The Tommies recently topped the polls at D3hoops.com for the first time in school history. They will also become the highest-ranked team in league history, displacing my Gustavus teams who finished second in the last poll in 2002-03 and started the 2003-04 season in the same spot.
In anticipation of the expected game on Wednesday against second-placed Augsburg, I wanted to find out fritzbox kaufen more about what made this season so special. After only seeing her once this year, I tracked down St. Thomas' longtime sports information director Gene McGivern looking for feedback.
Board Evil:
You are in your mid-15s as the primary media contact for the University of St. Thomas Athletic Department, but you have only recently entered the blogging world. Do you miss the simpler times or have you embraced the internet age?
Gene McGivern: I moved to Minnesota after eight years in the world of newspapers in Nebraska and Iowa. As an SID in Augsburg, I started in November 1988 with a part-time job for $10,000. I proofread in downtown Minneapolis by day and then work nights and weekends for the Auggies. (After about two years I came to Augsburg full-time and trained there for several seasons in track and field and cross country).
My first office was an indoor cabinet with an electric typewriter (not a computer). There was no photocopier—we typed football and basketball stats on carbon paper and duplicated them on an ink roller machine. We work on soccer and basketball games at home, keeping stats by hand, and then tapping the final scores on the carbon copies. We “dictated,” meaning we read basketball stats to part-time workers at the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press. For all other sports, we simply telephoned the scores to the newspapers on game days.
During the 8-to-5 day half, we compiled season statistics and sent weekly reports to the NCAA and Conference Statistics Coordinators. We also sent out a 2-4 page summary of the results and short highlights weekly. The SID world has changed so dramatically in these 20 years with the advent of computers, desktop publishing, voice mail, statistical programs, faxing, the Internet, digital photography and video. All of these tools have made it easier to nurture your teams, but at the same time made our jobs so much more challenging. Now we host all football, hockey, volleyball, softball and baseball games at home, just like we always did with football and basketball.
The only thing that I think has been lost in those two years is that today we probably rely too much on technology. I used to pick up the phone and do story pitches, or occasionally have lunch with a beat writer from the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press. It was more personal. Those beat writers are long gone. Today you also have to make an effort to escape from all the demands on the computer and to visit your coaches and student-athletes regularly. You have to get to know them as people, not as bios or athletes. It's a constant challenge.
As for blogging, so I started a blog last August (it's actually a feature/opinion column). Ten years after the advent of the Internet, I think colleges at all levels are now anticipating how best to use their websites to tell the story of their athletic department. In a metropolitan area like the Twin Cities, where no St. Cloud Times or Fargo Forum gets by, the days of simply sending out story ideas are over. If the story is good enough, write it yourself.
BB:
D3hoops.com has helped raise the profile of small collegiate athletics since its inception in 1995. It propelled the Tommie men's basketball team to No. 1 in this week's polls, marking the first time a MIAC school has achieved that status on property. I'm sure UST coach Steve Fritz would downplay the importance of this achievement, but what's the pulse of the players? Is that something you're upset about?
GM: I think one thing that makes the 2008-09 Tommie roster unique is that it doesn't have a superstar but is led by four seniors who hate to lose, are selfless and had to work hard to get there get where they are. Last year's team, with their many impressive wins, didn't have that high lead on the pitch.
Even Lonnie Robinson, who served baseball as a senior All-America, has had to constantly work hard in both basketball and baseball to get to where he is now. Al McCoy and BJ Viau played JV for a year and sat on the pine for a year while waiting for their shot. Brett Tuma has played with confidence for the last three years and always seems to ignite the team. It's a cliché, but a big part of this team's 17-0 result is that they focus game after game and beat the other team with the first goal.
Was a #1 ranking concern, so I suspect they'll look back on it with pride and appreciate it more in a few years, but won't spend too much time talking about it or feasting on it this week. With the MIAC schedule so compressed, they don't have time to celebrate with an improved Augsburg team on Wednesday. Right now, I think her two main goals are to win her fourth straight conference title and play her best basketball in the postseason, wherever that takes her.
BB:
Perhaps more importantly, are you a Posting Up reader? Do you have a favorite poster? I heard Willy Wonka is pretty cool.
GM: I've read quite a bit in the d3hoops basketball chat room but never posted. The site looks a little more civil than it did a few years ago. Chat rooms and blogs with all their warts are here to stay, so people just have to embrace them as an outlet for fans. I don't like posters that use anonymous names, especially if they don't do their homework or are just kidding players and coaches for the fun of it. On the plus side, the posters tend to be some of MIAC's most ardent fans and we need all the viewers and advocates we can get.
I seem to recall that the Wonka guy is pretty knowledgeable, but is he the same guy who sometimes gets obsessed with players' individual stats in the box score? Like chasing a recent Tommie 3-point shooter who played 20 feet from the basket because he wasn't getting enough rebounds? Or ride a current Tommie Guard who doesn't get many assists (although that's not his main role on this offense)? Oh yes, we all have our opinions.
BB:
The Tommies are currently 17-0 on aggregate – the last undefeated Division III team in the country – and 12-0 in conference play. They have a 3.5 game lead over a surprising Augsburg team and their average winning margin is close to 20 in a typically robust league. How surprised are you by their dominance? Has any player particularly improved their level of play this season?
GM: One of the surprises, at least for sure you don't watch every day in practice, is Al McCoy's consistent play at center. I think the bench is even more productive this season with the additions of Tuma, newcomer Brady Ervin and more recently centers Josh Peltier and Sam Eicher. Lonnie Robinson was a beast and showed no signs of senioritis. Tyler Nicolai continued to improve and hit some big shots.
