Hoops

Mills Watch: 2008/09 Season (spoilers)

Patty Mill's college season, and possibly his college career has ended on a sour note today after the Gael's lost to San Diego State in the NIT semi finals, 66-70.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/59m33

Patty led all scorers with 18 points, it was done on just 7/24 shooting, including 4/13 on three's. He also had 1 rebound, 5 assists, 1 steal and 5 TO's in playing nearly a full 40 minutes before fouling out at the death.

Mill's final season stats are as follows:

PPG: 18.4
RPG: 2.4
APG: 3.8
SPG: 2.2

He recorded career highs in all averages this past season with the exception of FG% with dropped 2% (yes his 3PT% increased as well).

My person thoughts are that Patty will nominate for the 2009 draft as next year his team will be without key starters Diamon Simpson and Omar Samham, and regular starters Carlin Hughes and Lucas Walker - all graduating seniors.

Saint Mary's season remains alive in the NIT after Mills and the Gael's accounted for Davidson and their Stephen Curry, winning 80-68.

Whilst Curry led all scorers with 26 points on 11/27 shooting to go with 9 rebounds and 5 assists and 6 TO's, our own Patty Mills scored 23 points of his own on 9/22 shooting (1/10 3PT) to go with a career-high 10 assists and thus register the first ever double-double of his collegiate career, with just 1 TO in 39 minutes.

ESPN Recap & Video: http://linky.com.au/igrhk

Big game today...Saint Mary's versus Davidson, Patty Mills versus Stephen Curry.

Two of the NCAA's best scoring guards go head to head today in the 2nd round of the NIT. Can Patty get the better of the NCAA's leading scorer?

Game Preview: http://linky.com.au/8ssfx

Should be fun to watch! Please post a link to watch the game live if you locate a good one...

Saint Mary's and Patty Mills have easily accounted for Aron Bayne's Washington State in the first round of the NIT today, sending a message to everyone that they probably deserved to be in the NCAA Tourney. Final score 68-57.

Patty Mills once again showed he was well and truly back to his best, leading all scorers with 27 points on 8/15 shooting, including 5/9 on three's and 6/6 from the line. He also had 2 assists and 2 rebounds in a great performance.

6'11" Australian centre Aron Baynes did his best to keep the Wazzu close, top-scoring with a double-double for his team - 19 points on 6/10 shooting (7/9 FT) and 10 rebounds to go with 2 blocked shots.

After been snubbed for the NCAA Tourney, Saint Mary's only got a No.2 seeding in the NIT!

The Gael's host Aussie Aron Baynes' Washington State in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday, 2:00pm AEDST.

Link: http://linky.com.au/v6tdt

You can watch a replay of the East Washington game here: http://linky.com.au/95cy6

Saint Mary's beat East Washington today, 85-65. Patty Mills added 19 as the Gael's made its final case to the NCAA selection committee with an 85-65 victory over Eastern Washington on Friday night.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/wedfm

Saint Mary's today shot themselves out of the game against #14 ranked Gonzaga in the WCC Championship game. The final score was 58-83.

Patty Mills was playing in his second game back from injury, and he could not hit the side of a barn, going 2/16 from the field, including 0/7 from downtown to score just 5 points - the first time this season he has failed to score in double-digits. He also had 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals with just 3 turnovers.

As with Mills, his team shot poorly, hitting their shots at a combined 28.8% from the field compared to 54.8% from the 'Zag's. 17.6% from downtown compared to 50% as well were stark remidners of the poor Gael's shooting.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/nkpr9

The loss could now place in jeopardy Saint Mary's chances of reaching the NCAA tourney. A win would have secured them an automatic berth.

Game is live now...

ESPN Gamecast: http://linky.com.au/obj2t

Justin.TV: http://linky.com.au/eetvy

Saint Mary's today beat Portland 71-61 in the semi finals of the WCC Tourney and earn a rematch against Gonzaga in the final tomorrow AEDST.

Mills came off the bench in his first game back from a broken hand, logging 35 minutes of action on court. Although clearly rusty, he still managed to score 12 points on 3/12 shooting (2/9 3PT). As the game wore on he noticeably gained confidence and played a lot better. He also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and just 3 turnovers.

Carlin Hughes was instrumental, hitting some key baskets late in the game to ensure the Gael's moved away from the Pilots.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/03429

This link should be showing the game tomorrow if he can catch it live: http://linky.com.au/eetvy

Saint Mary's have added a game 2 days before the NCAA selection committe finalise the tourney...

