The Beau Levesque story

Beau Levesque did it the hard way, coming to St. Mary's on an academic scholarship and earning a basketball one.

Now checking in at 6-foot-6 and 220 as a junior, he is the third leading scorer for the Gaels this season at 10.5 points alongside 4.7 rebounds a game. He's shooting 51%, 40% and 84% respectively in just under 21 minutes a contest.

A fourth-year junior athletically (he sat out the 2010-11 season due to surgeries ion his right and left hips), Levesque contributed 15 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists in St. Mary's recent victory over USF.

Just prior to that, it was 14 points, five boards and two assists during 17 minutes of court time in the Gael loss to Gonzaga up in Spokane.

Against Loyola Marymount in the preceding contest, Levesque totaled 11 points, four caroms and an assist in 15 minutes of action in that victory.

Combine patience and continual effort with opportunity and Coach Randy Bennett is mighty glad he said yes.

Jordan Giusti helps the Gaels over LMU

Host St. Mary's handled Loyola Marymount 74-61 Saturday afternoon. From Gael athletics:

"...Saint Mary's looked set to take a 30-all tie into halftime, but that turned into a crowd-raising three-point lead when Jordan Giusti beat the buzzer with a heave from just inside half court that hit glass and caromed in to give the Gaels a 33-30 advantage.

Giusti's good play wasn't limited to one shot. The redshirt freshman from San Ramon, Calif. was again a defensive standout, marking Loyola Marymount point guard Anthony Ireland whenever he was in the game. His defense held the league's leading scorer to a five of 18 performance from the floor.

Giusti also added eight points offensively, matching his career-high..."

3-4 shooting and on the court for 19 minutes -- quite a line for the former San Ramon Valley High redshirt freshman.

Meet Treaven Duffy

St. Mary's athletics serves up an interview with freshman guard Treaven Duffy, who is redshirting this season.

St. Mary's falls again

St. Mary's fell again, this time to Georgia Tech 65-56 on Sunday as Brad Waldow posted a line of seven boards and five points. He's shooting 61% for the season but pretty much been it on the inside for Coach Randy Bennett.

Raphielle Johnson writes about this season's Gaels, particularly the paint players.

Regarding those bigs, 6-foot-11 Matt Hofgson is getting back on the court after two seasons at Southern Utah and then a redshirt year. 6-foot-9 Mitchell Young isn't a back-to-the-basket guy. 7-foot Kyle Rowley looks to be more of a backup type. A double-double type, a la Rob Jones doesn't appear to reside in this group. Waldow is the best of the bunch but another needs to emerge.

Bigs things predicted for MD

Jeff Eisenberg forecasts St. Mary's Matthew Dellavedova as the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, Best Playmaker plus Top NBA Prospect.

Dellavedova and the Olympics

Jeff Eisenberg talks with and writes about Matthew Dellavedova's Olympic experience.

The consensus is that he's not quick enough for the NBA but any true basketball fan should be pulling for him.

St. Mary's and an Illinois guard

Kyle Randle has the news about St. Mary's reaching out to an Illinois prep backcourter regarding a preferred walk-on position. Columbia is also interested, meaning former Gael coach Kyle Smith battling Randy Bennett.

A look at Randy Bennett's guys

Zack Farmer offers his take on the 2012-13 St. Mary's Gaels.

Dellavedova to be tested

After Patty Mills' point explosion and last second trey led Australia over Russia, St. Mary's senior Matthew Dellavedova also receives some deserved press from Jeff Goodman as the Aussies go up against the U.S. tonight. If you don't enjoy watching Dellavedova play, you don't really like basketball.

Ben Enos offers more.

Kudos for Bennett

St. Mary's Randy Bennett comes in at #2 in an unofficial poll of his peer regarding underrated college coaches.

One unattributed quote: "Have you ever been to that gym? It's a sandbox. Bennett has done it differently, he's established an overseas pipeline and been able to sustain success in a league with Gonzaga. That's not easy." 

Bennett's ability to keep the winning mojo and make that become part of the expected is most impressive. The first few years of success could pass as a streak -- now it's a norm. Compiled with very few, if any, factors in his favor makes it amazing.

Mills powers the Aussies

Former St. Mary's star Patty Mills shows ice in taking down Russia in an Olympic upset.

St. Mary's does it again

No Britney Spears references here -- St. Mary's has landed another (think Cullen Neal) talent, beating some Pac-12 teams in the process.

