St. Mary's at Walt McPherson Court Monday night

Some teams rebuild, it seems St. Mary's reloads.

Randy Bennett loses Patty Mills (now of the Portland Trailblazers) and the very underrated Diamon Simpson yet keeps on chugging along with a blend of returnees and newcomers.

Of course, it helps to have a pipeline to the Australian Institute of Sport and its top talents, something now firmly in place after the success of Mills in Moraga. Five Aussies are currently on the Gael roster -- like Pacific, here is another private school facing no concerns about out-of-state, let alone, out-of-country tuition costs.

After five straight home games, the Gaels come a bit south to match up with SJSU. We call St. Mary's a pick-a-poison opponent because try and shut down the players in the paint (a la Omar Sanham) and the outside shooters will have free reign, and vice versa.


St, Mary's Schedule to Date

Nov 13 New Mexico State 100 - 68 (W)

Nov 16 San Diego State 80 - 58 (W)

Nov 20 Vanderbilt 70 - 72 (L) - we don't know how they did it but Vandy held the Gaels to 41% shooting

Nov 23 Cal Poly 92 - 67 (W)

Nov 28 Cal Maritime 100 - 59 (W)


The Gael Starting Five

Ben Allen 6- foot-11 SR 9.6 ppg. and 7.2 rpg.
An Indiana transfer and an Aussie who can shoot from close in, from three-point range and at the foul line - shooting 67% overall, 4-7 from three-point land and 12-12 at the foul line

Omar Samhan 6-foot-11 SR 20.6 ppg. and 11.4 rpg.
Averaged 21 and 17 in games versus tough opponents Vanderbilt and San Diego State, shooting 64%, 11 blocked shots so far

Wayne Hunter 6-foot-4 SR 11.4 ppg. and 3.4 rpg.
Get him to the foul line since he's shooting 6-15 from there

Matthew Dellavedova FR 6-foot-4 15.4 ppg. and 5 apg.
Another Aussie mate who shoots well and plays intelligently, assist-to-turnover ratio is 24/8 - shooting 52% overall, 45% on three-pointers and a perfect 14-14 at the foul line

Mickey McConnell 6-foot-0 JR 10.8 ppg. and 6 apg.
His father still is and his grandfather was a prep basketball coach, he's passing well and deadly from distance -- 47% overall and 61% from long range

Off The Bench

Matthew Young 6-foot-9 FR - not much of a shooter yet but a horse on the boards, especially offensively

Clint Steindel 6-foot-7 FR - 17of his 18 shots this season havebeen treys but he's hitting only


The St. Mary's Roster

Trey Anderson G 6-4 175 FR
Matthew Dellavedova G 6-4 185 FR Victoria, Australia
Wayne Hunter G 6-4 210 SR
Mickey McConnell G 6-0 175 JR
Jorden Page G 6-1 175 FR Queensland, Australia

Phil Benson F 6-8 230 JR
Tim Harris F 6-4 190 FR (Valley Christian High) - out with ligament damage in a wrist
Beau Levesque F 6-5 215 FR
Clint Steindl F 6-7 180 SO. Queensland, Australia
Tim Williams F 6-9 235 FR
Mitchell Young F 6-9 225 FR Queensland, Australia

Ben Allen C 6-11 250 SR Melbourne, Australia
Omar Samhan C 6-11 265 SR


*** Kenton Walker II, F 6-9 235 JR (transfer from Creighton, redshirting this season)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

* Who sets the pace of the game? Pacesetters usually win.

* Even in the loss to SEC member Vanderbilt, St. Mary's still won the battle of the boards 45-34.

* St. Mary's is outscoring its D-1 opponents 85-66 points per game, shooting 51% to .40% overall with 42% accuracy on treys.

* Regarding turnovers and steals, St. Mary's is about even with opposing teams in both categories