FanHouse Omar Samhan

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.

---

---

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.

Even though Gonzaga was knocked off in the West Coast Conference tournament last season, the Bulldogs were considered the best team in the league. And even as Gonzaga has struggled at times this season, the perception has been that -- again -- the Bulldogs are the class of the WCC. Gonzaga has even climbed back into the Top 25 again.

But is that perception reality?

St. Mary's is certainly making its case following a convincing 65-42 win at San Diego on Thursday night. The Gaels have no won 15 consecutive games and will look to challenge the Bulldogs for conference supremacy. St. Mary's figured to be a Top 25 team this season. But a loss to UTEP in the Anaheim Classic took them out of the national spotlight. (And would be the last time it would lose.)

They finally didn't return until they got a chance to play at San Diego on ESPN. The same place where the team crashed and burned in the WCC tournament last season. St. Mary's buried San Diego right from the start, taking last year's tournament champion apart.

Point guard Patty Mills continues to be impressive and Omar Samhan (16 points and 11 rebounds) is really exerting himself in the low post -- and could provide some matchup problems for Gonzaga. But that's the thing. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves. St. Mary's hasn't played the grueling schedule that Gonzaga has, but it will get its chance to take on the Bulldogs next week.

But for right now, St. Mary's looks unbeatable.