St. Mary’s will be the most difficult team for the committee to assess. On the one hand, if Patty Mills didn’t get hurt, this was not only one of the best 34 at-large candidates, it was also one of the best 25 teams in the country. But the fact is, Mills did get hurt, and while the Gaels played reasonably well without him (they lost four of six but then ran off five straight, including a rout at home over then No. 23 Utah State), he looked like a shell of his former self during their two West Coast Conference tournament games, scoring a combined 17 points on 5-for-28 shooting. Saint Mary’s needed to make a statement during the tourney final Monday night, but lost by 25 to Gonzaga. The reality is, Saint Mary’s is left with just two wins over teams ranked in the top 50 of the RPI and an overall RPI ranking of 46. If Mills looked the way he had before his injury, this would be a no-brainer. Now … well, it’s a brainer.
