Tommies Blog: Road To Salem Starts Friday For St. Thomas
There wasn't much celebrating going on for the St. Thomas men's basketball team Sunday night.
With a top region ranking and a 24-2 record, the Tommies knew they were guaranteed an at-large bid to the NCAA Playoffs regardless of the MIAC Playoff Championship game result against St. Olaf. The night just would've been a whole lot more enjoyable with a victory. But the Oles used a strong second half to win the playoff title 72-66 and earn the league's automatic bid.
St. Thomas and coach John Tauer learned Monday that the season's body of work was not only enough for an at-large bid, the Tommies will host a regional this weekend.
"There was no doubt we would have a bid, we're one of the stronger teams in the field and the guys put together a great season," Tauer said. "To go 24-3 with our schedule, we feel pretty good about it. At this time of the year everybody is really good. St. Olaf played with a tremendous sense of urgency."
St. Thomas will face Central College (Iowa) Friday night in St. Paul in the second of two games. The winner faces the earlier winner between Elmhurst and UW-Oshkosh. Central College finished third in the regular season of the IIAC, but won the playoff title to earn the automatic berth.
The Tommies are looking to make an NCAA Tournament run after losing on a buzzer-beater to Northwestern of St. Paul last year in the first round. It's the 17th NCAA appearance for the Tommies, who have won seven straight NCAA Tournament home games. St. Thomas also has a 4-1 record against other teams in this year's field.
Tauer was named the MIAC Coach of the Year earlier this week. In five seasons since taking over for Steve Fritz, he's collected a 122-22 record. This year, four of his five starters were selected to the All-MIAC Team. It includes guards Grant Schaeffer and Cortez Tillman, forward Taylor Montero and center Ryan Saarela.
Tauer said playing at home will be a nice bonus for his squad this week. It's much easier to develop a preparation schedule when you're on your home court.
"For the guys, being able to go to class and not worry about travel plans is definitely nice for the routine. It gives us extra time to prepare," Tauer said.
It sounds like Tauer will take every extra second he can get to make the Tommies are ready Friday night. He said to not be fooled by the Dutch, they're among the best nine-loss teams in the country and they won't be taken lightly.
"I've seen a lot of film on Central, they're really explosive offensively and they don't give up much defensively. They're just really good," Tauer said.
The Dutch have no seniors on their roster and start four juniors and a sophomore. They're led by post player Colby Taylor, who averages 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. He can score from virtually anywhere on the floor and presents a big match-up problem for any defense.
The Dutch have three others who score in double figures regularly. Kyle Smith and Pete Walker score more than 11 points per game, and Austin Glawe averages more than 10.
"Any one of those guys can go off in any game," Tauer said. "Taylor is a horse, your prototypical D-3 star. They shoot 30 threes per game, which is almost unheard of. It's going to be 40 minutes of fighting through screens."
Central is a team that's scoring 82.7 points per game on the season and shooting 46 percent from the field for the season. The Dutch shoot better than 34 percent from three-point range and make, on average, 10 3-pointers per game. They hold opponents to about 74 points per game and 41 percent shooting.
If the Tommies can sweep the weekend, a likely match-up with No. 3-ranked Whitworh awaits in what would be the third round. But a lot can happen between now and then in the 62-team field.
It should be an electric atmosphere Friday night as St. Thomas plays in front of its home crowd. It's something hundreds of other teams wish they could be doing this time of year.
"We want them to enjoy it, but there's a lot of sleepless nights for coaches," Tauer said. "We hope there's a few more weeks of that though."