From The Slipper Still Fits guys: "The 6'5'' wing will team up with Top 100 recruit Cullen Neal in Moraga to form what should be a very potent backcourt for Randy Bennett. Hermanson was a guy that we heard about here and there in the past but he was never a major target for this staff. He chose SMC over offers from Oregon State, Utah, UCSB, and Drake. Hermanson had a great summer so many were expecting him to wait and see if he could collect more offers but he was a strong Saint Mary's lean all along."

and

Van Coleman offers his take on the addition.

St. Mary's continues to be the most interesting D-I basketball story in northern California.

St. Mary's involved with an Oregon wing

Eric Bossi writes:

We've written about southpaw wing Calvin Hermanson of the Clutch Players and Lake Oswego (Ore.) High a few times over the last year or so. Now, we need to start thinking about him as a legitimate high major wing prospect and a potential member of the Rivals150 in the class of 2013.

Thanks to a strong month of July, Hermanson has taken his game and recruitment to the next level. A tough wing with grit and a high skill level, Hermanson is comfortable working within a system to cut and move for open jumpers. The 6-foot-5 senior-to-be can utilize ball screens and simply create off the dribble in open space as well.

As a result, Hermanson has gotten more and more attention with even more to come. St. Mary's, Utah, UCSB, Oregon State and Drake have now offered, while Stanford, Washington State, Nevada and Gonzaga are among those showing more interest... 

Mills pulling down a million

San Antonio's Patty Mills can buy the next round.

From Luke Adams: "The salary details for Patty Mills, who will earn $1,085,120 this season, were already known, but according to [Mike] Monroe, Mills' second year (at about $1.13MM) is a team option. [Mark] Deeks had reported that it was a player option, so hopefully we'll get some clarification on the matter one way or the other."

David Patrick back in college ball

From the Hoop Dirt folks: "Multiple sources have reported that David Patrick will become an assistant at LSU. Patrick is a Louisiana-Lafayette grad who has spent time as an assistant at St. Mary’s (CA) and also served as a scout for the Houston Rockets. He will replace Shawn Forrest who resigned a few weeks ago for personal reasons" 

Will Patrick start bringing guys from Australia to Baton Rouge?

An interview with Gael-to-be Cullen Neal

Chad Groth interviews 2013 St. Mary's commit Cullen Neal, who will be a great get for Randy Bennett and the Gaels.

Gaels add a JC backcourter

Credit this to Brad Winton as St. Mary's has signed a SoCal community college backcourter: "James Walker (6-3/G/2012), of Citrus College (CA), has signed with St. Mary's (CA)"

Walker played his freshman season at Utah State and then transferred to Citrus. He was named the Co-MVP of the California community college ranks this year.

He averaged 19.1 points per game in 2011-12, shooting 46% overall, 35% from long distance and 83% at the foul line.

Rob Jones in shoulder pads?

Matt Maiocco has a story up on the NFL trying to entice St. Mary's Rob Jones but to no avail right now.

A future Gael looking sharp

Dave Telep tweeting about a future St. Mary's signee: "Cullen Neal is a Pac12 player. St Mary's was fortunate. He and Alford are heady, skilled guards. Neal has size and confidence"

Coach Randy Bennett is hoping Neal's father doesn't land a head coaching positi0on as that might interfere with this plan. Craig Neal, an assistant at New Mexico, was in the final mix for the Colorado State position earlier this month.

The season for the St. Mary's NorCal players

St. Mary's enjoyed quite the season, finishing on top in the West Coast Conference at 14-2 and a marvelous 27-5 overall.

A quintet of NorCal talents dot the Gael roster and here's how each performed in 2011-2012:

* Rob Jones - a 6-foot-6 senior forward, he averaged a double-double at 14.8 points (second on the team) and 10.5 rebounds (tops on the team) plus 2.3 assists per game, shooting 47%, 28% and 65% respectively. He also led the team in steals with 51 and blocked 20 shots.

* Brad Waldow, a 6-foot-9 freshman center, he averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 rebounds a contest, shooting 67% and 49% respectively. He topped the Gaels with 32 blocked shots.

* Beau Levesque - a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, he averaged 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds a contest, shooting 45%, 30% and 76% respectively in 10 minutes per game.

* Tim Williams - a 6-foot-9 junior forward, he averaged 1.2 points per contest on 56% shooting.

* Jordan Giusti - a 6-foot-2 freshman guard, he apparently redshirted.