ESPN: http://linky.com.au/64hoa

With the WCC Tourney just around the corner and Mills return from injury, there is plenty of talk about the Gael's, Mills and their chances of making the NCAA tourney.

CBS Sports: http://linky.com.au/zng6s

ESPN (Andy Katz): http://linky.com.au/bd762

USA Today: http://linky.com.au/fc0bs

Seattle Times: http://linky.com.au/3mqlb

Enjoy!

Just quickly, this is how Mill's stats compare to last season:

2008/09
18.7ppg 4.0apg .338 3PT% 2.6rpg 2.5spg
2007/08
14.8ppg 3.5apg .323 3PT% 2.1rpg 1.8spg

Mllls has been named in the all-WCC first team for the 2009 seson, along with two of his team mates. Mills has made the team for 2 consecutive seasons now, and despite missing 9 games this season!

WCC Link: http://linky.com.au/jzk5e

Saint Mary's Link: http://linky.com.au/7d0zl

Mills gets more love from ESPN's Andy Katz in his article today on their website titled "Championship Week: Setting up Week 1"

WCC
Why should you care? The obvious reason is to see if Saint Mary guard Patty Mills can be even close to what he was before he got hurt. If he can, then the Gaels have a real shot to beat Portland in the semifinal and knock off Gonzaga in the final. The Gaels are easily the most intriguing bubble team among all these conferences, as they make the selection committee figure out which Saint Mary's team, if any, they should put in the field.

What would be the best scenario? It's not even close for the WCC. If Saint Mary's beats Gonzaga, the league definitely gets two teams into the dance. If they don't, then it might not occur. It's really that simple.

Picked up- on this today in Forde's minutes on ESPN's website regarding his take on the all the 'cindarella' teams from the smalelr conferences and their chances for berth's in the NCAA Tourney.

West Coast (25), March 6-9, Las Vegas.
The favorite: Gonzaga, which ran the table in the regular season.
The spoiler: Saint Mary's, which regrouped after the initial shock of losing superguard Patty Mills to a broken hand and has now won five straight.
Minutes pick: Saint Mary's. With Andy Katz's news Monday that Mills has been cleared to play, The Minutes is going with the replenished -- and more desperate -- Gaels.

Link: http://linky.com.au/22cej

Mills is back!

Mills today has been cleared to resume playing - he will be back on court in the WCC Tourney.

ESPN Story: http://linky.com.au/w4xtn

Really good news for Mills and the chances of his Saint Mary's team being invited to the NCAA Tourney.

Saint Mary's today defeated Loyola-Marymount70-57 today to ensure they finish the WCC conference play in 2nd palce behind Gonzaga. As a result, they earned abye in the first round of the WCC Tourney and will ove directly into the semi-finals, and hopefully the return to action of Patty Mills.

Aussie Carlin Hughes top-scored with 16 points, including 4/9 on threes to go with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/tt1lb

Saint Mary's today defeated Pepperine 62-49 to move to a 23-5 overall record and 9-4 in conference play. Even better for them was the fact that 2nd placed Portland lost to San Diego meaning that the Gael's now move into 2nd place in the WCC, tied with Portland. A step closer to a first round bye in the WCC tourney and a very small one towards an NCAA tourney berth.

In further news, Mills has been named as a mid-season finalist that comprises of 30 players in line to win the Naismith Trophy.

Here is the link: http://linky.com.au/jvy7o

Just foudn out that Mills had his stitches taken out last week, and is expect to be fit to return to on-court action at the WCC Tourney.

Giraffe - here is an update on Mills' injury from the ESPN website:

"St. Mary's is hopeful that Mills, who sat courtside at today's game wearing a suit with his right hand in a protective brace, will return in time for the West Coast Conference tournament which begins the first weekend in March."

So he is still at least 2 weeks away...and will miss the last 2 conference games before he looks like he may be able to suit up.

Saint Mary's today went a long way to ensurig they get a ticket to the big dance, defeating #23 Utah State in an ESPN Bracketbuster game, 75-64. And the Gael's did it without Mills.

It was the Gael's third straight win, and they now face Pepperdine (5-6 in WCC) and minnows San Francisco (1-10) to complete conference play. They have to win both and rely on Portland to drop a game. Portland face San Diego and Santa Clara in the run home. The Gaels would be hoping to finish 2nd and earn a first rond WCC tournament bye.

