Tomorrow will be the final home game for a good chunk of the University of St. Thomas Men’s Basketball team, and each of the players celebrated will have quite a legacy to look up to. St. Thomas takes on Denver and the highest scoring player in the country, Tommy Bruner. The University of St. Thomas has lost twice in conference play at home this season, to the number 1-2 ranked teams in the conference. I have no doubt that given how well UST guarded Frankie Fidler last night, they will also be able to contain Bruner.
St. Thomas vs Denver March 2nd, 2024.
At one point this year, St. Thomas controlled their own destiny with regard to seeding. I was not smart enough to figure out the permutations, but according to the well-heeled research of others UST can finish as high as second, or as low as fifth. Denver went 2-5 in the month of march, and is a team that needs to rely on scoring a ton of points in order to win, as they have a 5th to the bottom defense in the country. This is a down year for defense across the league, as UST has the best in the conference, but is still barely over the middle mark across college basketball. The Tommies are also facing this team for the second time in less than a month. In that game against the Pios, UST allowed Denver 10 made triples, over the last three games the UST has improved and are averaging less than 6 against them per game.
St. Thomas on Senior Day the last two years have won by an average, of about 17 points. That should be the target for tomorrow.
Prediction:
UST-85 Denver-68
Bracket Talk:
It is March 1st, which means we can talk brackets. My thoughts on this are pretty simple. UST cannot control who they play, but the teams to avoid on the weekend are any of the Dakota Teams, and to get the teams that’s fan bases do not travel great. The ideal matchup for UST on what is likely a Sunday game next week are Denver and UNO. UMKC is currently the hottest team in the Summit League, and demolished DU yesterday on the road, they are peaking their season at the right time. Further, avoiding the SDSU side of the bracket is crucial, which is why a 3 seed would be almost perfect.