Brad Waldow Delivering The Goods For Saint Mary's
By Dave Thomas
Name: Brad Waldow #00
University: Saint Mary's
Year: Senior
Height: 6' 9"
Weight: 260 lbs.
Hometown: Shingle Springs, CA
Position: Forward
For the Saint Mary's Gaels, the route to the West Coast Conference title oftentimes goes through Gonzaga.
Guess what? That holds true again this season.
Despite holding a 20-7 record heading into the final week of play of regular season action, the Gaels are looking up once again at the Bulldogs. Gonzaga was a perfect 16-0 (WCC) going into action Feb. 26, while St. Mary's sat at a very respectable 12-4 (Gonzaga won both games in the season series by scores of 68-47 and 70-60, respectively).
While winning the regular season WCC is out of the question, Saint Mary's gets a shot at winning the conference tourney (March 5-10 in Paradise, Nevada), something that would automatically qualify the Gaels for March Madness and the big dance. If Saint Mary's fails to do that, they could still be an at-large qualifier, though that would certainly be up in the air given the plethora of teams fighting for the 68 spots (conference tournament winners automatically qualify) available. There is also the possibility of a trip to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
As the Gaels finished off their regular season dates (Feb. 26 at San Francisco, Feb. 28 at Santa Clara), the goal is obviously to go into the WCC tourney on a high note.
Senior Puts Gaels In Position To Win
One of the reasons Saint Mary's is in a position to do well in the post-season is senior forward Brad Waldow.
Coming into the final week of regular-season action (through 27 games played), the California native was averaging 19.6 points per game (Kerry Carter is next at 12.1 ppg), 9.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. Waldow has tallied 530 points on the season, surpassing his career-high from a season ago of 529.
Among Waldow's highlights this season was scoring 20 or more points in 13 games, helping the Gaels end Creighton's 24-game home win streak, and a 25-point/15 rebound performance in a two-point loss to Northern Arizona.
A pre-season all-WCC selection, Waldow has led the Gaels in scoring in 22 of their 27 contests this season, along with leading the WCC in minutes played at nearly 35 a game.
Improvement Continues Yearly
His junior season (2013-14) wasn't too shabby either, as he averaged 15.1 points and hauled down 7.5 rebounds per game; the Gaels (23-12) went to the second round of the NIT, losing to Minnesota.
Waldow came out of high school (Ponderosa High School) with some impressive credentials, tallying a double-double in his senior season, notching 25.6 points and 10.7 rebounds, respectively. He would end up being the first player from Ponderosa to ink a Division I basketball scholarship out of high school.
With the post-season just around the corner, Waldow and his Gaels have their sights set on winning the WCC tourney and punching their ticket for March Madness.
While Gonzaga (28-1 as of Feb. 25) and some other division foes will have a say in which team emerges from the conference tourney victorious, don't be shocked if Waldow and Co. make a nice run in Paradise.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
