Patrick Reusse: 'Gym rat' has nose for success

There were two terrific seniors in MIAC men's basketball this winter: Carleton's Zach Johnson and Bethel's Tim Madson. Yet, when the votes of the 11 head coaches were tabulated, St. Thomas junior Joe Scott was honored as the league's Player of the Year.

This was controversial by Division III standards, since Johnson and Madson averaged over 20 points per game and Scott averaged 13.5.

On Saturday night, Scott had 12, and that made him the only Tommies player in double figures as they gutted out a 53-50 victory over Wisconsin-Stevens Point. That put them at 29-0 and into next weekend's third round of the NCAA tournament.

Scott said the Player of the Year award was a surprise when he looked at the seasons and career of a player such as Johnson.

"My feeling is the coaches felt that, with us going unbeaten in the conference, that a St. Thomas player should get the award," Scott said. "I'm the guy they went with, but it could've been any of our starters."

Scott is 6-4 and listed as a guard, as are three other Tommies starters.

Al McCoy, he of the tremendous effort, hands and dreadlocks, is listed as a 6-3 forward. Only Anders Halvorsen, a 6-8 sophomore reserve, has height that causes you to say, "He's a center."

"We don't have much choice but to push the pace with our lack of size," Scott said. "It takes the effort of everyone on the team to play this way, and that makes it great fun."

Scott grew up in St. Anthony and went to grade school at St. Charles Borromeo. He enrolled at DeLaSalle as a ninth-grader.

"The connection to DeLaSalle was that I wanted to be the best possible basketball player," Scott said. "I knew guys like Alan Anderson and Ben Johnson had played at DeLaSalle."

Scott admits to a considerable flaw when he arrived on Nicollet Island. "I couldn't guard a chair," he said.

This was not going to work with Dave Thorson, DeLaSalle's hard-nosed coach. "His philosophy is basically the same as Steve Fritz has here," Scott said. "If you don't play defense, you don't play."

Scott first went to the University of Colorado's branch in Colorado Springs. It's a Division II school.

"First of all, it was the only school that offered me a full scholarship," he said. "And then you see Colorado Springs, a beautiful city, and you think, 'This is going to be great.' "

Scott started all 28 games and averaged 10 points as a freshman. Still, he wasn't having the experience that he anticipated.

"I didn't get along with the coach that well," he said.

The coach was (and remains) Russ Caton, a gentleman with a fondness for running his players through the mountains at the cost of time in the gym.

Kelly Scott played for Flip Saunders when Flip was a novice coach and put together a junior college powerhouse at Golden Valley Lutheran. Jim Dutcher hired Flip as a Gophers assistant in 1981, and Kelly came along as a walk-on.

This allowed Kelly a spot on the 1982 Big Ten championship team. He played some and had unforgettable experiences. These included being a road roommate with Mark Hall, an extra-talented player with a irresistible attraction to university-paid phones.

"First trip we were on, I got a key and went to the room, and Mark already was on the phone," Kelly said.

Hall was dismissed from school in midseason. Scott's next roommate was Randy Breuer.

"I walked in our room in Iowa City and Randy was peeking through the curtains," Kelly said. "I said, "What, do you think someone's going to shoot you?' Turned out, he had received a death threat.