Marcus: St. Thomas already making its case as Minnesota's best Division I men's basketball team

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BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

Just how good are the Tommies? That'll be decided once they face the Summit League's top programs, but a debate has already started on whether they could beat the Gophers, who are 6-6.


“We don't ever get into comparisons with other schools. If anything, what's exciting for the state is that they have two Division I teams. Frankly, I think they can cheer for both teams.”
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Minnesota basketball fans now have two D-I teams in the state to follow. Both programs are rebuilding, including the Gophers in Ben Johnson's second year. Both brought in talented recruits from Minnesota. Both have played Chicago State and St. Francis Brooklyn this year.

The latter made for interesting banter on social media recently since there was a big difference between how the Tommies (167-109 combined score) and the Gophers (130-109) beat those opponents.

www.startribune.com

St. Thomas makes case as top D-I men's basketball team in town

Basketball Across Minnesota: How good are the Tommies? They're 11-5, including wins in their first two Summit League games. And despite being only two years removed from D-III, the debate is on over whether they'd beat the Gophers.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 



The addition of UST to the picture is going to speed up the demise of coach Johnson
 




MNJay can sense the heat and rise of a basketball powerhouse (5-10 years). Within these next 5-10 years they will own the Summit and most likely move to the Big East, a conference in which their school aligns very nicely with (catholic school in a big suburb…which happens to be basketball focused + they will probably have a new 6-8.5k seat arena (they should model it after South Dakota’s arena which was built in 2015)).

This will bring the likes of Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, UCONN, Xavier, Providence, Creighton… to the Twin Cities on the regular. UCONN is back, NOVA has won two recent NCAA titles (albeit rebuilding since Jay Wright is enjoying retirement). Bringing Big East basketball to the Twin Cities is incredibly exciting…these teams will be awesome to watch because as a fan of the Gophers growing up, they would never be on the schedule.
 


I've said in three game threads that I'm at least glad we don't play St. Thomas.
 



Welcome, UST, to the ranks of Division I ball. The Tommies are going to either either verify or disprove the excuse people have made for the Gophers: that recruiting to big cities and/or cold winter climates is impossible. (North Dakota State football has already disproven that you can't recruit to a frozen wasteland, but we'll give St. Thomas a chance to re-disprove it.)
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
MNJay can sense the heat and rise of a basketball powerhouse (5-10 years). Within these next 5-10 years they will own the Summit and most likely move to the Big East, a conference in which their school aligns very nicely with (catholic school in a big suburb…which happens to be basketball focused + they will probably have a new 6-8.5k seat arena (they should model it after South Dakota’s arena which was built in 2015)).

This will bring the likes of Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, UCONN, Xavier, Providence, Creighton… to the Twin Cities on the regular. UCONN is back, NOVA has won two recent NCAA titles (albeit rebuilding since Jay Wright is enjoying retirement). Bringing Big East basketball to the Twin Cities is incredibly exciting…these teams will be awesome to watch because as a fan of the Gophers growing up, they would never be on the schedule.
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D@mn, sounds like you're a Tommie. Enjoy your team.
 





Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
MNJay can sense the heat and rise of a basketball powerhouse (5-10 years). Within these next 5-10 years they will own the Summit and most likely move to the Big East, a conference in which their school aligns very nicely with (catholic school in a big suburb…which happens to be basketball focused + they will probably have a new 6-8.5k seat arena (they should model it after South Dakota’s arena which was built in 2015)).

This will bring the likes of Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, UCONN, Xavier, Providence, Creighton… to the Twin Cities on the regular. UCONN is back, NOVA has won two recent NCAA titles (albeit rebuilding since Jay Wright is enjoying retirement). Bringing Big East basketball to the Twin Cities is incredibly exciting…these teams will be awesome to watch because as a fan of the Gophers growing up, they would never be on the schedule.
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The Summit can be a tough league for consistent success these days because successful players and coaches move up. SDSU had its superstar transfer to Creighton, for example, and now they’ve fallen back a bit. UST has its sights set on being the program that moves up. The Big East is probably two rungs up - the next step would be something like the Missouri Valley which I think also has football. That’s where Creighton, Butler, and Loyola spent some time.

