Midseason losses to Presentation College and Minnesota-Morris frustrated St. Scholastica men's basketball coach Dave Staniger enough to make several changes to his team, including booting his players out of their new Reif Gym locker rooms for a week.
Perhaps the most significant outcome from that dysfunctional road trip was to insert backup point guard Danny Schmitz into the starting lineup at shooting guard. The Saints won 11 of 12 games with the sophomore from Hinckley, Minn., in the backcourt and ended up sharing the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference title and earning the top seed in the league's postseason tournament.
St. Scholastica (15-10) faces Minnesota-Morris (13-12) in a UMAC semifinal at 7:30 p.m. today at Reif Gym. If the Saints win, they would host either Martin Luther or Bethany Lutheran in Saturday night's championship game.
Schmitz ended up leading the Saints in scoring with a 12.3 point-per-game average, and scored 30 in the regular-season finale Saturday against Martin Luther as St. Scholastica moved within one victory of tying its school-record 10-game winning streak.
"He's shot the ball very well and found a way to score; he's been a big lift for us," Staniger said. "We knew he could shoot the ball well, but he also handles the ball really well. Danny's adept at using ball screens and either coming off them and shooting or getting into the lane and creating. He's not just a shooter, but he's turned into a scorer."
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Schmitz usually played shooting guard at Hinckley-Finlayson, so he says the switch didn't cause any problems.
"I do like it a lot better," he said. "I feel more comfortable."
Schmitz followed his older brother Andrew to St. Scholastica. After graduating from the college in 2008, Andrew became an assistant coach for the Saints. His responsibilities included coaching the guards, before leaving two weeks ago to take a job as a substitute teacher at Marshall High School.
"He gave me a lot of good advice that I use," Danny Schmitz said of his brother. "He was a good influence on my basketball game."
No matter how the Saints finish this weekend, it's unlikely they will advance to the NCAA Division III tournament since the UMAC winner does not earn an automatic berth.
"We realize we're not going to get an at-large bid to the national tournament, but we're really confident on winning [the UMAC tournament]" Schmitz said.
-- Tickets for tonight's game are $5 for adults and $3 for students, with the first 100 students receiving free admission. Children 12 and under are free.
