THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Saint Mary’s is really, really, really good, guys

It wasn’t all bad news for the Zags.

Yeah, there was carnage all across the top of various rankings and NCAA seeding spots.

So, if you believe Joe (Joey Brackets) Lunardi, Gonzaga will remain No. 1 everywhere this week – despite that no-doubt 67-57 whipping administered by a very salty Saint Mary’s bunch.

There’s that, I guess, staying on top.

Next item …

Mark Few and his staff got a good look at exactly how the Zags can be handled — excellent tape viewing for players who may have forgotten how to lose.

Basically dismissing San Francisco on the Hilltop a couple of nights earlier (and having played well away from the Kennel in previous WCC games), the Zags might subconsciously have looked at the Saint Mary’s game as just one more routine assignment.

Instead, they got their butts kicked from start to finish, and were reminded just what happens when a team manages to take away their strengths.

Drew Timme, for instance, likely hasn’t played basketball like that since he was a toddler.

Or perhaps not even then.

HOWEVER, the very best thing to come out of a shocking weekend is that — barring a match-up in the NCAA tournament — the Zags will only have to see Tommy Kuhse one more time (maximum, assuming they meet in the WCC tournament final).

Kuhse is one of those quick-footed, water bug-style guards who flits around the court, dribbling here, there and everywhere — making bigger guys look they’re running in sand — until he finally just takes the ball to the hoop or finds the open shooter he’s been seeking.

The most beautiful moment from a Gonzaga perspective was when Kuhse presented flowers to his family as part of the Gaels’ Senior Night ceremony — wrapping up five seasons in which the former walk-on turned himself into a frustrating, occasionally deadly point guard.

In fact, Kuhse forced Few into a second-half adjustment that he hates to make — and with which he’s had mixed results.

Few sent double-teams at Kuhse every time he touched the ball, trying to get it out of his hands and hoping to contain the rest of the Gaels.

This is a rare compliment.

The Zags have done it before, out of desperation, against guards like Pepperdine’s Colbey Ross — and in that case, got away with it.

No luck Saturday night, though.

Kuhse almost always managed to find the right pass before the double-team could trap him, and the Gaels’ platoon of other good players reacted perfectly.

FINALLY, that brings us to a subject that is totally and utterly lost on the folks who follow college hoops — but think it’s a useless game on our side of the Rocky Mountains.

Hell, they truly don’t want to accept Gonzaga as a national power, despite the Zags playing in two of the last four national title games — so you can imagine their opinion of the entire WCC.

Um …

Surprise!

Saint Mary’s is really, really, really good.

“As far as rankings and seeding are concerned, the Gaels are heading north,” Lunardi said, adding that people who underestimate Saint Mary’s “… have never been to Moraga.”

Hate to break it to people back East, since you surely haven’t noticed, but the Gaels will be involved in their 14th consecutive postseason action this March.

It makes a good narrative that St. Mary’s magician Randy Bennett somehow upends Gonzaga every few years by having his team of non-athletic white guys hold the ball for 29 seconds on every possession, then play frantic defense and occasionally get lucky.

NONSENSE.

The Gaels displayed serious talent (which you could have seen in Spokane during a Zags win that was closer than the final score), and the scary thing this time around is that a couple of rarely used sophomores helped finish the job.

Mitchell Saxen, a 6-10 center from Seattle, played roughly 16 minutes — when starter Matthias Tass was in foul trouble — and scored seven points, while grabbing four rebounds and blocking three shots.

Wing Jabe Mullins (Snoqualmie), played just seven minutes, but hit all three of his shots — including a big 3-pointer.

Even without the maddening Kuhse, Bennett won’t exactly be starved for talent in future seasons.

And if history is any indicator, Bennett would rather take his own young players — including some from an Australia/New Zealand pipeline — and develop them to his style, rather than run to the transfer portal.

The Zags and everyone else will have to keep living with St. Mary’s teams that range from very good to terrific.

To upend a phrase so popular in Spokane …

“Gaels got dudes!”

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published weekly during the season.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”