Dec. 11 College Hoops Summit: Tommies-Johnnies Renew Rivalry; What Will It Feel Like with UST Now in Division I?

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Tommie Talk and the NET/Torvik Gospel
St. Thomas (7-4, 4-6 ATS)

NET: Tommies drop 5 spots to #148
Torvik: Tommies move up one to #138

Tommies-Johnnies Renewed Tonight
St. Thomas and Saint John's renew their rivalry (7 p.m./Lee & Penny Anderson Arena) for the first time since UST moved to the Division I ranks in the summer of 2021. It'll be a lot different with the schools now playing in different NCAA divisions. Put it this way. Students at both schools who started their undergraduate education in the Fall of 2021 have never experienced a Tommie-Johnnie basketball or football game or even understand that it was a big deal. So, it'll be interesting to see what the crowd looks like and, more importantly, how it feels. Will it "feel" like the old rivalry?

My hunch is it will, even though it's considered a regular season game for the Tommies and an exhibition game for the Johnnies. It's still the Purple & Gray vs. the Maroon & White (and Light Blue).

Alas, it'll be the second and final UST home game I'll miss this season, as family & the Christmas season beckon for a showing of "White Christmas" at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. Anything for the song that made Bing (Crosby) famous!

**All rankings below are NET
Wednesday Reach the Summit Results
@ #315 North Dakota 89, Crown (non-D1) 43
#178 Weber State 64, @ #340 Kansas City 60

Thursday Reach the Summit Slate
Saint John's (non-D1) @ #148 St. Thomas, 7
Alaska-Anchorage (non-D1) @ #209 Denver, 8
#152 North Dakota State @ #301 Cal State Bakersfield, 8:30 (ESPN+)

Tuesday Eye-Openers
Delaware 70, @ George Washington 58: The upstart Revolutionaries' at-large hopes took a huge and probably fatal hit with a loss to the Fightin' Blue Hens. Losing to bad teams, especially at home, is a recipe for disaster

New Mexico 81, @ VCU 78: A significant road win for the surprising Lobos (7-2), who also boast a 98-71 blowout win over a solid 7-2 Santa Clara squad.

Dribbles & Scribbles
-- St. Thomas and Duke share the nation's longest home winning streak at 22 games. The Toms can regain the edge with a win tonight.

-- Who holds the longest winning streak in the country? Well of course, it's Nebraska. The Cornhuskers (10-0) steamrolled Wisconsin 90-60 to extend their winning streak to 14. The Huskers won their last four games of the 2024-25 season on their way to the initial College Basketball Crown tournament title.

-- A team I've become strangely obsessed with (Green Bay) plays tonight @ IU-Indianapolis (formerly IUPUI). The improving Phoenix are 4-7, with IU-Indy likely being the Fighting Gottliebs' best chance to bag a true road win. Green Bay is favored by 1.5.

Mid- & Low-Major Conferences vs. Power 5/Gonzaga (through Dec. 10)
1. WCC (8-11): (1) Grand Canyon over Utah, (2) Saint Mary's over Virginia Tech, (3) San Diego State over Oregon, (4) San Francisco over Minnesota, (5) San Francisco over Mississippi State, (6) Santa Clara over Minnesota, (7) Santa Clara over Xavier, (8) Seattle over Stanford

2. MAC (4-9): (1) Bowling Green over Kansas State, (2) Buffalo over DePaul, (3) Eastern Michigan over Cincinnati, (4) UMass over Boston College

3. Atlantic 10 (4-13): (1) Davidson over Boston College, (2) Dayton over Georgetown, (3) Dayton over Marquette, (4) VCU over Virginia Tech

4. Mountain West (4-15): (1) Boise State over Butler, (2) Colorado State over Colorado, (3) New Mexico over Mississippi State, (4) UNLV over Stanford

