St. Thomas men’s basketball coach Johnny Tauer and his team were the subject of a Star Tribune column. Sports columnist Chip Scoggins points out that the team is holding its own with the switch from Division III to Division I. "Their three D-I wins have been by at least nine points... As a team, the Tommies entered the weekend second nationally in three-pointers made per game at 13.4 and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.9."
From the article: Their style of offense helps mitigate physical mismatches. Opponents typically have a size advantage, but Tauer said the biggest adjustment in facing players on scholarship is strength and quickness. They are going against higher-caliber athletes than in D-III.
"We can't get into a smashmouth, half-court game," he said.
Tauer's starting frontcourt consists of a player who didn't even play basketball when he enrolled at St. Thomas and a guy who was a freshman backup on the program's JV team two years ago.
Now they're tangling with D-I big men.
"It really is a unique story," Tauer said. "When these players came here, we were Division III and their dream was to win a national championship. Now they're getting to live out a different kind of dream."