Saint Mary's beat San Diego 65-61 in a must win game for the Gaels. They keep alive their chances of a top two place in the WCC and a first round bye in the tourney.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/cxfuh

They also remain on the 'bubble' - a place in the NCAA tourney for which they got lost in the first round last year. They take on fellow 'bubble' team Utak State next up in a "Bracket Buster" game on Monday AEST.

Saint Mary's Game Preview: http://linky.com.au/8fij0

Saint Mary's bounced back with a big win today over Portland, 77-65. Saint MAry's are now 7-4 in conference play and ar ein third place behind Portland who are now 7-3. Gonzaga are 9-0 and in first place. Imagine if Mills was not injured - they could be 9-0 and heading the WCC!

Walker started and was solid in 15 min, but Hughes came off the bench and played well, scoring 15 points and racking up 8 assists. Connell stepped up to start in Mills' place and racked up 20 points in the win.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/6yxqm

Mills has also been announced as a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award...

Read about it here: http://linky.com.au/1l2za

Saint Mary's continued to struggle without Mills at the helm, going down to Santa Clara today 52-70.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/v2aes

Saint Mary's bounced back without Mills to defeat lowly San Francisco yesterday, 79-58.
Aussie Lucas Walker had his first start of the season.

Today San Francisco @ St. Mary's
3:30pm (AEST) LIVE ESPN Australia

Saint Mary's lost to Portland on the weekend and showed just how much they miss their play maker and best scorer. this kis a very disappinting loss to Portland, and with Mills out for a month, coudl end Saint Mary's chances of heading to the 'Dance'.

ESPN mention Saint Mary's woes: http://linky.com.au/st12r

Mills'injury has been confirmed as a broekn hand:

ESPN: http://linky.com.au/bp2py

Patty will be out for at least 4 weeks. His absnece will really hurt the Gael's.

Mills was injured right before half time and did not return to the game. And despite leading by 6 points at the main break, the Gael's did not react well to losing their best player and clearly missed his leadership as Gonzaga overturned the half time deficit and ended up running out 69-62 winners.

Mills still led all scorers with 18 first-half points on 6/14 shooting, including a sizzling 6/8 on triples. He also had 1 rebound and 1 assist in the loss.

Lucas Walker played his best game of the season coming off the bench. He hit 9 points on 4/7 shooting to go with 3 rebounds.

Steindl on the other hand arguably played his worst game as a Freshman. He went 0/7 for the game.

Game starts in just over 30 minutes.

BA website has a story with all the links to catch today's game in any way you can legally!

Link: http://linky.com.au/683l1

Today is the big game for Saint Mary's against Gonzaga! Only one team will remain undefeated in conference play after today's game.

ESPN Preview: http://linky.com.au/fp3l0

Big game coming up this week - #18/22 Saint Mary's taking on #25/20 Gonzaga in a huge WCC showdown.

Game is on Thursday USA time, and Friday AUS time.

Newspaper Story: http://linky.com.au/xkd74

SMC Web Story & Game Details: http://linky.com.au/lyugs

Go Patty and go the Gael's!

#25 Saint Mary's continued on their winning ways with a monster win over Pepperdine today. The Gael's have now won a school record 14 straight games and are off to the best start in their history with a 17-1 record.

All 5 Aussies got in on the action with 11 minutes on court or more each, with Carlin Hughes outscoring Patty Mills with 16 points (6/14 FG, 4/11 3PT), 8 assists and 4 rebounds.

Mills had 13 points on 5/6 shooting including perfect 3/3 from downtown. He also racked up a career-high 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals in 28min on court.

AIS graduate Clint Steindl also had a good one, scoring 11 points in 17 minutes.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/3f7pc

Saint Mary's next face San Diego, a team they lost to in both games last season. A win should cement their position as a nationally ranked team in the top 25.

#25 Saint Mary's won their first game in 2009 as a nationally ranked team, defeating Loyola Marymount (with Aussie Marco Deric) easily today, 78-53.

Mills scored 11 points (4/8 FG, 1/3 3PT, 2/2 FT), racking up 8 assists to go with 3 steals, 1 rebound and just the 2 turnovers in only 26min of action. All 5 Aussie's on the Saint Mary's team got 10min or more of court time today which was good to see.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/davmt

Mills led his Saint Mary's Gaels to another solid win today over San Francisco.

Mills had 19 points in the win. Fellow Aussie Carlin Hughes was also influential.

ESPN Recap: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290112539

Box score was not yet available at the time of this post.

