A Gophers-Tommies men's basketball rivalry is just begging to become a reality

The Gophers announced a crowd of 8,232 for Friday night's men's basketball contest with St. Francis Brooklyn. There were crowd shots texted that indicated the ticket counters must have included the near full house for volleyball on the other side of Williams Arena's big wall to reach that number.

The result was a 72-54 victory over the Terriers that put the Gophers at 2-0. This was recorded as a considerable upgrade over the 61-60 win over Western Michigan in Monday's opener.

St. Francis Brooklyn stayed in town and will play at St. Thomas on Sunday. The Tommies' first victory as a Division I team was 91-73 over the Terriers in Brooklyn a year ago.

"St. Francis had the return game with us and it was able to work out a 'pay' game with the Gophers on the same weekend trip, so that was perfect for them,'' said John Tauer, the St. Thomas coach.

This was before the Tommies' Friday night home opener against Chicago State. A year ago, St. Thomas' first game as a Division I participant was a 77-72 loss at Chicago State.

The Cougars will be back in the Twin Cities to play the Gophers on Dec. 22. Again, there will be a tiny crowd in the cavernous barn — and again, we must ask:

Why are the Gophers paying 10s of thousands to bring in St. Francis Brooklyn and Chicago State and being required to pad their attendance doubly to avoid feeling sheepish, when they could be scheduling St. Thomas from 4.1 miles away and draw an actual 12,000?

And Gophers fans and basketball followers in general always offer the same answer when I blurt the question:

The Gophers have nothing to gain with a win, and a loss would be a large embarrassment. There are answers to both:

One, they have a large, excited crowd to gain rather than a few thousand indifferent customers for the lower-level nonconference games.

Two, if the Gophers lose on their elevated floor to St. Thomas (improving as it will be), they are headed to the bottom tier of the Big Ten and all the indifference that goes with that.

Another reason you hear for flagging attendance in Williams Arena is ticket prices. You know what? There's a fine alternative to that only 4.1 miles away at Shoenecker Arena.

Plus this: The product on display Friday night was outstanding. The Tommies blew out Chicago State 83-61. This came four nights after pushing No. 9-ranked Creighton until late in second half before losing 72-60 in Omaha.

"Our fans were able to watch the Creighton game on TV and I think it caused a lot of anticipation for our opener,'' Tauer said. "It was also the first chance to see our freshmen on the home court.''

One freshman started: Andrew Rohde, a guard from Brookfield Central Catholic in Wisconsin, and he was a revelation. He will bobble a dribble here and there, or miss a free throw, but he is a dynamic … creative passer, changer of directions on the fly as he heads for the basket.

Center Ahjany Lee, a very active 6-foot-9 from Totino Grace, was outstanding off the bench: 6-for-6 from the field, seven rebounds, in 16 minutes.

Kendall Blue, a guard from East Ridge, played 23 minutes. He's smooth and quite the passer.

Riley Miller is a leader as an epic three-point shooter. "Nobody in the country works harder and runs more than Riley to get a good three-point look,'' Tauer said. "With those excellent athletes doing everything to deny him, he must have run five miles to get five shots against Chicago State.''

Miller made four of those five to reach 1,000 points as a Tommie. As a team, St. Thomas' offense of constant ball movement was 31-for-49 from the field for 63.3%.

As the Gophers refuse to take advantage of what could be a neighborly rival, you might want to check out the Tommies for yourself.