When this year’s first NAIA basketball rankings came out, no one was surprised that the Thomas More women, defending NAIA national champions, were named No. 1. Jeff Hans’s Saints are a power to be reckoned with and everyone knows it.
But the men? In those first rankings, the TMU men were named the NAIA’s No. 2 team. Even Athletic Director Terry Connor and Coach Justin Ray, if truth be told, were a bit mystified.
Didn’t people realize that Ryan Batte wasn’t returning from last year’s final four team? Maybe the best player in NAIA basketball would be gone.
But they soldiered on, the TMU men did, and now the Saints men are on that same pedestal with the women: No. 1 with this unbelievable footnote. Each team received every single one of the 42 first-place votes from the nation’s coaches – all 21 in each poll.
Now of course this is old hat to the TMU women. Counting their 28 times as No. 1 in the NCAA Div. 3 poll, where they were two-time national champs, this is their seventh time leading the nation in the NAIA.
But the men, who for years labored as Villa Madonna College without a gym and a campus that was a collection of buildings off and on 12th street in Covington, this is something new and a tribute to Ray, who is just four wins shy of his 100th win in Crestview Hills.
What makes this so special is this note from the NAIA: “This is not only a great feat for their programs, but for all of college basketball. This is an accomplishment that has only been achieved by a few programs in college basketball history. The last time it happened was during the 2021-22 season, where the Lubbock Christian University Chaparrals of NCAA Division II achieved the feat in two polls.”
But that’s not to say the TMU men didn’t do special things. Under Charlie Wolf, who left one of the greatest sporting legacies in Northern Kentucky history upon his death at 96 last week, then-Villa Madonna got it going as a program that took players from practicing at St. Benedict’s Grade School in Covington and put them into the NBA like Larry Staverman.
Danny Tieman would follow under Jim Weyer before going on to the NBA and then as Covington Catholic’s winningest coach. And Wolf himself would end up in the NBA as head coach of both the Cincinnati Royals and Detroit Pistons.
That’s three NBA products from the then Villa Madonna Rebels and on to the now No. 1 Thomas More Saints.
Coach Connor must be smiling down at that No. 1 ranking for the men. As the only man to coach an NBA rookie of the year in Dave Cowens and an MLB rookie of the year in David Justice, Connor, after stints at Newport Central Catholic and Boone County, finished his legendary coaching career at TMU, where the Connor Convocation is named for him.
Between them, the TMU women and men are 14-0 this season with home games Thursday in the Mid-South Conference (women’s at 5:30, men’s at 7:30) against Tennessee Southern.
The 8-0 TMU women haven’t taken the easy path to stay No. 1, having beaten four Top 25 teams already — Indiana Wesleyan University, Carroll College (Mont.), University of the Cumberlands, and Georgetown College.
The 6-0 Saints men, meanwhile, with Campbell County High’s Reid Jolly stepping into the Ryan Batte role, have defeated a pair of Top 10 teams in the early going – Indiana Wesleyan and Georgetown.
And while Ray is closing in on his 100th win at TMU, Hans recorded No. 300 last week. You simply cannot say enough about what these two have accomplished.
If there’s something that these teams share, in addition to smart, tough, competitive coaches, it’s each of these: They’re local – from Kentucky and Southwest Ohio mostly. And they’re deep. Lots of contributors. And they play good defense.
NAIA MEN’S BASKETBALL COACHES’ TOP 25 POLL
RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [1ST Place Votes] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS
1 2 Thomas More (Ky.) [21] 6-0 591
2 3 Grace (Ind.) 8-0 566
3 1 Arizona Christian 6-1 546
4 4 College of Idaho 5-1 528
5 6 Marian (Ind.) 9-0 515
6 5 Jamestown (N.D.) 7-1 483
7 9 Faulkner (Ala.) 8-0 481
8 7 Oklahoma Wesleyan 7-1 480
9 8 Georgetown (Ky.) 8-1 422
10 11 Southwestern (Kan.) 7-1 413
11 21 Florida College 10-1 369
12 18 Montana Tech 8-1 343
13 22 Evangel (Mo.) 6-1 329
14 17 Indiana Tech 7-1 302
15 RV Langston (Okla.) 6-0 287
16 12 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 5-1 278
17 19 Union (Ky.) 8-1 259
18 24 Kansas Wesleyan 6-0 242
19 23 Concordia (Neb.) 6-1 236
20 10 LSU Shreveport (La.) 4-2 233
21 14 Indiana Wesleyan 5-3 175
22 RV MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 6-1 169
23 16 Carroll (Mont.) 4-1 151
24 20 Cumberland (Tenn.) 5-2 148
25 13 William Penn (Iowa) 5-2 146
Dropped from the Top 25: William Jessup (Calif.), Xavier (La.)
Others Receiving Votes: Ottawa (Ariz.) 105, Huntington (Ind.) 77, SAGU (Texas) 75, Cornerstone (Mich.) 65, Morningside (Iowa) 58, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 34, Iowa Wesleyan 31, Hope International (Calif.) 27, Bethel (Ind.) 21, Tennessee Southern 21, Texas A&M Texarkana 20, Antelope Valley (Calif.) 19, Keiser (Fla.) 16, Oregon Tech 15, St. Thomas (Fla.) 13, Loyola (La.) 10, Xavier (La.) 6, Cumberlands (Ky.) 5, IU Kokomo (Ind.) 5, Westmont (Calif.) 4, Madonna (Mich.) 3.
NAIA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACHES TOP 25 POLL
RANK | LAST WEEK | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | POINTS
1 1 Thomas More (Ky.) [21] 8-0 591
2 2 Westmont (Calif.) 7-0 572
3 3 Campbellsville (Ky.) 5-0 542
4 6 Central Methodist (Mo.) 6-0 539
5 13 Dordt (Iowa) 8-0 500
6 5 Clarke (Iowa) 6-1 496
7 4 Indiana Wesleyan 7-2 483
8 8 Marian (Ind.) 7-1 451
9 9 Carroll (Mont.) 4-3 439
10 14 Loyola (La.) 7-0 420
11 7 Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 5-1 415
12 15 Vanguard (Calif.) 5-0 370
13 17 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) 4-1 362
14 16 Rio Grande (Ohio) 7-1 334
15 21 Indiana Tech 8-2 300
16 25 Northwestern (Iowa) 8-0 291
17 19 The Master’s (Calif.) 6-0 271
18 20 Southern Oregon 4-1 248
19 10 Sterling (Kan.) 4-3 241
20 23 Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 6-0 229
21 22 Montana Western 5-1 222
22 18 Georgetown (Ky.) 5-3 208
23 NR St. Francis (Ill.) 7-1 173
24 24 Cumberlands (Ky.) 6-2 136
25 12 Morningside (Iowa) 3-3 131
Dropped from the Top 25: Wayland Baptist (Texas)
Receiving Votes: Science & Arts (Okla.) 79, IU South Bend (Ind.) 60, Faulkner (Ala.) 36, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 31, Eastern Oregon 30, Briar Cliff (Iowa) 30, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 26, Dakota State (S.D.) 22, Grace (Ind.) 19, Xavier (La.) 9, Stillman (Ala.) 9, Oakland City (Ind.) 9, Rust (Miss.) 9, Reinhardt (Ga.) 9, St. Thomas (Fla.) 9, Grand View (Iowa) 7, Philander Smith (Ark.) 6, LSU Shreveport (La.) 5, Siena Heights (Mich.) 5, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 5