Picture this: St. Thomas’ men’s basketball team finishes off a victory at the Summit League Championship next March in Sioux Falls, S.D., and books its first ticket to the NCAA tournament.
March Madness for a St. Paul school. Seriously, and it’s officially a possibility for the Tommies.
Head coach Johnny Tauer understands the monumental stakes.
“March Madness is a stage that every young player dreams about performing on,” Tauer said. “The exposure the NCAA tournament would provide for our program, athletic department, and university would be enormous.”
It’s not crazy.
This spring, Tauer’s team advanced to the Summit League championship game before losing to an Omaha team that knew its ticket had already been punched because St. Thomas wasn’t eligible.
In 2021, the Tommies became the first school to attempt the jump from Division III and Division I with a five-year probationary period on the table. In January, that probation was trimmed to four years if St. Thomas could meet a series of requirements, and the Tommies have.
“St. Thomas has completed all required processes and procedures and submitted all paperwork and reports associated with reclassification,” St. Thomas vice president and athletics director Phil Esten told the Pioneer Press. “We anticipate hearing something official from the NCAA as early as late June, but could be as late as mid-August.”
St. Thomas’ softball team celebrates its regular-season Summit League championship after a 9-0, five-inning victory over North Dakota State on May 3 in St. Paul. The Tommies were unable to play in the conference tournament and were ineligible for an NCAA tournament berth. That changes starting this fall (Kylie Macziewski / St. Thomas)
Men’s basketball isn’t the only St. Thomas program that will be realistically chasing an NCAA tournament bid in 2025-26. It’s been a nearly seamless transition for the athletics department as a whole.
The men’s hockey team advanced to the CCHA final before losing to Minnesota State Mankato, which earned the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where the Mavericks lost to eventual champion Western Michigan. Softball won its first Division I conference championship this spring, and baseball won the Summit League crown for the second year in a row.
All of those teams played for a conference title knowing it wouldn’t get a postseason.
“Our goal was to repeat, which we were able to do, but it did not have the same luster,” baseball coach Chris Olean said. “We felt like if we did have an opportunity to play in the conference tournament, we could have had a very good chance to represent the Summit League at the regional level.”
Starting this fall, St. Thomas will be eligible for the automatic NCAA bids that come with a conference tournament championship, and perhaps an at-large bid if they come close. The school also is eligible to receive revenue from those tournaments.
For the first time, NCAA schools are allowed to share that revenue with student-athletes, with a cap of $20.5 million per school, but Esten said the athletics department has decided internally not to do that initially.
The department does, however, have the “infrastructure and foundational tools in place to provide Tommie student-athletes with several NIL opportunities.”
Also new this season will be the school’s new on-campus basketball and hockey venue, the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena. The arena’s event will be a men’s and women’s hockey double-header against Providence College on Oct. 24, another major step in the Tommies’ matriculation to full Division I membership.
To Esten, competing in a national Tournament is the Athletic Department’s next major milestone.
“It would help to validate our reclassification and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence,” he said.
Women’s hockey coach Bethany Brausen said that opportunity “transforms everything for our program — at both the individual and team levels.”
“Individually, our athletes gain a renewed sense of hope and drive that surpasses previous years,” Brausen said. “They understand that each day’s effort is a step toward earning a place on the national stage at season’s end, an opportunity they will wholeheartedly pursue. … This upcoming year enables the group to align around a shared vision and common goals, uniting their focus to pursue one of the most significant accomplishments in collegiate athletics – competing for a national tournament.”
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