MORAGA — It’s the unheralded team from Moraga, the adorable little brother to Gonzaga, the not-quite-good-enough bunch of amicable underdogs that might win one game in the Big Dance, but even one could be a stretch.
Despite No. 5 Saint Mary’s being four-point betting favorites over No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Albany, N.Y., to pick a Gaels win is uncool. It’s unfashionable. It’s maybe even a little crazy.
Within seconds of the Gaels being announced as the No. 5 seed in the East bracket, VCU was already being picked as an upset special.
“VCU is going to win,” CBS analyst Seth Davis quickly announced on the national broadcast.
In a piece he wrote for The Athletic the next day, Davis said the Gaels “have a rather low ceiling for a No 5 seed. Given the frequency of 12-over-5 upsets, this one was easy for me.”
While the analytics are favoring Saint Mary’s — FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Gaels a 59% chance to win — popular ESPN analyst Jay Bilas wrote a book-length feature of his bracket picks and, you guessed it, he’s going with VCU.
“The Rams are not as physical as Saint Mary’s, but with pressure, VCU can be the more disruptive team,” Bilas wrote.
If the nation’s top experts can so quickly discount the ability of outstanding freshman Aidan Mahaney and super senior Logan Johnson, what are they missing?
Ask folks around the team and another name emerges, one that’s hardly been written about or mentioned on the broadcasts: Kyle Bowen.
The 6-foot-8, 222-pound Australian with a mustache and a mullet is averaging just 5.3 points per game, but he’s efficient, shooting 43% from the floor and 40% from 3-point range, and he dominates the boards with 7.2 rebounds per game.
“He’s the glue,” Johnson said. “He’s the one that holds us together. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Our best defender on the team. It just so happened that I got the honor (West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year), but he’s our best defender.”
The Gaels are hoping Bowen, Johnson and senior Alex Ducas can settle the nerves of a Gaels team trying to make a surprise run.
“There are two qualities that I have no question are as good as we’ve ever had,” said head coach Randy Bennett. “And that’s the senior leadership. In their own way, they’ve been as good as we’ve had it… And they’re tough. This group is tough.”
Bennett, in his 22nd season on the bench in Moraga, has clearly found something.
He’s coached back-to-back No. 5 seeds, the highest-seeded teams in school history. And after a second-round elimination at the hands of UCLA last year, Bennett brought back a team that features a finalist for the Kyle Macy Division I Freshman of the Year, Mahaney, and a finalist for the Lou Henson Award, presented annually to the top mid-major player in D-I college basketball, Johnson.
It’s Bowen they’ve turned to for comfort as the Gaels prepared for an early morning charter flight to New York on Wednesday morning, trying to forget about the last two weeks.
A team that averages 36 rebounds per game grabbed just 25 in each of their recent losses to Gonzaga, including an embarrassing 77-51 defeat in the WCC title game.
Even in a 76-69 win over Brigham Young in the semifinals, the Gaels looked lost in the second half.
In their last 60 minutes of basketball combined, they’ve been outscored 126-90.
They’ve posted below-average numbers in steals, blocks and assists while turning the ball over in a sloppy three-game stretch that’s been quite different than what they did in the previous 30.
But as they gathered on the floor of their home court when the NCAA bracket was announced Sunday, they pointed to Bowen as the guy who’d keep them together.
“He leads the leaders,” Johnson said. “He’s emotional, he wears his heart on his sleeve. It doesn’t matter how many points he scores. A lot of the things he does don’t show up in the stat sheet but we know what he means to us and what he’s capable of doing. I’m looking forward to him having a big, big March Madness run.”
Bowen left his hometown of Perth, Australia, at 16 to live on the opposite side of the country and play basketball at the Centre of Excellence, where he suited up alongside many of Australia’s finest young players, including Ducas.
“That sped up my maturity,” he said.
He made the decision to join Saint Mary’s and follow the path from Australia to Moraga cleared by former greats like Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.
“Coming to college in America was a big decision for me and my family, but I didn’t want to view that as, ‘I’m in a foreign country and I’m homesick,’” Bowen said. “That was never a problem for me, homesickness…
“These people love me and I love them. Embracing that positivity was a big thing.”
As a freshman, Bowen played just 11 minutes a game, but found his identity in practice, where he learned how to play defense against outstanding scorer, Malik Fitts, who has since made 18 NBA appearances for the Clippers, Jazz and Celtics.
“I didn’t really play much my freshman year, so I needed to find a way, how can I do something positive for this team? How can I make an impact?” he said. “Yelling and screaming and getting excited when guys make the right play, it was something I put an emphasis on my freshman year. Making those small and gritty plays, that’s where I could shine. If I had to take a charge on Malik Fitts in practice, that’s what I got to do.
“Everybody picks their part and that was my part.”
Bowen started his first game as a sophomore and has since started every game for the last 2 1/2 years.
Watch the highlights and you’ll rarely find him. Study the tape a bit more and you’ll see No. 14 in the face of the opposing team’s best player, taking the charge, grabbing the rebound or falling on a loose ball.
“Kyle is the heart, mind and soul of our team,” said Ducas. “You see how much emotion he plays with every night. He’s the loudest guy on the court…
“I can’t really put into words how important he is for us.”
A month ago, Saint Mary’s was looking like it could be a tournament darling.
Now expected by many to be upset in the opening round, the Gaels are looking inward for inspiration.
If Bennett is right and their senior leadership and toughness will decide their fate, Bowen, Johnson and Ducas are their best hope to spark some magic on their way to Albany.
“The beauty of it is that we’re not just three guys in our senior year of college,” Bowen said. “We’re three guys who work off each other perfectly, live with each other and spend every moment of the day together.
“The chemistry is special.”
