My Two Cents: West Coast Basketball Gets Major Showcase on Saturday

Saint Mary's was impressive in knocking off Indiana on Thursday, and now Saturday's night second-round games in Portland are a showcase of all that's great with West Coast basketball, with Gonzaga, UCLA and the Gaels all in action. It's really good basketball.

Tom Brew | Mar 19, 2022

My Two Cents: West Coast Basketball Gets Major Showcase on Saturday /

PORTLAND, Ore. — We know the drill when it comes to college basketball. In the heartlands of the Midwest, we mostly couldn't care less about West Coast basketball. We'll watch Indiana, watch Purdue, watch a lot of other Big Ten games, but that's about it. Heck, most people won't even watch Notre Dame in the state of Indiana.

We are very myopic as a group.

We have no interest in watching Pac-12 games that start well after 10 p.m. ET most nights, mostly because of the late tip time, but more because we can't stand listening to goofball Bill Walton as an ESPN analyst.

Even Gonzaga, with all its No. 1 cuteness and postseason runs, doesn't interest Midwesterners. And most of you, you know nothing about the league they play in, the West Coast Conference. I'm sure most of you never watched a minute of Saint Mary's basketball — Gonzaga's biggest rival in the West Coast — before they pummeled Indiana 82-53 on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

What you've missed by not watching, though, is some really high quality basketball. And that's why Saturday night should be a lot of fun in the Moda Center in Portland. Indiana is long gone, but there are two great games on the schedule — UCLA vs. Saint Mary's and No. 1 seed Gonzaga vs. Memphis — that will really showcase just how good West Coast basketball really is right now.

The Saint Mary's-UCLA game starts at 7:10 p.m. ET (TV: TBS), with Gonzaga and Memphis following 30 minutes later. That game is also on TBS, the last of eight second-round games on Saturday.

"We're excited to be here. You play Indiana in your first game and UCLA in the second game, and it doesn't get any better than that,'' Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "I think those are the first and third-most championships in any NCAA Tournament. We were excited to play Indiana, and now we're excited to be in this game.''

UCLA and Saint Mary's are the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the East Regional, and they are playing each other for the first time since 1990. Gonzaga is No. 1 in the West Regional. UCLA's Pac-12 rival Arizona is the No. 1 seed in the South. They're all really good. So is San Francisco, who made the tournament but lost at overtime thriller to Murray State. Their coach, Todd Golden, was much sought after, and was hired by Florida on Friday.

Saint Mary's put on quite a show against Indiana, with suffocating defense and precise offense that led to good looks. They hit 10 three-pointers against Indiana and are now 26-7 on the season. They are ranked No. 18 in the country — for good reason.

And even thought they have an older, veteran team with several international players, the history of UCLA and Indiana isn't a factor for them.

They just know the here and now.

"Part of it is their age. They don't know,'' said Bennett, who's 59 years old and has coached at Saint Mary's for 21 years. "I grew up on (UCLA coaching legend) John Wooden, that's the guy I followed, I read up on. I could tell you every bit of that history. But it's like anything else, they weren't around for Indiana's either, like when they were winning all the national championships, even the U.S. guys probably don't know it.

"They definitely don't know it like we know it, but they're still good programs, they're in the NCAA Tournament, UCLA was in the Final Four last year, Ben Howland had them in it three out of four years, so they have had recent championship-type success, too. Our guys probably know that more than they would Indiana and also because it's on the West Coast. But, yeah, I think that's it. I think they're just not as old as us.''

Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett has been at the school for 21 years. He beat Indiana on Thursday, and gets UCLA on Saturday. (USA TODAY Sports)

Saint Mary's guard Tommy Kuhse, who's been at the school for six years, plays like a veteran. The 6-foot-2 Mesa, Ariz., native knows all about UCLA and their 11 national titles. He knows all about Wooden, the Martinsville, Ind., native who's won more titles (10) than anyone.

"The name definitely carries weight, with John Wooden obviously being a big part of that, '' Kuhse said. "I have read books on him and stuff like that. We know they're a good team and that's all we're concerned about. We're not too concerned about the history, really.''

Senior guard Logan Johnson, who scored a game-high 20 points against Indiana, started his career at Cincinnati, playing for current UCLA coach Mick Cronin. He learned a lot from him in that one year, and he's looking forward to playing against him on Saturday.

"That's one of the people that helped me instill that on the court, constantly, always being tough, always being physical, never expecting anything,'' said Johnson, who's from Mountain View, Calif., and glad to be playing closer to home. "I think that's one of the things that I was able to carry over very easily to Saint Mary's, was that physical type of play. I know Tommy Kuhse said earlier talking about how practice is ramped up when I stepped on campus and I kind of epitomized myself on always playing hard every possession, never expecting anything given.

"So, for sure, I thank him for that. I thank him for a lot of things, obviously, but that's my guy, through and through.''

Saint Mary's has an identity, and it matters. They are a top-15 team nationally in team defense, and no possession is easy, which Indiana learned on Thursday night,

"Yeah, I would describe our style of basketball as trying to be tough defensively, don't give teams easy shots, keep them out of transition, keep them off the offensive boards. The basic things I think you need to win,'' Bennett said. "I think when you start playing against better teams and in the NCAA Tournament, you better be good in those areas.

Saint Mary's beat Indiana 82-53 on Thursday thanks to a great defensive effort. (USA TODAY Sports)

"It's nothing tricky. I think a lot of times because of the way we defend, it makes it a grindy game for the opposing team and then a lower-scoring game. Offensively, there is international influence. We have watched so much, we have had international players. You study basketball. You try and figure out how you can score as a team. I think we are on the front end of using on-ball (screens) in college basketball.

"We went pretty heavy on it early, back when we had Mickey McConnell and Matt Dellavedova back in 2010. It's a big part of our offense, how we're recruiting, why we recruit and why we always try to play with two point guards and I think these two guards that we have now as starters, Tommy and Logan are an example of that. They've improved and become good guards and attacking you and using on balls, and we play off that a lot.''

Indiana learned that the hard way on Thursday. Bennett even mentioned it in praising the Hoosiers after the game, that Saint Mary's is hard to prepare for without any practice. Outside of hotel walkthroughs, Indiana really didn't get any work in on breaking down their offensive tendencies.

Saint Mary's is in the final 32 now, and they have every intention of knocking off UCLA on Saturday night, too. They're ready, and they're confident.

"Well, we have to play well. We played well (Thursday against Indiana), and I said that,'' Bennett said. "I talked to our team about it. I said you can worry about all these things and do this, do that, but you've got to play well. You've got to make shots. You can't turn the ball over. You better know what you're doing defensively. UCLA, they can get you a lot of ways. Yeah, they have good players, good balance and they have four guys that can really score and you better figure out how you're going to deal with those four and then don't give them second shots.''

"We're confident. You talk about confidence, sometimes people spout off and they act like they're confident but they're not. When you beat a good team like Gonzaga or other good teams — and we have beaten other good teams — and accumulated confidence along the way. When you do that, it is real. You can feel it the next day in the gym at practice. Balls go in the basket at a much higher rate. It's crazy. That's the advantage we have of having Gonzaga in our league. We get a crack at No. 1 usually three times a year, at least two times a year. After that, we just feel like whoever we play is not going to be more talented than them, not going to be better coached than them, not going to be a better team than them. We know that. When you can beat 'em, then you feel like you can play with anybody.''

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