Saint Mary's played only one non-conference road game, and that was a loss at California. Plus, it's not like the Gaels were beating up powerhouse entries at home, either. Their longest trip of the entire season was to BYU. Simply stated, if you're a mid-major and you want to insure at-large consideration, the non-league slate has to be tougher than the one the Gaels enjoyed this season.
This Valpo team put up 81 on a decent Florida State defense so they should do relatively well here against St. Mary's defense. Valpo is also a top 30 offensive rebounding team and is the same team that finished just 6 points shy of Oregon on the road which is impressive when you look at it at this juncture with Oregon in the Sweet 16. And, this is the same team that beat Iona 83-58 who is also a tourney team as well. Valparaiso given their stifling defense, decent crowd and decent public fade should be able to win by 8-10 points this evening - and Valpo averages 76 ppg and I like them at home here tonight!