By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - A core group who'd been playing together successfully long before they arrived in Collegeville, a memorable win over an archival before a packed house to clinch a conference title and a season-ending cameo by none other than Gregg Popovich.

The 1985-86 season featured all this and more for the Saint John's University basketball team.
 
"That was a great team," remembers starting wing Phil Johnson '87, who averaged a team-best 18.1 points per game and was named the MIAC Most Valuable Player as his team finished 23-5 overall and won both the conference regular-season (16-4 MIAC record) and playoff championships.

The Johnnies wrapped up the regular-season crown with a 58-51 win over St. Thomas before a sold-out crowd of over 5,000 on Feb. 19, 1986 – 35 years ago this week.

"It was a really close-knit group. Everybody worked really well together."

It didn't hurt that Johnson, fellow All-MIAC first-team pick Kirk Risberg '86, All-MIAC honorable mention point guard Tim Bot '86 and reserve post Joe Voigt '86 had a long history together.

All four were teammates on the great St. Cloud (Minn.) Tech High School teams of the early 1980s coached by Al Andreotti, a 2005 inductee into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

"Those guys were all so easy to coach," Andreotti said. "They were so smart and so good. If I had only players like that, I'd still be coaching now."

The Tigers finished as Class 2A state runners-up in 1980, then placed fourth in 1982 when Johnson, Bot and Voigt were seniors. At the time, the state tournament used a two-class format and Class 2A featured Minnesota's largest schools.

The three each enrolled in Collegeville in the fall of 1982 where they were joined by Risberg (right), who graduated from Tech a year before them, but started his collegiate career at St. Cloud State University before eventually transferring to SJU.

"That group of guys from Tech were all really good players," longtime SJU head coach Jim Smith recalls. "It was amazing to get four guys from a program that had been successful like that. We were lucky to have them here."

Johnson, though, had struggled with a knee injury as a senior in high school – an injury that would keep him out of action as a freshman in 1982-83. He returned to action the following year, but a dislocated foot suffered in the first game of the 1984-85 season caused him to miss the rest of that year as well.

The Johnnies won the MIAC postseason title that season, and with a healthy Johnson back in the lineup, expectations were high entering the 1985-86 campaign.

"We knew we had the potential to be pretty good," said Johnson, a former boys basketball coach at Saint John's Prep who is now a teacher in Monticello, Minn.

"We had some turnover. But a lot of the guys back had been playing together for a few years before that on JV. And we knew what we were capable of. We beat St. Cloud State early on that season in a tournament, and they had a really good team. They were ranked pretty highly in Division II. 

"So we knew if we could beat them, we could play with anybody."

Risberg averaged 12 points per game that year and dished off 100 assists. Bot, meanwhile, led the team in assists with 116. 

But the offense ultimately ran through the 6-foot-3 Johnson (left), who also averaged a team-best 7.1 rebounds per game.

"Back then, we still didn't have the 3-point line (it debuted in the MIAC the following season), so we were an inside-orientated team," Johnson said. 

"Everybody had their roles and I ended up being the scorer. I was lucky enough to have some really great passers around me. When they put the ball in my hands, I tried to make the most of it. 

"But we had so many talented players. It was a really balanced team."

SJU came into the regular-season finale against the Tommies needing a victory to clinch the MIAC title. Johnson and sophomore post Rick Theis '88 each scored 13 points that night as the Johnnies held off a late UST surge before a boisterous crowd.

"I don't think the fire marshal was very happy that night," Johnson said with a chuckle. "The gym was packed. People were sitting on the floor all the way around the place. It was so loud in there."

SJU went on to beat Augsburg and Bethel in the MIAC playoffs, earning the right to host the NCAA Division III West Regional in Collegeville. Unfortunately, the team's luck ran out with a 71-47 opening round loss to Dubuque (Iowa).

"Dubuque was good, but that night, we couldn't hit a shot," Smith remembers. "We shot the ball so well all year, and we had a fairly structured offense. During that game, we got the kinds of shots we'd been making all year. But we couldn't make a basket to save our lives for some reason."

But as disappointing as the loss was, the season wasn't over just yet. In those days, the two teams that lost in the first round of regional play met the next day for third place. And that was how the Johnnies came to face a Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) team coached by a young upstart named Gregg Popovich.
  SJU won 71-52, giving Smith (still the winningest college basketball coach at any level in Minnesota history) a 1-0 lifetime mark against the future legendary coach of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.

"I don't remember anything about him from that day," Johnson said. "We obviously didn't know who he was back then. But it's fun to look back and think that Jim Smith is undefeated against him.

"He's definitely one of the all-time greats. Though, in our opinion, Smitty is one of the all-time greats too."

1 year ago (2020) – SJU hockey ended the 2019-20 regular-season on a 5-game win streak, including back-to-back victories at Saint Mary's (by scores of 3-1 and 6-5), on Feb. 21-22 to claim the program's ninth MIAC regular-season title. In the season finale, SJU came back from a three-goal deficit to top Saint Mary's, win the championship and secure the top seed in the five-team MIAC Playoffs.

5 years ago (2016) – Kenny Bergman '17 won his second consecutive MIAC title in the 100-yard freestyle to lead the SJU swimming and diving team to a second-place finish at that season's MIAC Championships.

6 years ago (2015) – John Haeg '15 became the 21st SJU hockey player - and most recent - to reach 100 career points when he recorded an assist against St. Thomas on Feb. 19. Haeg became the first Johnnie to tally 100 points since the 2004-05 season (Ryan Langenbrunner '06 and Darryl Smoleroff '06). Haeg ended his career with 101 points (34g/67a).

20 years ago (2001) – The SJU hockey team swept St. Olaf 4-2 and 5-3 in a weekend series on Feb. 16-17 to wrap up the team's sixth-straight berth in the MIAC playoffs. 

Mike Possin '03, a St. Cloud Cathedral High School graduate who was part of a Division I national championship team at North Dakota in 2000 before transferring to SJU, scored two goals in the second game of the series.

30 years ago (1991) – Scott Fernholz '93 won a title at 142 pounds to lead the SJU wrestling team at the 1991 MIAC Championships. Fernholz advanced to the NCAA Division III national meet in all four of his seasons with the Johnnies, finishing eighth at 142 pounds to earn All-America honors as a freshman in 1989-90.

85 years ago (1936) – Earl Meinz scored 11 points as the SJU basketball team – coached by Joe Benda - beat Hamline 33-30 on Feb. 18 to snap a seven-game losing streak.

"Well, the Johnnies did it! Doubtlessly the sweetest basketball victory the Bendamen have ever won," The Record breathlessly reported. "And there isn't a soul who could hint that they didn't earn it."