to recover from helping on the drive. Which makes it almost impossible for you to help.
With backside shooters and cutters now kicking into action late in the shot clock it is a defense’s nightmare. Playing 26 seconds of what you think is lock down defense for the offense to have you right where they want you.
Final Thoughts and Projections
St. Mary’s will keep a game close for 30 minutes. However they do not have the consistent offense in my opinion to win a game in March. If they can make it up to a 6 seed or higher they can win a game against a small conference team.
However sitting 7 or lower and running into a big conference team that struggled a bit. I think there is zero chance the Gaels can keep up. Look for St. Mary’s to find themselves down 7 points with 6 minutes left and not have the urgency in pace to catch up.
Now if they are somehow up 4 with less than 4 minutes left, they have the talent and smarts to close that game with a win. However, I do not see that happening, again, unless they get a small conference school like UC Irvine. Any power conference school will eventually be too much to handle for this St. Mary’s team.
Excellent season thus far, however give them being one and done when it comes to the tournament.
Rowan Donaghey, Sports Reporter and Betting Analyst for Stare Down Sports. You can follow him on X via @RowanDonaghey
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March Madness, Maryland Terrapins
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