‘Built, not bought:’ How Saint Mary’s is thriving by going against college basketball’s changing landscape

MORAGA — Zoom out and away from the tiny school that sits atop the hill in Moraga and you’ll find a chaotic college basketball scene that’s full of teenagers chasing hundreds of thousands of dollars and coaches struggling to hold onto their top players for more than a season.

As the NCAA Tournament kicks off this week, there are players who will suit up at schools such as Duke and North Carolina who already are worth more than $1 million in potential marketing opportunities while profiting from their name, image and likeness (NIL), a proposition that tends to favor powerhouse schools with wealthy booster programs.

“I’m worried,” said Saint Mary’s basketball coach Randy Bennett. “I don’t know what the long-term result is on this thing, but I don’t think it’s good.”

Zoom in on McKeon Pavilion, and there’s a much different scene.

Players aren’t dipping in and out of the program to find better opportunities elsewhere; entering this season, not a single player left the Saint Mary’s basketball program for another school, nor did any players transfer in. And nobody is in the top 100 of college basketball earners who capitalize on their NIL in the new age of college sports, where some players are getting paid before ever taking the court.

“Built, not bought,” is how fifth-year senior Alex Ducas described Saint Mary’s, which this year joined the Air Force as the only two Division I programs in the country that didn’t utilize the NCAA transfer portal to either bring new players in or send out old ones.

And yet, Saint Mary’s will begin March Madness as a No. 5 seed on Friday night against Grand Canyon (7 p.m. on truTV), the third consecutive year the Gaels have earned such a high tournament ranking as one of the nation’s 20 best teams.

If the Gaels aren’t utilizing the transfer portal and they aren’t collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for their athletes to get paid, how are they keeping up with the best programs in the country taking full advantage of both?

Players point to their coach, Bennett, who has turned away opportunities at bigger programs and might have one of his best teams yet at Saint Mary’s, where he’s in his 23rd season on the bench.

“You see it elsewhere, the transfer portal has been crazy. It’s like NBA free agency nowadays,” Ducas explained. “Guys just chuck their name in and see how much money they can get paid. That’s not what we’re about. We’re about building guys up for four, five years if we can, and really building up a culture here. And the culture is incredible.”

Since the NCAA backed off its longtime refusal to allow athletes to benefit from their celebrity in July 2021, bigger schools set up collectives that pooled money from donors and linked players to potential sponsorships.

In effect, NIL has a chance to hurt mid-majors such as Saint Mary’s, where the main selling points have traditionally revolved around academics, player development and team culture.

“This whole NIL thing, guys are getting money before they’ve done anything,” Bennett said. “They’ve jumped to another team. Loyalty is gone. Being part of one team is gone. It’s all about, ‘What can I get?’

“I don’t mind them getting money, but they need to put guardrails on this thing.”

Another potential problem: Players who enjoy breakout years at smaller schools can enter the transfer portal and potentially earn more money elsewhere.

“This is the toughest it’s ever been (for college basketball coaches),” Bennett said. “And it’s tougher this year because NIL and the portal are just on fire. It just keeps becoming a bigger and bigger deal…

“I talk to other coaches, and we’re all whining about it all the time. My approach is (to) get as good of players as you can, coach them the best you can, and it’s one year at a time. Just stay right there. It’s not like it used to be where you get this guy as a freshman and we’ll have him three more years after that. It’s not like that anymore. If you’re lucky it can be. But it’s hard.”

Bennett is doing something right — nobody transferred out, and Ducas decided to return for a fifth season rather than seek professional opportunities.

Meanwhile, former Campolindo High (Moraga) star Aidan Mahaney could’ve bolted after his breakout freshman campaign last year and tried to find a bigger NIL payday. But his love of Saint Mary’s is centered around his desire to see the school become the Bay Area’s premier destination for other top local players.

“The difference is that (Bennett) is just a real dude,” said Mahaney, who led the Gaels in scoring this season while earning his second straight first-team All-West Coast Conference honors. “You get a lot of guys who are phony, a lot of dudes who give you promises. You never really know. I’ve seen some of my good friends who have been told stuff in college basketball, and it hasn’t happened for them. They’ve hit the portal and are told they’ll get this here, get this there, and it doesn’t work out.

“I’ve been talking to (Bennett) since I was in kindergarten, but I don’t think he has ever told me something that isn’t true.”

Bennett’s not afraid to speak his mind. Such as when the Gaels started the season 3-5 and he told them they needed to get tougher, mentally and physically. He said he had guys who “were supposed to be good players but just weren’t there yet.”

After that rough start, the Gaels won 23 of their next 25 games, capturing a WCC regular season title and winning the WCC tournament for the first time since 2019.

It’s the opposite of the way they ended last season when they stumbled down the stretch, went into the NCAA Tournament cold and made a second-round exit at the hands of eventual champion Connecticut.

“We’re younger and we’re more talented this year,” said Ducas.

There’s a sense of pride in their success this season, particularly given the way they’ve trusted in their own culture. And after Saint Mary’s committed $20 million to upgrade its facilities, including a 4,000-square-foot addition to their arena while seeking additional NIL opportunities for players, athletic director Mike Matoso said there isn’t much Saint Mary’s can’t offer.

“This program is about the development of players, retaining our coaches and our staff, developing through four years and having pride within the program, a culture of family,” said Matoso. “Boy, that’s been lost in college athletics.”

Saint Mary’s hasn’t advanced past the second round since 2010. Another exit before the Sweet 16 might be disheartening. But it won’t stop the Gaels from feeling good about their program and the methods with which they built it.

“Nobody is talking about NIL here, nobody cares about it,” Ducas said. “We have one goal, to win as many games as we can. You can’t go to too many places in the country and have the players say the same thing.”