MBB | 2018-19 Men's Basketball Season Preview

The Gaels host McNeese State this Wednesday in their 2018-19 home opener.

MORAGA, Calif. — Following their first 30-win season in program history, Saint Mary's will look to reload after losing five members from their 2017-18 team and jump back to the top of the West Coast Conference standings where they have finished first or second in 10 of the past 11 seasons. 18th-year head coach Randy Bennett is prepared to continue his winning ways as the most successful head coach in school history and seeks to lead his team to their fourth conference title during his tenure.

LOOKING BACK AT 2017-18
The Gaels had one of their best seasons of all-time last year, posting a sterling 30-6 record and 16-2 showing in West Coast Conference play. Saint Mary's won 19 straight contests from Dec. 2 to Feb. 8, including huge road victories against BYU (74-64 in overtime) and No. 13 Gonzaga (74-71). The Gaels advanced to postseason play for the 11th straight year and took home two NIT victories against Southeastern Louisiana and Washington before being eliminated in overtime by Utah in the quarterfinals.

On Feb. 5, Saint Mary's received their highest Associated Press Poll ranking ever at No. 11, one spot behind Kansas and ahead of other powerhouse programs such as Gonzaga, Arizona, Ohio State, North Carolina, West Virginia, and NCAA-tournament runner-up, Michigan. The new ranking topped the Gaels' previous best poll position, No. 12, which was set the season prior.

Saint Mary's also had great success during the year on the individual level with multiple program records being shattered.

Following his breakout junior season, Jock Landale cemented himself in the national spotlight as he averaged 21.1 points and 10.2 rebounds during last season. The 6-foot-10 Australian center became the first Gael ever to be named to an AP All-American Team (Second Team) and was a top-5 finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. During the Gaels' NIT opener against Southeastern Louisiana, Landale broke Omar Samhan's single-season record for points scored and finished the year with 761. For his efforts, Landale became the seventh Gael ever to receive WCC Player of the Year.

Star guard Emmett Naar also broke a program record during the season as he dished out his 769th assist against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 8 to become the Gaels' all-time leader in assists. Naar, who started in all four seasons, finished his career with 816 helpers and is second all-time in free throw percentage and games started, behind only Saint Mary's great, Matthew Dellavedova. The Australia native earned First Team All-WCC recognition, as did Landale, while fellow senior Calvin Hermanson was also selected to the conference's Second Team.

A TALE OF TWO SENIORS
The Gaels have just two seniors this season in Jordan Hunter and Aaron Menzies, both of whom are centers.

Hunter is the lone true senior and has been with the team since 2015. He's played in at least 27 contests every season with the Gaels and appeared in a career-high 30 games last year. Despite averaging only 7.2 minutes off the bench in 2017-18, Hunter was a defensive presence as he was second on the team in blocks (18) and grabbed 2.3 boards per game. With the departure of Jock Landale, Hunter is poised to gather some serious minutes as one of the Gaels' premier big men in the upcoming season.

"We're only going to be as good as our leadership and with a young team, that's especially true," said Hunter about his role as a leader on the team this season. "I have to do my part to make sure we're rolling as a unified team and one that is ready to compete together."

Saint Mary's other senior is one of the newest Gaels, Aaron Menzies. The Seattle transfer will play as a redshirt senior after spending the previous four years with the Redhawks. Last season, Menzies averaged 11.3 points and 8.9 rebounds while playing 26.9 minutes per game with Seattle. Similar to Hunter, Menzies caused plenty of trouble for opposing offenses as the 7-foot-3 center led his team and the WAC in blocks with 79 in 2017-18.

"Aaron has a tremendous heart," said head coach Randy Bennett of his new center. "He really cares about the game and he's pretty tough. He's only going to keep getting better."

THE FRESHMEN FIVE
Saint Mary's will feature a younger-than-usual roster this season with five freshmen on the roster, including one redshirt. Quinn Clinton, Matthias Tass, Alex Mudronja, and Dan Fotu will begin their collegiate careers this fall with the Gaels while Kristers Zoriks returns to the team after redshirting last season.

"We haven't had this many new faces in awhile," said head coach Randy Bennett at the team's first practice. "We'll go a little slower in practice and we're teaching more but our guys have great attitudes and I really like our personnel."

Clinton was one of New Zealand's top guards and represented his nation at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Championships where he averaged 12.1 points and three assists per game. Mudronja, a 6-foot-5 guard, has played for Team Australia at multiple global events against squads from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and attended the Australian Centre of Excellence.

Mudronja was impressed with the program upon arrival and is looking forward to playing with the Gaels. "The level when I got here was so much higher than I anticipated," expressed Mudronja. "The competitiveness is incredible and Coach Bennett has an awesome system that everyone respects and believes in."

Tass and Fotu are both listed as forwards and will look to utilize their size and ability to make a difference for Bennett's team. Tass, who is also a center, stands tall at 6-foot-10 and averaged over 11 points, eight boards, and two blocks at the 2017 FIBA U18 European Championships. The 6-foot-7 Fotu brings a history of winning to the Gaels as he led his high school team to back-to-back national championships and New Zealand's Junior Tall Blacks to a Gold Medal at the 2016 FIBA U18 Oceania Championships.

Zoriks didn't take the court for Saint Mary's last season but did see live action with his Latvian national team at the U20 FIBA European Championships this summer. In his team's seven games, the guard averaged 12 points and 4.6 assists as he led Latvia to a third place finish.

BALL AROUND THE WORLD
Saint Mary's roster has 10 players from overseas, the most of any Div. I men's basketball team this season. Of those ten, seven come from Oceania, either Australia or New Zealand, while the other three come from various European countries.

As is tradition with the Gaels, the team boasts a large Australian assembly. Tanner Krebs, Jordan Hunter, Jock Perry, Kyle Clark, and newcomer Alex Mudronja all hail from the Land Down Under. Saint Mary's also has two new Kiwis on the team this year in freshmen Quinn Clinton and Dan Fotu.

On the European side, the Gaels have members from Latvia (Kristers Zoriks), Estonia (Matthias Tass), and England (Aaron Menzies). Interestingly, all five newcomers to the Gaels this season are non-Americans.

SHOES TO FILL
Saint Mary's will be replacing five letterwinners from last season who are no longer with the team. Jock Landale, Emmett Naar, Calvin Hermanson, and Cullen Neal all completed their senior campaigns in 2018 while redshirt junior Evan Fitzner transferred.

Landale, Hermanson, and Naar were the team's top, second, and fourth highest scorers, respectively, last year and the five departed Gaels constituted more than two-thirds of the team's scoring. The Gaels will turn to guards Jordan Ford, Tanner Krebs, Kristers Zoriks and Tommy Kuhse among others to replace the nearly 80-percent of assists also exiting the team, mainly in the form of Naar.

Ford, who averaged over 11 points per contest, and Krebs, who shot nearly 40-percent from range, are the only two starters who will returning to the lineup.

The Gaels have had at least two players make the All-WCC First Team each of the last five seasons and at least one player named First Team for the past 16 years.

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