Someone has posted the last few minutes of the Santa Clara game on YouTube, showing Mills' game winner: http://linky.com.au/c5bdx

Saint Mary's Website Recap of Santa Clara game: http://linky.com.au/n61mf

Mills has come up with the goods when it counted yet again! Against Santa Clara in conference play, Patty Mills hit a long game-winning 3 pointer with just 2.4 seconds left on the clock.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/q041v

After hitting just 3 of his first 10 shots, but then turned it around to score a season high 31 points (10/24 FG, 4/13 3PT, 7/9 FT). Mills also had 2 assists, 4 steals and just the 1 turnover in 35min of action.

The Gael's have now won 11 games in a row, their best effort since 1958/59 (13 games).

"The raucous, standing-room only crowd of more than 3,500 packed into McKeon Pavilion for the televised matchup and fans chanted "Patty! Patty!" after the final buzzer sounded."

Way to go! Had I been there, I would have had the tingles running up my back...

Saint Mary's continued on their winning ways as they defeated Cal State Bakerfield 80-74 in their last non-conference game of the season.

Mills led all scorers with 21 point on 6/14 shooting (1/3 3PT, 8/10 FT) to go with 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Recap: http://linky.com.au/onpui

St Mary's won again today, beating Morgan State 76-60 with everyone in the side getting a decent run.

Mills had 13 points on 5/11 shooting, including 3/8 on triples, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals but again appeared sloppy with 5 turnovers.

On another note, Aussie Freshman Clint Steindl had a good game hitting 3/4 from the field including 22 from downtown for 8 points.

St Mary's continued their recent winning ways as they recorded a 87-78 win over San Jose State.

Mills scored 17 points, shooting 4/12 from the field, including 3/8 from downtown and 6/6 on free throws. He also had 3 assists, a huge 4 steals, but also 6 turnovers.

ESPN Recap: http://linky.com.au/0y05i

It was a tale of two halves for Patty in today's game against Pacific.

Mills hit 0-5 from the field in the first half to only score 2 points on free throws, with 0 assists up to half time as the Gael's trailed by 2 at the main break. However after the break, Mills came out like a new man and took over the game.

Mills lit it up in the second half to score 21 points for a game high 23 on 7/17 shooting, including 4/9 on threes and 5/5 from the line. He also had 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Mills came up with the goods when it was needed the most.

Mills continued his good form to score 16 points on 6/14 shooting (2/5 3/pt), with 3 assists and 3 steals.

The Gaels beat Southern Illinois 65-52 to extend their record to 9-1 on the season.

I'm really looking forward to when they play Gonzaga who went down to Uconn in OT today. Watched the game too, and the Zags were unlucky as Uconn hit a tough trey as time expired to tie the game in regulation. Thabeet for Uconn was plagued by foul trouble.

The Saint Marys Gaels notched up another good win today in beating Oregon 78-73. The Gael's blew a 12 point second half lead only for Mills to step up down the stretch once again to hit 10 of the Gael's last 16 points to seal the win.

Mills top-scored with 22 points (6/18 shooting, 1/7 3PT & 9/10 FT), 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and just the 2 turnovers. Mills did not record 1 single steal!

Recap: http://linky.com.au/s74hh

Mills is back in action today as his Gael's take on Oregon. Last time he played against Oregon last season (who were nationally ranked at the time), he hit a a career high of 37 points (it still remains his personal best in the NCAA).

Heading into today's game, Patty is averaging:

Points: 19.8 (equal 1st in WCC, equal 47th overall)
FG %: 0.414
Assists: 3.36 (equal 5th in WCC)
Rebounds: 2.6
FT %: 0.920 (1st in WCC)
Steals: 2.38 (1st in WCC, 62nd overall)
3PT FG Made: 2.38 (3rd in WCC)
3 PT %: 0.328
Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.21 (6th in WCC)

He has scored more than 20 points on 4 occasions this season so far, with a season high of 27. He has scored in double figures each game this season (lowest was 13 points in their last game, the win against San Diego State).

In Saint Mary's only loss of the season, it remains the only game this season that Mills has not made a 3 point field goal (he was 0-9 in that game from downtown but still scored 16 points).

As a reasult of his great performances so far, Mills has so far earned 2 Player of the Week awards this season.

Mills stepped it up again when it was needed the most to help spark the Gael's to a close 67-64 win over San Diego State today. He had 15 points today and was influential down the stretch to ensure his team got the win.

Recap: http://linky.com.au/j6lvo