SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — As just announced by the WCC and voted on by the WCC Men's Basketball Head Coaches, Saint Mary's Men's Basketball has been picked to finish in second place in the WCC preseason poll. Coming in as the defending WCC Regular Season and Tournament Champions, the Gaels were picked to finish behind 2023-24 WCC Runner-Ups Gonzaga, who they defeated in two of three meetings last season. This is the third consecutive year that the Gaels have been picked as one of the top-two teams in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Gaels had two named to the Preseason All-Conference Team, as defending WCC Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis and defending WCC Defensive Player of the Year Mitchell Saxen each earned the nod. Saint Mary's was one of three teams (Gonzaga, Santa Clara) to have multiple student-athletes on the Preseason All-WCC Team. 

Augustas Marciulionis led the Gaels with 181 assists and 49 steals last season, while finishing as the team's second leading scorer at 12.4 points per contest. His 2.70 assist to turnover ratio ranked second in the conference, and paced the Gaels, who ranked 17th in the nation in that category. In the WCC Tournament, Marciulionis averaged 13 points and 7 assists per game, shooting 55% from the field, and playing the entire 40 minutes in the Gaels championship clinching victory over Gonzaga. 

Mitchell Saxen was one of the most ferocious rebounders in the country, ranking 13th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per contest. Saxen also led the WCC with 43 blocked shots, and was the Gaels third leading scorer, averaging 11.8 points per game to go along with a team best 7.6 rebounds per contest. Saxen was a key reason as to how the Gaels were able to rank top-10 in the nation in field goal percentage defense, scoring margin and scoring defense, while leading the country in rebounding margin. Saxen closed out the 2023-24 campaign with back-to-back double-doubles against Gonzaga in the WCC Title Game and against Grand Canyon in the NCAA Tournament, two his seven double-doubles on the season. 

Members of the Saint Mary's Men's Basketball Team will be at WCC Media Day today. At 3:20 PM, tune to ESPNU as Head Coach Randy Bennett, Augustus Marciulions, Mitchell Saxen and Luke Barrett will take the stage to field questions.

The Full WCC Preseason Coaches Poll and Preseason All-WCC Team is as follows:

2024-25 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll

Place	Team	First Place	Points
1.	Gonzaga	9	99
2.	Saint Mary's	1	86
3.	Santa Clara		81
4.	San Francisco	1	77
5.	Washington State		62
6.	LMU		60
7.	Oregon State		44
8.	Portland		28
	San Diego		28
10.	Pacific		23
11.	Pepperdine		17

 
2024-25 WCC Men's Basketball Preseason Team

Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Michael Ajayi	Sr.	G	Gonzaga
Adama-Alpha Bal	Sr.	G	Santa Clara
Cedric Coward	Sr.	G	Washington State
Nolan Hickman	Sr.	G	Gonzaga
Graham Ike	Sr.	F	Gonzaga
Augustas Marciulionis	Sr.	G	Saint Mary's
Ryan Nembhard	Sr.	G	Gonzaga
Jevon Porter	Jr.	F	LMU
Mitchell Saxen	Sr.	C	Saint Mary's
Carlos Stewart	Sr.	G	Santa Clara
Marcus Williams	Sr.	G	San Francisco