One of the great misnomers has been calling Christian Thomas a “beast.”

Going into the MVC season Thomas will be the shortest MVC power forward and his weight will be among the lighter power forwards in the Conference. There are no centers who Thomas will be anywhere near in size or girth. The term “beast” will apply much more to his opponents than it will to him.

What he has is his intelligence and talent can be seen in his high shooting percentage & in the number of fouls that he draws from his opponents, in addition to his rebounding results against bigger opponents.

So what name would apply a fearless player who gets great rebounding position, who always plays a smart game, who always hustles, and is loaded with perseverence and drive, while he is constantly playing against giant opponents?

The “Mongoose,” like Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” who takes on the Mighty King Cobras and fearlessly succeeds against them by positioning, brains, & perseverence.

Christian Thomas is the “Mongoose” who has continually over achieved against bigger opponents.

Thank God we have a coach who saw his talent, who signed him, and who developed him into a such a solid player.

Vic Rouse

+1

The late, great, 6'7" Dr. Vic Rouse, Ph.D., who scored the winning basket that gave LU the 1963 NCAA Championship, was truly a spectacular player. His career 12.0 rpg was 3rd best in LU history, behind LU's NBA 1972 first draft pick, 6'11" LaRue Martin, who averaged 15.9 rpg and Dr. Clarence Red, D.D.S., who averaged 12.9 rpg.

Though he had a different personality than 6'7" Dennis Rodman, like him, Vic was a great rebounder who was a winner. Thomas, who is 2 inches shorter that those 2, is a great asset for LU to have, but I don’t expect him to ever match the rebounding feat of either of them. Especially, if Thomas will be getting minutes at the 3 guard/forward position against MVC wide bodies like Wichita’s 218 lb. Baker and Mo. St.’s 220 lb. Gulley.

While Thomas, who averaged 14.9 ppg as a sophomore in Horizon play, as compared to Vic’s 13.8 ppg as a sophomore, may be able to keep up with Vic’s upperclassman scoring, I don’t see him ever matching Vic's rebounding numbers. I am super glad we had Vic Rouse & very happy we currently have Christian Thomas.