Who's Australia's best basketball team? The Perth Wildcats or the Wollongong Hawks? Maybe the Canberra Capitals?

How about the Saint Mary's Gaels? Never heard of ‘em? Maybe that's because they don't play in Australia.

Saint Mary's College is a small, Catholic school in Moraga, California, just over the hill from Oakland, and for years, the basketball program has been recruiting Australian kids. Patty Mills, the dynamic Boomers point guard, is the most famous, but there have been plenty of others: Daniel Kickert from Melbourne, Tasmanian Lucas Walker, and Perth's Carlin Hughes. The Aussie connection is an ongoing thing, with this year's team featuring five Australians on its roster.

On Tuesday, Saint Mary's earned a spot in the prestigious NCAA basketball tournament, the three week sporting extravaganza known as 'March Madness.' The Gaels stunned highly regarded Gonzaga, a national power and ironically, a small school program that was helped along in its nascent stages by Aussie recruits John Rillie and Axel Dench.

The NCAA tournament berth is a remarkable achievement. The Gaels had already lost to Gonzaga twice this season, and were five-point underdogs on Tuesday. But after the 81-62 win, St. Mary's is gaining deserved national attention in the American media. Already we've heard ESPN reporters yelling "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi" over highlights packages.

From an Australian media standpoint, this story will probably fall somewhere between pre-season netball and harness racing at Horsham, which is a shame because it really says something about the quality of Australian basketball talent.

By the way, this is not a new trend. As far back as 1989, a grey-haired youngster named Andrew Gaze led Seton Hall to the NCAA title game, and in 2005, Andrew Bogut was the NBA's number one draft pick following a stellar career at the University of Utah.

But this 2010 Saint Mary's thing is different. There is no Australian superstar. It's a successful, overachieving team infused with the Aussie spirit of teamwork and mateship. And it's no coincidence that all five players spent time at the Australian Institute of Sport.

"The AIS gives them a focussed starting point," says Guy Molloy, who has coached Australian under 18s for years. "These kids know that if you get a scholarship to the AIS, you will get attention from American colleges."

Vanderbilt, Old Dominion, Washington State and Metro State are just some of the schools that have recruited AIS kids. But it's little Saint Mary's - with fewer than 5000 students - that has really reaped the benefits. In fact, the campus has become something of an Australian enclave, with students painting Aussie flags on their faces and waving inflatable Boxing Kangaroos on game nights. There's no truth to the rumour that the school is applying for a four-digit postcode of its own.

The players in this year's team are from Victoria and Queensland. Big Ben Allen, originally from Eltham in Melbourne's northern suburbs, spent two years at Indiana before transferring to St. Mary's. The point guard is talented freshman Matthew Dellavedova, from the small town of Maryborough, near Ballarat. Dellavedova is a fearless, talented competitor who many US hoop pundits rate very highly.

Another freshman, Jorden Page, comes from Maroochydore in Queensland. Page has been huge in the last two games, scoring 14 and 11 off the bench. Two Queenslanders, starter Clint Steindl (Mackay) and bench player Mitchell Young (Logan) round out the Aussie fivesome.

Next up for St. Mary's is this coming weekend's "Selection Sunday" (on a not nearly as catchy Selection Monday here in Australia) where they find out who they'll play in the tournament. They'll almost certainly face a higher seeded opponent, but that's par for the course when you're a school that fancies itself as a little Aussie - er, California? - battler.