RandBall: Gophers vs. St. Thomas needs to happen, and it seems like Niko Medved agrees

In a moment of levity at the end of an already fairly light and cheerful introductory news conference, new Gophers men’s basketball coach Niko Medved tried his hand at comedy when asked for his thoughts on playing against fellow local Division I school St. Thomas.

“So I talked to Johnny and I’m begging him to play and he doesn’t even want to play,” Medved deadpanned while referencing St. Thomas head coach Johnny Tauer.

Medved got serious, though. He said he couldn’t promise anything for next season but that in general he likes the idea.

“Listen, I’m open to that for sure,” he said. “[Tauer] does a great job, you know what I mean? And my brother went to St. Thomas. I think it’s really cool to see them doing what they’re doing. I think that’s awesome. I think it’s awesome for basketball in the state of Minnesota, and I’m a competitive guy. It’d be fun.”

It’s refreshing to think of college basketball as fun (which it is) even as money dominates the sport in 2025. It’s also a relief to hear Medved talking in positive terms about something that should be a no-brainer — as I noted on Wednesday’s “Daily Delivery” podcast.

St. Thomas made the large leap from Division III to Division I at the start of the 2021-22 season, which coincided with the start of Ben Johnson’s tenure as Gophers coach.

Arguably there wasn’t much upside for Johnson’s Gophers to play the Tommies early on, when a loss or even a close victory would be a major stumble and give St. Thomas broad exposure.

But as the Tommies built their program, it made less sense. Notable: St. Thomas had a higher NET ranking than the Gophers during the 2022-23 season, just the second year of the program’s D-I life.

Why not start a rivalry with the two schools just a few miles apart? Why not fill up Williams Arena instead of paying for a small school to travel here to play in an empty barn?

But it hasn’t happened yet. Those who had visions of a Wisconsin vs. Marquette or Xavier vs. Cincinnati rivalry blossoming have had to wait while it remained nothing more than an idea.

Now St. Thomas is heading into Year 5, and the Gophers are starting over with Medved.

Neither program is where it hopes to be in another five years, but you can see both ascending.

St. Thomas has a good chance at continuing a trend that saw it compete for a Summit League title (runner-up in the regular season and conference tournament this past year) while getting set for NCAA postseason eligibility and a move into a bigger arena next year.

The Gophers are getting more serious about competing by hiring Medved, a proven winner at Colorado State.

Wisconsin and Marquette, a little more than an hour apart, have played each other at least once every season since 1958. In the last 23 meetings of the rivalry, the Badgers have won 12 times and the Golden Eagles have taken 11. Neither team has won more than three in a row in that stretch.

Let’s duplicate that in Minnesota. The sooner the better.