Coach Jeff Hans has presided over practice for the Thomas More University women’s basketball team since Oct. 10. In the runup to the new season, he has watched his players run up and down the floor and run many different plays. He has watched them take shots. He has watched them take charges. He’s walked them through new wrinkles in the five-out motion offense and watched them hunker down in the man-to-man defense with the clock running.
“There are always adjustments that need to be made,” Hans said. “One of those ways we teach our system and to see where we can be successful is to play a lot in practice. We are always keeping score, but we are doing it in different drills and different types of simulations. We put them into game settings so they will be comfortable as different situations arise.”
Occasionally, Hans gazes up at the team championship banner hanging on the wall at the far end of the gym at Connor Convocation Center. It displays three Saints national title years, 2016 and 2019 in NCAA Division III, and 2022 in NAIA. Hans, in his 13th season at Thomas More, has guided the Saints to all three national crowns.
It will be a while before Thomas More can add more years to the banner. This is the second year of the university’s provisional membership to NCAA Division II. The move transitions Thomas More from the NAIA’s Mid-South Conference where it has competed the past four seasons to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, which approved provisional membership for Thomas More in 2021. The mandatory transition period ends following the 2024-25 season.
That means Thomas More won’t be eligible for the Division II national tournament until 2025-26. Once the Saints become eligible for national tournaments again, they hope to repeat the success they found after making the jump from NCAA Division III to the NAIA.
“That’s the goal. That’s the vision,” said coach Hans, who has a 321-31 career record, good for a .911 winning percentage. “But it’s going to be really hard to do though.”
If recent history is any indication, the Saints may be up to the task as they enter a new era. Three years after they moved from Division III to the NAIA, they found themselves on top of the heap at the end of the year hoisting the championship trophy. The Saints ended their stay in the NAIA with three straight national championship game appearances, finishing runner-up last season and in 2020-21.
There won’t be a fourth straight national title game appearance this season. And there won’t be one next season, either. Likewise, Hans will have to wait a bit to earn the chance to win a third national championship at a third different college level.
But that doesn’t mean the Saints can’t do a little dancing when they’re done playing in March. They are eligible for the G-MAC tournament championship beginning this season. Even though they are the conference’s newest team and making a big jump from NAIA, conference coaches ranked Thomas More tied for fifth with Malone in the preseason poll.
The Saints, 31-4 last season, are ranked ahead of eight other teams in the 14-team conference. They are ranked behind preseason No. 1 Ashland, No. 2 Kentucky Wesleyan, No. 3 Trevecca Nazarene and No. 4. Northwood. Ashland, unbeaten last season at 37-0, is defending conference tournament champion and defending Division II national champ.
When Thomas More and Ashland meet for the first time as conference mates Dec. 9 at the Connor Convocation Center, it will be a clash of titans that played in national title games this calendar year. Ashland could be riding a 44-game winning streak when it comes to town. Ashland is 82-12 combined over the last three seasons. The Saints are 92-10 over the same span.
Thomas More begins conference play at Northwood on November 29th in Midland, Michigan. The Saints play their first NCAA Division II basketball game in program history Nov. 10 in the season opener at University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They make their home debut November 22nd against Miami University-Hamilton.
The Saints have a lot of experience on the roster to help navigate the changes. Coach Hans returns six seniors. He welcomes back a pair of starters, senior point guard Rachel Martin and 5-foot-11 sophomore swing player Rylee Turner from Newport Central Catholic. Martin averaged 5.7 points and ranked second on the team in steals and third in assists. Turner averaged 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds.
“Our team chemistry is really good, a strength for sure,” Martin said. “A lot of players have known each other for a long time. A lot of us have been teammates in club ball and we’ve played against each other. Two were teammates at Simon Kenton. We’ve been together at Thomas More. When you have that kind of chemistry, you can almost read each other’s minds. It helps your flow. You get things done faster. Another strength is shooting. That comes from sharing the ball because we’ve created more of a team feel.”
Martin doesn’t stop at the gym when it comes to getting a feel for Division II basketball. She is getting some brief history lessons on Division II from former D-2 player Dana Morningstar, who played at Northern Kentucky University before the Norse moved to Division I. Martin, an education major, is doing her student teaching in Morningstar’s Algebra I class at Boone County High School.
“It’s a change for all of us,” Martin said. “Division II will definitely be a challenge but we’re all really excited to take it on. There’s a new energy this season.”
Key reserve-turned starter, 6-foot senior swing player Alex Smith, was named all-Mid-South Conference honorable mention as a junior despite making one start. She ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 10 points per game. She averaged 3.7 rebounds and made 85% of her free throws. She’s a former Division II player, having transferred to Thomas More from D-2 Valdosta State.
“The size and strength and athleticism inside is a big difference,” Smith said. “We’ll probably be outsized in quite a few games. We have to make up for it by playing together.”
Also back for the Saints are senior guards Kelly Brenner, Maggie Jones and Mattison Vickers. Brenner was fifth on the Saints in scoring last season with an average of 7.1 points. She led the regulars in field goal shooting percentage (.503) and 3-point shooting (.484). She is second among returnees in free throw shooting percentage (.846). Jones averaged 4.6 points and shot nearly 40% from 3-point range. Jones and Vickers were teammates at Simon Kenton.
The Saints add an intriguing group of freshmen, including Rylee Leonard, Eastern Brown’s all-time leading scorer; Morgan Hunt, who helped lead Tri-Village in New Madison, Ohio, to a state title; and instate recruit Desiree Tandy, Danville’s all-time leading rebounder.
“It may take a few years but being successful in D-2 is absolutely something I think we can do,” Smith said. “Right now, we are laying the foundation for that.”