Another month has passed us, which means it is time for me to provide my February Bay Area power rankings for men’s college basketball. Lots of quality basketball has been played across the Bay Area in men’s college basketball, which means there is a lot for me to break down!
#1. Saint Mary’s Gaels (+1): The Saint Mary’s Gaels have overtaken the San Francisco Dons as the top team in the Bay Area after a stellar month of January and early February. The Gaels are now 18-6 overall and 9-0 in the WCC, dominating San Francisco 77-60 on the road at War Memorial Gymnasium. St. Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney had a strong performance for the Gaels with 22 points while forward Joshua Jefferson had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
On top of dominating the Dons, St. Mary’s also defeated Santa Clara 82-77 at home last Wednesday and then went on the road to win at Gonzaga on Saturday by a final score of 64-62. They controlled the game against Santa Clara the entire night. That game wasn’t quite as close as the final score indicated. As for the win at Gonzaga, Mahaney had a 20 point performance while Jefferson had a double double again with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Gaels are receiving a lot of votes in the AP Top 25 and if they keep on this winning streak, they’ll likely be ranked in the near future. They’re clearly the top team in the Bay Area right now as BartTorvik.com ranks them at #16 in the nation.
Quick side note for those that don’t know: The Gaels have a Golden State Warriors connection in guard Augustas Marciulionis. His father Sarunas played for the Warriors from 1989-1993 and was a solid player for them during the Run TMC era. Augustas is averaging 11.8 points and 4.5 assists per game this season. He’s been a big part of the Gaels’ success.
#2. San Francisco Dons (-1): The Dons have fallen one spot in my rankings to number two, but they’re still having a solid season at 18-6 overall and 7-2 in the WCC. Bart Torvik has them ranked at #78 in the nation. Their two losses in league are to St. Mary’s at home as mentioned above and also at Gonzaga (77-72). Both of those losses were in back-to-back games, so that was a bit of a rough stretch for them. To their credit, they are back to their winning ways with three straight wins at Portland, vs. San Diego, and vs. Pacific. Granted those are games they should win, but still. They’ve done a good job of bouncing back from those tough losses.
Forward Jonathan Mogbo is continuing to ball out, averaging 15.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. To average a double double is impressive to say the least. Guard Marcus Williams is also doing his thing with 14.1 points per game.
They will see St. Mary’s on the road and Gonzaga at home later this month, so those are a couple of big games they have coming up. They’ll close out league play at Santa Clara on March 2nd, so that’ll also be an important game considering Santa Clara is one of the Bay Area programs that are part of these rankings.
If San Francisco wants to reclaim the number one spot, they’re going to need to get even with St. Mary’s at a minimum. In truth, they probably need to win out, though if somehow they are able to win out up to the Santa Clara game and then drop one there in the finale, maybe they move back up to number one. It’ll just depend.
As far as what went wrong in their losses to St. Mary’s and Gonzaga, Mogbo and Williams as a tandem didn’t do enough. If they want to get revenge against both schools this month, they’re going to need those guys to at least score at their averages. Otherwise, they could easily end up with four losses in league.
#3. Stanford Cardinal (+/-): The Stanford Cardinal are now 11-10 overall and 6-5 in the Pac-12. Bart Torvik ranks them at #82 in the nation right now, so they’re gaining ground on San Francisco.
The Cardinal have gotten a tremendous boost from their freshman point guard Kanaan Carlyle, who is leading the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He’s seeing his name float around NBA mock draft boards and is a possible first round selection in the upcoming NBA draft (should he choose to leave after one year). Since Carlyle was cleared to play by Stanford administration, Stanford has been hovering around a ranking of 70 in the nation according to Bart Torvik, so he’s really given them a boost.
Carlyle was out for their most recent game against #11 Arizona, but that didn’t stop Stanford from leading by double digits at halftime and remaining within four points with under five minutes to go. Arizona won 82-71, pulling away late. Stanford didn’t leave the state of Arizona empty handed as they picked up a solid 71-62 win at Arizona State, giving them a road split and revenge for their home loss to the Sun Devils.
