Usually when a team loses two of its top three scorers, it would have a tough time rebounding from those departures. But not for the St. Thomas’ men’s basketball team.
The Tommies, ranked No. 4 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, lost their leading scorer in guard Marcus Alipate (13.2 ppg) and number three scorer, forward Conner Nord (10.9) to graduation. Although these are crucial losses, St. Thomas returns some of the MIAC’s top-tier players, including forwards Taylor Montero and Ryan Saarela and guards Grant Shaeffer and Cortez Tillman. Coach John Tauer said these core four have experience that transforms into leadership.
“What we need from them is to optimize the kind of leadership and veteran decision-making that carries teams through games where there’s a little adversity, where it’s not smooth sailing,” Tauer said.
In the post, Saarela scored 8.9 points per game and was second behind Nord in rebounding with 6.4 per game. He was part of the All-MIAC and All-MIAC defensive teams. Tauer will also look to forward Jimmy Remke, who averaged 6.1 points per game last season, for contributions. Saarela said this year’s team is “a lot closer” compared to last season’s squad.
“Everyone kind of hangs out with each other,” Saarela said. “Last year was a little separated.”
Montero, another All-MIAC honoree, started 27 games and registered 12 points per game on just over 44 percent shooting from behind the three-point line.
In the backcourt, the Tommies return an experienced crop of veterans. In the 28 games he started, Shaeffer averaged a team-leading 4.3 assists per game and was fourth in scoring with 10.5 points per game. With this output, he was rewarded with an All-Conference Honorable Mention.
Tillman, the MIAC’s Sixth Man of the Year and a All-Conference Honorable Mention himself, netted 9.9 points per game while coming off the bench. Even with all of the awards and accomplishments during the regular season, St. Thomas was upset 71-70 by the University of Northwestern (Minnesota) in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Shaeffer said this loss motivates the Tommies.
“There’s a different sense of hunger we have this year,” Shaeffer said. “We want to get that taste out of our mouth and that’s not going to happen on day one or a month into the season.”
Only three seniors departed from last season: Alipate, Nord and center Jimmy Ancius. On top of leading the team in points last season, Alipate was named to the All-MIAC and All-West Region teams. Along with Alipate, Nord was a two-time All-MIAC honoree and competed in Brazil for the USA Division-III All-Star team in 2013. Both of these former Tommies eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark last season. Schaeffer feels this year’s team will adapt fine without the three graduates.
“They’re both great players obviously, 1,000 points scorers, guys that were going to miss a lot, but I think we’re confident in the guys who are stepping in for them,” Shaeffer said. “I think this year’s team will be able to step in for them just fine and really take a step forward.”
St. Olaf appears to be the toughest test for St. Thomas and happen to face almost the same dilemma as the Tommies. The Oles, ranked No.15 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll, lost two starters from last season’s squad, including All-MIAC guard Sterling Nielsen.
St. Olaf returns three of its top four scorers with forward Ben Figini (16.9 points per game) and guard Justin Pahl (13.4) named to the All-MIAC team last season. The Oles made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen before losing 79-72 to Marietta College (Ohio). The first time these two teams meet is on Jan. 9 at St. Thomas and again on Feb.17 at St. Olaf. Saarela hasn’t seen the conference this good during his tenure at St. Thomas.
“The whole MIAC is top-heavy. There’s a lot of seniors in the MIAC this year,” Saarela said. “It’s probably the best since I’ve been here.”
Also expected to make some noise in the conference are St. John’s and Bethel. The Johnnies finished third in the MIAC standings behind the Tommies and Oles. The Collegeville squad returns all five of its starters with All-MIAC guards Alex Schmitt and Mitchell Kuck leading the charge. All three seniors that graduated were post players, so frontcourt fixtures Tyler Weiss and Jordan Peterson will look to pick up the slack in the paint.
Bethel lost just one player from the starting five, but it was leading scorer and MIAC Player of the Year Kyle Zimmerman. He averaged 17.6 points and grabbed 9.6 rebounds per game. Guards Brycen Wojta (14.7 points per game), Bridgeport Tusler (13.4) and Trevor Hall (7.2) return to the starting backcourt for the Royals. Forward Kyle von Schmidt-Paul (8.6) will man the floor in the post. The Royals lost last season’s MIAC championship 66-63 to the Tommies.
Tauer said defense will be the key factor for success this season.
“We have guys who can score, we have guys capable of defending, but any great team, you have to be able to stop people, you have to be able to stop people on the road,” Tauer said. “Our ability to make it tough and gritty and nasty on other teams to score, if we do that, we have a chance to be outstanding.”
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.