Saturday is a big, big day in the history and evolution of St. Thomas U. basketball—the grand opening for basketball of the new Anderson Arena. The Tommies women take on the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, colloquially known as “Army”—at 2 p.m., while the Tommies men take on the same opponent, except, of course, the men, at 7 p.m. I had intended to be there for both games, but it turns out that there’s a wedding in the family. In fact, it’s at the St. Thomas Chapel, a few hundred feet from the new arena and it will be occurring while the Tommies women are on the court against the Army.
I have no idea who’s going to win these games. In other words, I have no idea whether Army is good, bad or indifferent. But, I do know that the Tommies men are picked to win the Summit Conference title and advance to the NCAA tournament in their 4th season in D1. I also know that the Tommies women are struggling, though I also know that the Tommies have 2 of the best coaches in the business in Johnny Tauer and Ruth Sinn.
The Tommies Men
The Tommies men and coach Tauer have improved every year in D1, from 10-20 to 19-14 to 20-13 and finally to 24-10 last year. I’m not sure the Summit coaches didn’t just draw a straight line through those numbers to get to the Tommies at #1 in their pre-season coaches poll. My point is that the Tommies lost a fair amount of talent from last year’s team. Guard Drake Dobbs, formerly of Eden Prairie, graduated. Guard Kendall Blue, from East Ridge, took the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ money and ran to Lincoln. That’s a huge loss. And guard Miles Barnstable took the money and ran to the University of Tulsa.
The starting guards in the road opener at St. Mary’s CA, an 84-58 shellacking in favor of the Gaels, were 6-0 senior Ryan Dufault, who scored 6 ppg last year with 2 assists, and 6-4 freshman Nick Janowski from Pewaukee, WI. Dufault scored 2 points at St. Mary’s, Janowski a promising 14. Redshirt sophomore guard Austin Herro added 8 points. The Summit is very much a guard-oriented conference, and there are a lot of good ones. Dufault, Janowski and Herro are not obviously among the Summit’s top tier of guard threesomes. But, if you consider 6-5 Nolan Minnesale to be a guard, then the Tommies are plenty competitive on the perimeter. Minnesale is in fact a lights-out shooter and the coaches pre-season player of the year. Now the Tommies’ guard foursome (Minnesale plus plus) is as good as anybody’s.
But if you consider Minnesale to be a forward and not a guard, well, then the Tommies front court is as good as any. Wherever Minnesale is not, however, the Tommies become pretty ordinary. So, yeah, I buried the lead. Nolan Minnesale is the lead, and as he goes, so will go the Tommies. In any event the front court will also consist of 6-9 junior Carter Bjerke and 6-6 soph Ben Oosterbaan. Beyond the six players mentioned, I’m not sure there’s much useful depth. There was not against St. Mary’s. Minnesale and Janowski were the only guys who did not pretty much get manhandled by the Gaels.
Meanwhile, #2 (in the pre-season coaches poll) Omaha and #3 South Dakota State are not at an obvious disadvantage against the Tommies guards. Meanwhile South Dakota State, South Dakota, Kansas City and even last place (in the coaches poll) Oral Roberts can put 2 solid bigs out there who will be bigger than the Tommies biggest fellows. In short, if the Tommies do indeed win the Summit title this year, well, then you will know that coach Tauer coached rings around all of the other coaches.
The Tommies Women
The Tommies women have improved each year in D1, too, though their success has not been quite so ostentatious—from 7-21 to 13-17 to 15-16 to 17-13. And, the women’s talent losses are perhaps more severe than those of the men, beginning with guard Amber Scalia, who scalia-daddled to Miami Ohio for her senior season. Losses to graduation include the #1, #3, #4 and #6 scorers. It’s difficult to say if the incoming roster can begin to replace such players because they were so desperately out-manned in their opener at Iowa State, 85-36. The starting 5 was 6-3 sophomore Alyssa Sand, 6-2 junior Savannah McGowan, 6-0 senior Faith Feuerbach, 5-8 freshman Abbey Vallance (from Australia) and 5-6 grad Jada Hood. Sand scored 17 points with 7 rebounds. The other 4 starters scored 11 of 4-of-21 shooting. Sand’s position, whether it is in the post or at the 4, will perhaps be the only position at which the Tommies have an advantage night in and night out.
The coaches have the Tommies dropping from #4 to #5 this year. The incredible Jackrabbits of South Dakota State will of course repeat as champion, while North Dakota State, Oral Roberts and the Kansas City Roos also look pretty solid. SDSU has 4 pre-season all-conference picks in Brooklyn Meyer, Katie Vasecka, Maggie Hartwig (a transfer from Evansville) and Madison Mathiowetz.
Against Iowa State, coach Sinn gave 10 or more minutes to freshmen Vallance, Autumn McCall, Lydia Aalsma and Savanna Gage. We are likely to know if this freshman class can keep the Tommies on the upswing very early in the 2025 fall season. If so, most of the minutes will be going to freshmen and sophomores forthwith.