Stanford is clearly playing much better than they were prior to Carlyle’s availability, but they’re still not at the level they need to be in order to be considered an NCAA tournament team. The good news for them though is the season is not over yet and a strong month of February could be in order for them. This week’s upcoming games against UCLA and USC at home will be key.
I should also note, Stanford had a heartbreaking 73-71 loss at Cal to close out January. They got up by as much as 10 points but weren’t quite able to pull out the victory. Credit to Cal for stepping up late and feeding off their home crowd energy. The bottom line with Stanford is they are playing better and hey, even if they don’t end up making the NCAA tournament, the NIT could be in their future along with climbing to number two in these Bay Area power rankings. Gonna be interesting to see how February goes for the Cardinal.
#4. California Golden Bears (+2): The California Golden Bears have made the biggest jump in my Bay Area power rankings from 6th to 4th. They are currently 9-13 overall and 5-6 in the Pac-12 with a Bart Torvik ranking of 105 in the nation.
Like Stanford, after a rocky start to non-conference, Cal has turned a new leaf in league play. They’re coming off a nice win at Arizona State in which they won 81-66, giving them a road split just like Stanford. They too lost to the Sun Devils at home, so both Bay Area teams were able to get some payback over the weekend. Against Arizona, they didn’t play as completive of a game as Stanford did. Arizona dominated them 91-65. It was pretty ugly.
Junior guard Jaylon Tyson is second in the Pac-12 in scoring with 20.0 points per game and is playing his way onto NBA draft boards. He’s obviously been key to their success along with graduate big man Fardaws Aimaq, who is averaging 15.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He is running away with the Pac-12 rebounding title (Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud is second with 10.0 rebounds).
On top of those two guys playing well, Cal is just playing much better as a team. They’re more comfortable with each other. Outside of their wins against Arizona State and Stanford, their most impressive win since my last power rankings were released is their 82-78 win over Colorado at home on January 10th. That win signaled that things were starting to click for them. First-year head coach Mark Madsen has his guys playing hard and buying into what he’s doing. It’ll be fun to see what the month of February brings for them. Just like it is for Stanford, their upcoming homestand against UCLA and USC this week is going to be huge.
#5. Santa Clara Broncos (+/-): The Santa Clara Broncos are 15-9 overall and 6-3 in the WCC. Bart Torvik has them ranked 138th in the nation. A case could be made for Santa Clara to be ahead of Cal, but they’re trending in the wrong direction as of late. After losing an 82-77 game at St. Mary’s that wasn’t as close as the final scored indicated, the Broncos then laid an egg at home against San Diego on Saturday, losing by a final score of 70-59. Their top two players Carlos Marshall and Adama-Alpha Bal both had five points against San Diego, having perhaps their worst game as a duo all season.
That all said, the Broncos have a lot of talent on their roster as Bal is seeing his name on NBA draft boards. He hit some crazy threes to put the pressure on St. Mary’s at the very end, but it was too little too late. I should note that they picked up a 77-76 win over Gonzaga at home on January 11th, so they do have a signature win under their belts. It’s just that they weren’t able to really build on that win.
Given they haven’t moved up or down in my rankings, it’s hard to say whether or not they’ll be able to move up for next month. Odds don’t look good, but I should note they haven’t yet played San Francisco this year. If they could get a split with the Dons and find a way to beat Gonzaga for a second time, maybe they improve from their current 5th place spot.
#6. San Jose State Spartans (-2): The San Jose State Spartans are heading in the wrong direction. They are 8-14 overall and 1-8 in the Mountain West. Bart Torvik ranks them 185th in the nation. After being ranked 4th in my rankings last month, I have no choice but to bump them all the way down to the bottom.
Their guard Myron Amey, Jr. is doing his part with 15.5 points per game on 43.2% shooting from the field, 33.8% shooting from 3-point range, and 79.1% shooting from the foul line. He’s just not getting quite enough help from his supporting cast. Unless they turn things around fast, the Spartans appear doomed to finish last place in my rankings. The good news for them though is the don’t have to finish last place in the Mountain West. There’s kind of a log jam with them, Fresno State, and Air Force at the bottom of the conference. Air Force also is 1-8 in the conference while Fresno State is 2-7. They host Fresno State on Tuesday, February 6th (tonight). That’ll be big for them. Especially since it’s a rivalry.
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