It’s back to all-out conference action in the new year for both NKU and Thomas More basketball this week.
The NKU men (7-7 overall after a schedule that opened with the likes of Purdue and Florida State away and Cincinnati at home) are fifth out of the 11 Horizon League teams with a league mark of 2-1 and on a five-game win streak before a tough 97-93 three-overtime loss at Robert Morris last week, the lone league win for the Pittsburgh-area school. The Norse get back into league play New Year’s Day with a noon tipoff Wednesday at Truist Arena against Purdue Ft. Wayne (10-5, 3-1 in the Horizon League) that will allow fans plenty of time to get home for the Ohio State-Oregon Rose Bowl game.
The Thomas More men (8-3 overall, 3-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference) get back in action Thursday at the Connor Center hosting league foe Walsh (4-4 overall, 1-2 in the GMAC) in a game that tips off at 7:30 p.m.
The TMU women (5-6 overall, 2-1 GMAC), under new coach Brian Neal in his first season and tied for fourth in the 13-team GMAC, will open Thursday’s Truist doubleheader against Walsh (7-5 overall, 2-2 GMAC) at 5:30.
On the women’s side at NKU, the Norse women (3-11 overall, 0-3 in the Horizon) in a rebuilding campaign under first-year coach Jeff Hans get back in action this weekend on a Horizon road trip to Wisconsin with games Thursday at Green Bay (9-5 overall, 2-1 Horizon) and Saturday at Milwaukee.
Coach Jim Weyer scoreboard honors Thomas More legend
Jim Weyer did so much for Thomas More in his tenure as player, basketball and baseball coach and athletic director that it’s great to see the late Saint (although they were the Rebels during Jim’s decades there) honored and remembered with the new Connor Convocation videoboard.
Combining the operation of a large video screen with streaming and replay abilities with a scoreboard display, the $100,000 board is a result of the work of the large Weyer family and donors Joe Roesel, John Griffin, David Meyer and Denny Kehoe.
Check it out the next time you’re at a TMU game. You won’t be able to miss it.
Kinney includes UK’s Cats on final 15 list
With offers from more than 40 programs, the former Newport guard Taylen Kinney, now averaging 22.1 points a game (4.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals while shooting 42.7 percent from three-point range) for the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program, cut his list to just 15 over the holidays. And an elite group it is: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Notre Dame, Oregon, Purdue, Tennessee, and Xavier.
One note here, the five-star junior point guard with shooting guard skills, is one of just 10 players offered by UK for 2026, an offer that happened on an unofficial visit to UK in August when Coach Mark Pope extended it.
Measuring at a little over 6-foot-1, Kinney has a 6-7 wingspan that allows him to play much bigger – especially on defense — as he’s moved up to the top 20 in the nation in the Class of 2026 prospects from 247 Sports.
Kinney’s Northern Kentucky home highlights the prospect of a four-way regional recruiting battle, predicts 247 basketball director Eric Bossi, among area programs Cincinnati, Xavier, Louisville and UK.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dweber3440.