FanHouse Diamon Simpson

St. Mary's moved into the West Coast Conference finals with a convincing win over Portland. But was it convincing enough for the Gaels to get into the NCAA tournament barring Monday's finals outcome? Right now, St. Mary's looks deserving enough to get into the tournament. The Gaels are a much more complete team right now.

Almost as if losing Mills for a stretch made this team better. But St. Mary's looked impressive enough on Sunday night to make its case to be included in the field of 65.

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St. Mary's guard Patrick Mills will miss at least four weeks with two broken metacarpal bones in his right hand on Thursday night at Gonzaga. And with it, St. Mary's tournament hopes have taken a serious, serious hit.

The Gaels were a bubble team coming out of the WCC, needing a signature win against a Utah State-like soft schedule thanks in part to a first-round loss in the Anaheim Classic. They did schedule games with San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton and Oregon, so there was intent for a decent schedule. But still, St. Mary's is now likely going to have to win the WCC tournament to get a bid.

New Jersey bragging rights were on the line in Piscataway last night when the Rider Broncs came a-calling on Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights had the Big East imprimatur but the Broncs had the best player in the state in Jason Thompson. It turned out that neither one mattered as Rider took the win 61-57 and did it without a strong night from their leading scorer. But not without their leading scorer's family.
Ryan Thompson, younger brother of Jason, had 19 points and nine rebounds while big bro struggled to a 6-of-16 night from the floor. His 12 points and seven boards well off his 20 and 11 averages but Harris Mansell pitched in with 15 points and a smart defensive game plan did the rest. Rider played a sagging zone on J.R. Inman, Rutgers' leading scorer. He finished with 15 points but it wasn't nearly enough to forestall the upset.

The Scarlet Knights couldn't make any shots from the perimeter and finished at 36% for the night. They missed the injured freshman guard Corey Chandler quite a bit. Three replacement guards combined to go 0-for-14 from the floor while Jaron Griffin missed all eight of his three-point tries.

Elsewhere on the mid major hardcourts: