![]() Tauer signed a four-member recruiting class that sits 58 th nationally in 247Sports composite rankings. Navigating the Summit League will be a chore. His team will take some lumps this season. Now they're getting to live out a different kind of dream." "When these players came here, we were Division III and their dream was to win a national championship. "It really is a unique story," Tauer said. Thomas and a guy who was a freshman backup on the program's JV team two years ago. Tauer's starting frontcourt consists of a player who didn't even play basketball when he enrolled at St. "We can't get into a smashmouth, half-court game," he said. They are going against higher-caliber athletes than in D-III. Opponents typically have a size advantage, but Tauer said the biggest adjustment in facing players on scholarship is strength and quickness. Their style of offense helps mitigate physical mismatches. "It's fun to play in this system," Miller said. They also push the pace to get open shots in transition. In other words, a typical Tauer offense: a well-coached scheme that is predicated on spacing, movement, passing and efficiency. He now leads all of Division I in three-pointers made (42) and three-pointers per game (5.25).Īs 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. He's tough and unselfish with a smooth shooting touch. "We don't have a lot of pressure on us," senior guard Riley Miller said. Their résumé includes a nine-point win over Niagara, which lost to Xavier by three and Ohio State by 10. Three of their four losses have been by 15 combined points. Their three D-I wins have been by at least nine points. Thomas improved to 4-4 overall with a win over Crown College on Thursday, one of two Division III teams on this season's schedule. They enter Sunday's game at Drake with a 3-4 record against Division I teams. The non-scholarship Tommies are doing just fine. Two are no longer in the program, including former Gophers forward Jarvis Omersa, and none of the others are contributing much yet, partly because of injuries. Tauer brought in five transfers as reinforcements for the transition. ![]() Circumstances have forced him to use his D-III lineup against D-I competition. Tauer is using the same Tommies starting lineup as last season and mostly the same bench rotation. ![]() Thomas has made the jump to Division I, not much has changed on its end. Johnny Tauer heard the question many times in his 10 seasons as a Division III basketball head coach: How good are the best D-III teams relative to Division I?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |