Saint Mary’s, Northern Iowa aim to leapfrog Gonzaga, Wichita State

Don’t remind Saint Mary’s (Calif.) coach Randy Bennett about Selection Sunday.

The Gaels were the prototypical Cinderella who never made it to the Big Dance, getting left out from last year’s NCAA tournament field with a glaringly bad strength of schedule. The snub by the selection committee came in spite of them winning the West Coast Conference regular-season title, going 29-6 overall and sporting a Ratings Percentage Index of 38.

“Yeah, we got a raw deal,” Bennett says. “That’s the life of a mid-major.”

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Which is why his team’s 2016-17 prospectus — top 25 in the Coaches Poll — makes for a peculiar perspective: a lot of attention for a team that missed the tourney.

“If we’re not careful, we could forget what that pain (of missing the NCAAs) feels like and lose that edge,” Bennett says.

In other words, that sour taste from last season can be his team’s key ingredient to taking the next step this season. That type of edge or chip-on-its-shoulder mentality is what allowed last year’s young team to overachieve. And Bennett is quick to concede that the attention his team is receiving is warranted, as the 15-year coach returns all five starters from a team that swept Gonzaga in the regular season before falling to the Bulldogs in the WCC tournament final. It’s a stark contrast from a year ago, when Saint Mary’s was bringing back no starters and losing 80% of its scoring.

Most preseason WCC-focused story lines of the past have been about whether a team could dethrone the Zags, who, under coach Mark Few, have become the definition of a power midmajor, reaching 17 consecutive NCAA tournaments. But this season, Saint Mary’s is the reigning regular-season champ and has the chops to win again, even with Gonzaga’s talent overhaul. (Impact transfers in guards Nigel Williams-Goss and Jordan Mathews and forward Johnathan Williams are now eligible for the Bulldogs.)

“Gonzaga, they’re always good. They’ll roll out a good squad. They’ll be in our way,” Bennett says. “But I think what they’ve done we’re 100% trying to do ourselves.”

It’s not as if Saint Mary’s has been average, particularly in the last decade. The Gaels have nine consecutive 20-win seasons under Bennett, who thinks his team is positioned to leapfrog Gonzaga in more ways than just conference standings.

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“We always talk about the ‘next step.’ Well, there are only so many steps,” he says. “Can we stay as a top 20 team consistently? Or fade off to top 40, then top 60? That’s where we’re at now. Can we shift into the Gonzaga and Wichita State categories? I think we can.”

Wichita State, like Gonzaga, faces the changing-of-the-guard theme in its league, the Missouri Valley Conference. Northern Iowa has emerged over the last few seasons as the top challenger to the Shockers, who will play their first season without All-America guards Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker.

Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson thinks Wichita State will be the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley but acknowledges the doors have opened for other teams to remove the Shockers from their perch — not just in 2016-17 but permanently.

“Wichita being Wichita over the last four, five years — going to the Final Four (in 2013) and almost going undefeated (in 2014) — has been good and bad,” Jacobson says. “It’s grabbed a lot of national attention, but it’s also overshadowed the type of league we’re in. Both (Wichita) and us, we’re a product of the Missouri Valley. It’s not just Wichita and Northern Iowa out dominating a weak league.”

Jacobson’s point is punctuated by UNI’s success against teams from Power Five conferences. Northern Iowa beat top-10 teams North Carolina and Iowa State last season, and it upset Texas as a No.11 seed in the NCAA tournament.

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The Panthers, though, will be remembered for squandering a 12-point lead with 33 seconds left in regulation in a loss to Texas A&M, a game that cost them a spot in the Sweet 16.

“It wasn’t a loss you turn the page on the next day,” Jacobson says. “I got up every day, and it haunted me. It was important that I felt it and worked through it. That way I could really move past it and provide leadership to our guys. The thing that really helped me was knowing we’ll be back.”

And perhaps that’s the difference, Jacobson says, from his 2010 team that reached the Sweet 16 off a famous three-point dagger by Ali Farokhmanesh to stun No. 1 seed Kansas.

“The feeling I got after that (tournament) run and with that team was, ‘God I hope that happens again in the next 20 years.’ But now it’s much different,” Jacobson says. “The feeling is that we expect to be in the position to do stuff like that every year.”

Mid-major basketball is cyclical. The teams that make runs in March are often veteran-laden and have progressed and weathered years of adversity before making a surprise upset. But Jacobson says the reason he has remained at Northern Iowa, instead of jolting to a Power Five team, is the challenge of building his program to where it is now.

“The goal for me has always been about respect,” Jacobson says. “When you hear Northern Iowa, I don’t want someone to say, ‘Oh they did that in the tournament.’ I want our legacy to be greater than one game or one March Madness.”

In other words, he wants power mid-major status. Jacobson says it’s not a matter of Wichita State or Gonzaga fading so Northern Iowa or Saint Mary’s can rise but rather using the conference rival’s consistent success as motivation.

“What’s it going to take to get to the next level? I don’t think it’s about having a great team, per se,” Jacobson says. “I think it’s about having a great program. We’re losing a lot from last year. But everyone expects to compete for a Valley title and NCAA tournament.

“For us, the next level isn’t just having a good season. That’s Northern Iowa basketball. It’s breaking through to reach another Sweet 16 ... and then a Final Four.”

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