The Star Tribune's Marcus Fuller recently spoke with Tommies men's basketball coach Johnny Tauer about the team's early success in season two of D-I, which has some calling St. Thomas the best D-I basketball team in the state.
From the story:
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.
Arguably the most impressive aspect of St. Thomas' turnaround from a year ago goes back to veterans who stuck around to help Tauer establish his culture in Division I.