Men’s basketball: St. Thomas star Nolan Minessale enters transfer portal
St. Thomas star Nolan Minessale is the latest Tommies ’ standout to enter the transfer portal, ESPN reported Friday.
All three of the Tommies’ top scorers are now in the portal, with Nick Janowski and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu previously entering.
But Minessale is the biggest loss. He was one of the nation’s leading scorers at one point in the campaign, and finished the year averaging 19,8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists for a 24-win Tommies team.
Had St. Thomas returned all of its eligible players, it would have likely been the favorite to win the Summit League next season. But that’s not the way life works for mid-major programs in today’s college basketball world, as power-conference schools use bigger checkbooks to poach top talent.
Assuming none of the Tommies’ big guns end up returning to St. Paul, St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer will be tasked with rebuilding the program this offseason, largely from scratch.
