The Saint Mary's Gaels didn't just earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with their win over Gonzaga in a thrilling West Coast Conference championship game. They also earned the right to move up in the seedings of ESPN's Joe Lunardi's Bracketology.
The Gaels moved from a no. 8 seed to no. 6 in the Midwest region and would face Harvard in the first round of the tourney with a possible matchup with Georgetown awaiting them in the second round.
The Gaels were able to take matters out of the hands of the committee with their win over the Zags, even though they were fairly secure with their place in the tourney either way. But a team always breathes easier when that word ‘automatic' replaces ‘at-large' in front of their bid.
Now, all they have to do is wait to see if Lunardi is correct in his prediction of where they'll be seeded.