Besides Minnesota being a little wary of UST’s rise, the B1G might rightly not want the competition on its turf if they make it to the Big East. Probably too late to be worried about that as there’s already several schools in the same markets, though.
 


Personally I believe a successful and powerful UST team (in all sports) will make the U a more successful and powerful team (in all sports). The U has never had in-state competition before (beyond hockey), and having more D1 successful schools in the state will help with recruiting, coaching, etc.

I have absolutely no ties to UST but I hope they are successful and can give the U some competition as it will be a win-win for both schools.
 
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MennoSota said:
As opposed to your bottom dweller road?
Tommies can create their own discussion board and kiss their own @$$ there.
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You are just coming off as very insecure. I've been told by you patience is the name of the game. Marcus wrote the article, so go @ him on twitter and tell him what a petulant child he is being. Or is that sentiment only reserved for posters on this board?
 

A bit of a stretch imo. Conference competition certainly isn’t anywhere near what the gophers play(not that we’ll win many this year) and the gophers have played some non-conf competition that is better than what the tommies play. Just going by wins and losses is probably one of the worst ways to measure at this point.
 



GopherBlood666 said:
You are just coming off as very insecure. I've been told by you patience is the name of the game. Marcus wrote the article, so go @ him on twitter and tell him what a petulant child he is being. Or is that sentiment only reserved for posters on this board?
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I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure there are others of the same mind: I'm a fan of college basketball, and it's fun to have another D1 program in town. I'll follow them casually and watch them when it's convenient, but if they're in the upper division or even compete for the conference title, I'll get excited. Like I said in that other thread, their relative success so far should be a matter of civic pride around here. If they do well, it should be a story of general interest and enthusiasm, just like non-Minnesota alums have gotten excited when the Gophers have had successes.
 

Mizzopher said:
Personally I believe a successful and powerful UST team (in all sports) will make the U a more successful and powerful team (in all sports). The U has never had in-state competition before (beyond hockey), and having more D1 successful schools in the state will help with recruiting, coaching, etc.

I have absolutely no ties to UST but I hope they are successful and can give the U some competition as it will be a win-win for both schools.
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100% this.

Wisconsin and Marquette. Why not the same thing?
 

Bad Gopher said:
I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure there are others of the same mind: I'm a fan of college basketball, and it's fun to have another D1 program in town. I'll follow them casually and watch them when it's convenient, but if they're in the upper division or even compete for the conference title, I'll get excited. Like I said in that other thread, their relative success so far should be a matter of civic pride around here. If they do well, it should be a story of general interest and enthusiasm, just like non-Minnesota alums have gotten excited when the Gophers have had successes.
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Competition breeding greatness is a fact that has stood the test of time. It is awesome to have more D1 basketball in town. It is very weird to see so many discount what they are doing at UST. To be where they are at in only their second year of D-1 basketball is nothing short of astonishing. To deny this is to deny reality. It does not make you less of a Gopher fan for recognizing this.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Competition breeding greatness is a fact that has stood the test of time. It is awesome to have more D1 basketball in town. It is very weird to see so many discount what they are doing at UST. To be where they are at in only their second year of D-1 basketball is nothing short of astonishing. To deny this is to deny reality. It does not make you less of a Gopher fan for recognizing this.
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Its not amazing. They spent a decade building a program under little to no adversity. I believe the phrase is something like, "being born on third and acting like you hit a triple." When they beat someone decent, then I'll give them props.
 



MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Its not amazing. They spent a decade building a program under little to no adversity. I believe the phrase is something like, "being born on third and acting like you hit a triple." When they beat someone decent, then I'll give them props.
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Stupid
 

They have already beat the Gophers check the record books… lol
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Its not amazing. They spent a decade building a program under little to no adversity. I believe the phrase is something like, "being born on third and acting like you hit a triple." When they beat someone decent, then I'll give them props.
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I don't know if having a team full of D3 basketball players is really being "born on third".

As to your last point, that's an incredibly high standard for a Gopher fan. We take our Ws any way we get them.
 

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