I'm something of a “law of averages” guy when it comes to MIAC racing, so I expected this to be a tricky season for St. Thomas, who comes up as such a big goal trying to get a fourth MIAC title win a series. I expected January to be tough, with the stretch of four games at Bethel, Heim Carleton, in SJU and Heim Gustavus, then five straight on the road. I think St. Thomas and Augsburg were the conference teams that played the most consistently and came closest in skill. Jeremy Sutherland's injury has likely cost Carleton some close defeats. Bethel has some talented seniors and is still capable of making a push in February. If UST stays focused on their next game and works hard in practice, they have a chance of a good postseason.
BB:
In a recent four-game stretch against the other title contenders – Gustavus, Bethel, Carleton and St. John's – UST won all four by double digits. How confident are you that the Tommies will top the table with eight detailed games in the regular season? Has this happened before? Which drawn matches make you most nervous?
GM: Some teams went 16-0 or 18-0 in the 1960s and 1970s, but only one men's team went 20-0 since the league expanded to 11 teams in the 1980s. St. Thomas won 20-0 in 1994-95 with a team of just seven players. This season's UST team has fresh legs, depth and balance, so eight more wins could certainly happen. But the odds are against me and I'll be surprised if the Tommies go 20-0.
Augsburg will be a good test on Wednesday as the Auggies have often played against UST in recent seasons after a bye. UST won the first home game against Augsburg easily, but Nate Alm struggled with fouls early on and saw most of the game and he's been great lately. Bethel has lost 10 straight to UST so it might be due. And there are street games at Carleton and Gustavus. If you're playing a team a second or third time, watch the movie and sometimes change strategy as well.
BB:
When I played the Tommys earlier this decade, Coach Fritz seemed to drive his starters into the ground. Anyway, in the 2001/02 season, starters played at least 35 minutes per game. He seems to have gone to the other extreme this year, with 10 players dying to play between 10 and 28 minutes on average. Is that a product of the numerous mishaps, a changed coaching philosophy or do the Tommys simply have a more reliable bank this year? I'll say they didn't seem to lose much when the starters took on Gustavus – but I'd appreciate it if you could avoid breaking down that particular game across all notebooks.
GM:
Some newer Gustavus teams have had very deep benches, and a couple of Johnnie teams have also brought some good players out of the pine over the last 12 years, but this Tommie team may have had as good an overall bench as MIAC has had for the last 25 was seen in years – not just in scoring, but in players who play defense, can use a full press, rebound and shoot from outside.
Last year's UST bench was pretty good and you add Brady Ervin and you've got some sophomores playing with more confidence. I'd say it's more because coach Fritz has better athletes in his last two teams and you have to use more people and keep the players fresh if you want to press and run.
BB:
The Tommies have won at least 19 games seven times in the past nine years, won the MIAC title in the past three years, and made the NCAA tournament regularly. However, they have not won two consecutive games in the national tournament in a decade. That includes two disappointing home defeats in the last two years. What factors played a role in the surprising post-season success?
GM:
In the past decade, few MIAC men's or women's teams have made it far in the NCAA playoffs. Does some of that derive from the 20-game (22 for women) conference schedule limiting opportunities to play more good regional and outside teams? I don't think it helps. You have to be good and take a few breaks to have a deep postseason run.
First of all, the West region is one of the better ones, so you don't get easy games. Since the Toms reached the Final Four in 1993-94, St. Thomas had six more NCAA playoff berths over the next 15 seasons. Neither of those NCAA exits could be considered a choke, and only one was a double-digit loss.
In 1995, Tommie's team, 27-0 going only seven deep, probably ran out of gas when they lost in the second round at home to a very good Nebraska Wesleyan team 94-74. In 2000, without MIAC career 3-point leader Kip Sparby, UST lost 69-66 in the second round at Buena Vista. In 2002, in Mark Buri's last game, they lost in the second round at home, in overtime, to UW-Oshkosh, 88-85, on a night where Oshkosh took, I believe, 22 of 23 free throws. In 2006, UST lost in the second round en route to No. 1-ranked Lawrence (Wis.) 63-59 after reducing a 15-point deficit to one in the last 30 seconds. In 2007, she lost the second round at home 86-80 to a very athletic team from Carroll, Wis. and in 2008, she lost 72-70 at home in the first round to a strong and athletic team from Buena Vista, Iowa, who later lost in overtime to eventual NCAA Champion Washington U.
I think the 2008 losses of Nebraska Wesleyan, Carroll and Buena Vista were not ideal encounters. But the best teams overcome all obstacles, and UST's postseason record since 2002 was — 10-3 MIAC playoffs, 1-4 NCAA.
BB:
Every major contributor returns for UST from a year ago and the results have been impressive. It certainly looks like the Tommies can reach Salem without visiting a specific location like the Road Star Inn at Stevens Point (thanks for the donation, Myles Brand). While expectations have certainly been raised for these die-hard UST students, what concerns might you have as the end of another season looms? Do you see any small problems that could later become big problems?
GM:
I don't think welche fritzbox kaufen anyone associated with the UST team even knows that Salem is the home of the Final Four. With none of the current players making the Sweet 16, she doesn't see very far (if ever) into the postseason.
As for the UST students whose J-Term ends next week, many students studying abroad or working from home will return. I would expect good crowds for the February games at St Mary's, Bethel, St John's and Hamline.
