FanHouse MarcelusKemp

St. Mary's might have been the biggest winner in Saturday's BracketBuster following a huge 75-64 win over Utah State. The Gaels had been adrift in recent weeks, seemingly rudderless without star Patrick Mills.

But St. Mary's has been solid in recent weeks, fattening up on the weaker teams in the West Coast Conference. Saturday's win over the Aggies was a big exclamation point on the season, letting people know that the Gaels are still in the hunt for an at-large bid.

Not to say that St. Mary's is in right now; the Gaels still have a lot of work to do. But the team is squarely on the bubble right now.

Nick Fazekas has been long gone (it seems) from Nevada. Two other junior starters, Guards Marcelus Kemp and Ramon Sessions, also decided to go through the process of declaring for the draft. Kemp has decided to return for his senior year, while Sessions is going to stay in the draft.

Ramon Sessions was a 2nd Team All-WAC point guard and a Cousy Award finalist as one of the top collegiate point guards. In some mock drafts he has been projected as a 2nd round pick. His unstated reason for staying in the draft is the oft-noted observation that this draft is quite weak on point guards, while next year could be loaded. Sessions appears -- quite reasonably -- to believe that his best opportunity is now.

Marcelus Kemp staying for his senior year is something of a surprise, simply because he is getting long in the tooth to ever get drafted. Kemp requested and received the rare 6th year of eligibility. He missed the 2002-03 and 2004-05 seasons with injuries. By next year's draft, Kemp will be 24 years-old.

"After going through the entire process, I have decided the best thing for me is to return to Nevada for my senior year," Kemp said. "I have received feedback from the NBA as to what I need to work on and I intend to use that to better myself as a player. I am looking forward to pursuing my degree and coming back to compete with my teammates for another WAC championship."

Kemp was 1st Team All-WAC and will be the only returning starter to the Wolfpack. In every sense of the word, he will be the old man of the Nevada squad.