Saint Mary's Head Coach Randy Bennett is the featured guest this week on the Field of 68's West Coast Conference Insider Men's Basketball podcast. The Gaels (19-3, 8-1) have won 10 of their last 11 games, with a marquee matchup this weekend against Gonzaga in Spokane at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN. Saint Mary's leads the nation in free throw percentage at .810, the only team in the nation shooting better than 80 percent. The Gael's Paulius Murauskas leads the conference in scoring, boasting 19.3 points per game. 

The West Coast Conference currently boasts four programs in the top 100 in the NET rankings - No. 4 Gonzaga, No. 29 Saint Mary’s, No. 45 Santa Clara and No. 100 San Francisco. Pacific (No. 109), Seattle U (No. 122) and Washington State (No. 151) round out the West Coast Conference programs within the top 151. Gonzaga is ranked No. 6 in both national polls, while Saint Mary’s is receiving votes in both polls.
 
The Field of 68 Network hosts the West Coast Conference Insider podcast, featuring interviews with head coaches and student-athletes from men's basketball programs around the conference each week. Hosted by Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster, the Field of 68 is a men's college basketball-centric network of podcasts and content. As of January 2026, The Field of 68 has built a combined audience of over 250,000 followers across its primary social media platforms. It currently boasts over 140K followers on X, over 68K on YouTube and over 42K on Instagram.
 
Timestamps are listed below for efficient viewing:

5:07 - Santa Clara right on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament 
"Right now, Santa Clara, depending on who you ask, is either one of the last four in or one of the first four out. They are quite literally the cut line. They're gonna be that team, if the tournament started today, they would be the team everybody debated about." - Rob Dauster

6:00 - Randy Bennett joins the show

10:15 - How Saint Mary's is looking so far this season
"You know what, I'm pleased with what they've done. Thus far, we're really young, we're immature in some ways, we miss those three seniors that way. They were very good leaders and they're very mature, they took care of a lot of problems, took care of a lot of things that need to be taken care of on a team. When it can come from the players and their leadership there, it's the best, we're getting there. Guys are growing up. Our young guys are growing up. We've kind of established. Our roles and rotations, which I mean in years past it's been in place earlier in the season and this, we're just kind of getting to it now, but they've done a good job."

12:50 - Saint Mary's freshman Dillan Shaw
"We can do drills. You have to get reps in games, that's how you get good, that's how you get confident, that's how guys become really good players, and Dillan. He was pretty far along defensively. He'd been coached well in high school, and he's got it, he's long, he's quick, he's got some good skills there defensively. As he learned our system and got to play against good players and starters, he's continuing to improve. He's got a great attitude. He's super coachable."

18:15 - The rise of Paulius Murauskas
"Paulus has been huge. He's kind of taken over the leadership role, which isn't easy to do for a guy from another country. That's not, you know, his first language in English, all that, but he just. He grabbed the reins. I'm proud of him for it. He's got to keep improving and finish the race."

21:10 - Coach Bennett's thoughts on the ever-changing world of college basketball

24:30 - The hobbies outside of basketball for Coach Bennett

To watch the complete episode on YouTube, click here. To listen on Apple Podcasts, click here. 

Subscribe to the West Coast Conference channel on YouTube.

Subscribe to the Field of 68 on YouTube.