5. American (3-14): (1) FAU over BC, (2) Memphis over Baylor, (3) Tulane over BC

6. Missouri Valley (1-7): Drake over Georgia Tech

7. Big West (1-8): (1) Cal Poly over Utah

8. NEC (2-25): (1) Central Connecticut over BC, (2) Central Connecticut over Rutgers

9. Coastal (1-17): Hofstra over Pitt

10. Southland (1-19): (1) New Orleans over TCU

11. MAAC (1-20): (1) Quinnipiac over Pitt

Ivy (0-7)
SoCon (0-10)
Summit (0-10)
Conference USA (0-11)
WAC (0-11)
America East (0-14)
Big Sky (0-14)
Sun Belt (0-14)
Big South (0-16)
OVC (0-19)
Patriot (0-19)
Horizon (0-21)
MEAC (0-21)
ASUN (0-22)
SWAC (0-37)
Record: 30-404 (6.91%)

Thursday Mid- & Low-Major vs. Power 5/Gonzaga Slate
Atlantic 10

Saint Joseph's vs. Syracuse
SoCon
Western Carolina @ Virginia Tech
SWAC
Alabama State @ Missouri

Power 5/Gonzaga Head-to-Head (through Dec. 10)
1 Gonzaga (6-1, 85.7%)
2 Big XII (39-22, 63.9%)
3 B1G (27-24, 52.9%)
4 ACC (30-32, 48.4%)
5 Big East (17-26, 39.5%)
6 SEC (26-40, 39.4%)

Thursday Power 5/Gonzaga Head-to-Head Matchups
Iowa @ Iowa State, 7 (FS1)

Other Games to Eye
None

Thursday Pick to Click (23-15, 60.5%, W3 streak)
@ Cal State Bakersfield +6.5 North Dakota State

Thursday Outright +7 or More ‘Dog (8-30, 21.1%, W1 streak)
Iowa (+10.5) outright @ Iowa State

Deep Thoughts, by Buzz Studley
We'll know a lot more about Iowa's legitimacy after the Hawkeyes visit Hilton Magic tonight. I think Ben McCollum was a great hire for Iowa, but I have to say, watching the Hawkeyes play at times has brought back nightmares of Dick "Bennett Ball" (nails on chalkboard) at Wisconsin.
 
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That’s what I heard from my nephew.

What’s your level of concern at this point? They’re on track to have an equal or better non-conference record than last season, but it seems like they’re having trouble kicking into high gear.

And the box score said Lafferty didn’t play? Not even in a blowout?

Feels like they need a good performance tomorrow at UNCA. That would be a pretty decent win.
 

Have not been able to replace the three point shooting that left.. 3 guys gone who were in the low to mid 40’s%… right now I think they are at 31% from three won’t win games in conference with that… Minnesale and Jonowski start over dribbling people stand and watch them .. dribbling with their heads down so they don’t see open people… right now I see them third in the Summit.. but not far behind.. NDSU and SDSU
 

Have not been able to replace the three point shooting that left.. 3 guys gone who were in the low to mid 40’s%… right now I think they are at 31% from three won’t win games in conference with that… Minnesale and Jonowski start over dribbling people stand and watch them .. dribbling with their heads down so they don’t see open people… right now I see them third in the Summit.. but not far behind.. NDSU and SDSU
Thanks.

Think I saw somewhere they're 8th in the Summit League in 3-point shooting. Not the norm. Definitely need to kick that up into at least the 35% range and establish a legit third scoring option. I never like talking about what's missing from a previous season (losing guys is a yearly thing for all programs) but feels like they really miss a guy like Dobbs. Head of the snake at both ends, leadership, and clutch. Herro is still young, but it's tough at this level when your PG is a minimal threat to score.
 



I do like how Hero is always looking for the open man… he sees the court well.. some of the guys they need to step up are playing college ball for the first time and getting real minutes.. 35% would be a great goal for conference.. Bjerke is shooting it better and Oosterban when open can knock down some threes.. should be interesting
 




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