SAINTS MEN PICKED TO FINISH SEVENTH IN G-MAC
The Thomas More University men’s basketball team hopes to outperform predictions once again in its new home in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Saints begin their season Friday against Drury as the seventh-ranked team in the preseason coaches’ poll. Tip-off for the home opener at Connor Convocation Center is 7 p.m.
The returning men’s conference tournament runner-up is viewed as middle of the pack in the 12-team conference race due to substantial losses following a 19-12 season, 12-8 in conference. The Saints welcome back one full-time starter in Casey George and one part-time starter in fellow senior guard Wyatt Vieth from St. Henry High School.
“We lost so much,” said head coach Justin Ray. “But we’re very excited about our guys.”
The Saints are eager to prove league coaches wrong for a second straight season. Thomas More was tabbed ninth in last year’s preseason poll and wound up earning a No. 4 Great Midwest tournament seed and host status for the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Saints made it all the way to the championship game. They secured the first two G-MAC tournament victories in program history before falling to Walsh by nine points to conclude their first season in NCAA Division II.
The Saints were ineligible for the Division II national tournament and will be ineligible again this season. The Thomas More men’s and women’s basketball teams become eligible to compete for Division II championships in 2025-26 following the mandatory transition period to the new level. The university is in its third and final year of NCAA Division II provisional membership.
The men are replacing four of their top five scorers and will be without second all-time leading scorer Reid Jolly for the first time in five years. The Saints also lost G-MAC freshman of the year Nathan Dudukovich and Kyle Ross through the transfer portal and Jacob Jones left after his redshirt junior year. They combined for 61% of the offense last season.
Leading the returning players are guards George (9.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg), Vieth (5.9 ppg), Ryan Paris (6.2 ppg) and 6-foot-8 junior forward Mitchell Rylee (5.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and 6-9 sophomore forward Carson Browne (3.6 ppg). George led the team in steals and was second in assists. Rylee, who prepped at Covington Catholic, shot a team-high 71.4% from the field. Paris, a junior guard, shot 43.8% from 3-point range.
“We have less experience than we’re used to,” said coach Ray, in his seventh season. “The challenge is getting all the returning guys and the new guys to play together.”
Newcomers include Walsh transfer Colin McHale, a 6-6 junior forward, and locally-produced freshmen Jashaun Pouncy from Cooper and Travis Krohman from Simon Kenton.
THOMAS MORE WOMEN TABBED SIXTH IN GREAT MIDWEST
The Thomas More women’s basketball team welcomes the return of former head coach Brian Neal. He was hired to replace Jeff Hans, now at Northern Kentucky University. Neal is back after a one-year head coaching stop at Southeastern University in Florida. He led the Fire to a 22-8 record, 11-3 in conference play. Southeastern won the Sun Conference regular season and tournament championships, earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
There are similar goals now that Neal is back at Thomas More. The Saints open the season Friday against Northern Michigan in the JustAGame Crossover in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Game time is 6 p.m.
“Thomas More has a special place in my heart,” Neal said. “I coached here for seven years. I basically raised four of my children in that gym (Connor Convocation Center), it seems like. It’s also been a very welcoming, comfortable place. So, to me, it just feels like being home.”
Thomas More is picked to finish sixth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, according to the preseason coaches’ poll. The Saints are coming off an 18-11 finish, 13-7 in Great Midwest play, good for fourth place. They advanced to the conference tournament semifinals where they lost to eventual champion Ashland.
Neal is working with one returning starter, Rylee Turner, following the departure of five of the top seven scorers. Turner, a junior forward from Newport Central Catholic, was third on the team last season with an 8.7 scoring average. She led the team with 6.0 rebounds. Two returnees started at least seven games. They are sophomore forwards Morgan Hunt (3.7 ppg) and Desiree Tandy (2.9 ppg). Sophomore guard Rylee Leonard (7.6 ppg) also has starting experience. There are two seniors, forwards Callie Hunt and Paige Ledford.
The winning formula for the Saints under Neal was efficient team play, outstanding chemistry, solid shooting, steady defense and a lot of Neal outcoaching the opposition. His teams also have a tendency to be greater than the sum of their parts. Neal’s Thomas More squads compiled a 171-31 record for an .847 winning percentage. His players were dialed into team concepts and ready to take on challenges.
“They see the banners on the wall and they know,” Neal said of the Saints’ national championship banners decorating the home venue. “You walk through our locker room and you know that you’ve taken on a huge undertaking. It’s just my job to take those pieces now and kind of put them together to where they are probably stronger than if they were by themselves.”
Neal has national championship game experience. He previously served as assistant coach under Hans for the 2022-23 season. He helped guide the Saints to the NAIA national final. Thomas More finished 31-4 that season. Neal preceded Hans as Saints head coach and was on the bench seven straight winning seasons from 2004 to 2011. The Saints won five consecutive conference championships and earned five straight NCAA Division III national tournament appearances under his command. Together, Neal and Hans combined to win 492 of 554 Saints games over the last 20 years.
Prior to Southeastern, Neal was women’s assistant coach at Division I Butler and Eastern Illinois. He served six years from 2011 to 2018 as a D-I head coach at Xavier. Before his first stint at Thomas More, Neal was assistant coach at his alma mater NKU for six seasons. The Norse won the NCAA Division II national championship while he was there. They made a pair of national championship game appearances.