Why a Sweet 16 trip would ‘mean everything’ to Saint Mary’s senior trio
MORAGA — Nestled into the hills a short drive from the Saint Mary’s campus, there’s an unassuming three-bedroom apartment in a complex filled with families and students.
It sits vacant as of Wednesday morning.
When the front door closed behind Augustas Marciulionis, Mitchell Saxen and Luke Barrett on their way to Cleveland for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the roommates could already be considered the most accomplished senior class in school history.
There’s one thing left to achieve by the time they return home: a Sweet 16 berth.
“It would mean everything,” said Saxen, a fifth-year center. “Our whole careers, we’ve been trying to elevate where this program is at, and we’ve done a hell of a job so far. But it’s not time to count our money at the table. … It’s great to make the tournament again. It’s never been done here four years in a row. But we really want to win a few games.”
In coach Randy Bennett’s 24 seasons, the Gaels have enjoyed plenty of success but made it out of the Round of 32 only once, in 2010, and as Marciulionis observed when he stepped on campus for the first time, “The whole locker room is about that team.”
This trio, which turned into a living situation when Marciulionis moved in with Saxen and Barrett after their sophomore years, has left its own mark on the program in the form of consecutive WCC titles and four straight tournament bids — both firsts in Saint Mary’s history.
“Those three seniors, they’re as good of a trio of players as I’ve had,” Bennett said. “We talked about it. They wanted to leave the program in a better place than when they came in, which is hard to do at this point. And these guys did it.”
It’s increasingly rare in the modern era of college basketball to see a trio stick together, and Gaels weren’t immune from the transfer portal. They returned nine players from last year’s team, but not leading scorer Aidan Mahaney or starting forward Joshua Jefferson, who were lured away by Power 4 programs with deeper pockets to fund NIL deals.
“They take a lot of pride in this being their program,” Bennett said of Marciulionis, Saxen and Barrett. “The fact that they returned in this day and age was just an example of that. Day after last season, they knew what they were doing.”
Seeded fifth in the past three tournaments, the Gaels have failed to advance past the opening weekend. Last March, they were on the wrong side of a first-round upset to Grand Canyon without Jefferson, who suffered a season-ending leg injury.
After falling to Gonzaga in the WCC tournament championship game, the Gaels received a No. 7 seed and will match up against 10th-seeded Vanderbilt (20-12, 8-10 SEC) in the Round of 64.
Bennett understands the challenge ahead — a likely second-round matchup with No. 2 Alabama awaits should the Gaels get past Vanderbilt — but also the potential glory.
“It’s life-changing, life-changing,” he said of a Sweet 16 run. “Getting in the tournament is a huge deal. If you win a game, you’re a legend. If you win two games, you can come around here in 40 years and they’ll all know you.”
These Gaels did something no other group had by conquering Gonzaga in consecutive regular seasons, but they took an uncharacteristic loss in the conference tournament title game last Tuesday. They missed all 16 of their attempts from 3-point territory and committed a season-worst 18 turnovers in a 58-51 defeat.
Afterward, the senior trio asked the coaches to clear out of the locker room.
“The main message was just to flush it out,” Marciulionis said. “We wanted to make sure guys were in a good state of mind where they could give it all in practice in the week and a half to prepare, and I think we had one of our best practices of the year.
“So I feel like our guys received the message.”
The locker room walls in the Las Vegas arena were thinner than they thought.
“I could hear them talking,” Bennett admitted, “and it was just like coaches.”