Former Adams High School forward finds college footing across town at Holy Cross
SOUTH BEND − Seven minutes.
Not even half of a half of a college basketball game.
That’s the time it takes former Adams High School basketball standout Tommy Snyder to make the drive from his Holy Cross dorm room to his family’s home. A couple of turns here and a couple of stoplights there take Snyder back to the old neighborhood, back sometimes as often as twice a day even during his busiest time, to be around family and friends.
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He can get a home-cooked meal from his mother. He can sit and talk sports with his father. He can watch television with his sister. Share some laughs. Relax. See everyone that he has to see, that he needs to see, before returning to where life has taken him back in college, and on a campus that, not coincidently, was the closest to home.
Home absolutely mattered for Snyder when it was time think about life after Adams. He had offers to go away and play college basketball. Like one from University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne. That might’ve been nice, but the distance? Nope. Saint Francis barely was a 90-mile drive, though for Snyder it might as well have been 900.
Fort Wayne was way too far from family. Too far from his comfort zone. Scratch Saint Francis. Holy Cross? Now, that was perfect. He didn’t necessarily have to go to Holy Cross, but he had to go to school in South Bend.
“I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” said Snyder, a 6-foot-6, 205-pound small forward/energy guy for the Saints. “I’ve been here my whole life.”
Snyder plans to call South Bend home for the rest of that life. He’s a psychology major, mainly because his first choice — criminal justice — isn't offered at Holy Cross. Snyder plans to one day serve as a South Bend police officer. That’s his dream job. In his dream city. Well, the one city not located in his dream state — Hawaii.
Honolulu and Maui or anywhere else out that way can wait. Snyder prefers South Bend.
“It’s just home,” he said.
Snyder quickly carved a role with the Saints. Thanks to NAIA guidelines, he was able to practice with future teammates before he finished high school. Snyder would take that seven-minute trip to Pfeil Center, step on the court of McKenna Gym and already look last spring like someone who’d played two, three, four years of college basketball.
The game came that easily. Guys were bigger and stronger and faster and more experienced than Snyder, but he knew that would be the case. When it came time to play, the kid who still was a few weeks shy of high school graduation already looked and played and competed like an old college dude. His game was that good.
“When he came in to play with our guys, you knew he was good, but your eyes popped when you saw him,” said veteran Holy Cross coach Mike McBride. “Like, wow. He’s coming in and he’s manhandling some guys.”
Basketball at the NAIA level also allows teams to play outside competition in summers. Like, real games against real schools. Think of the school located across 933 from Holy Cross — Notre Dame — running pickup against Duke or North Carolina in July. Holy Cross can do that against NAIA teams.
Even then, Snyder kept finding ways to do his work. The freshman didn’t play like a freshman.
“There was no drop-off,” McBride said. “He just went right at guys.”
Went at them in ways that the one player he has long looked up to, long patterned his game after, once went at guys. Snyder never saw this particular player compete in an NBA game. Never saw his Hall of Fame career unfold. Never ran to get the newspaper every morning to check the box scores (remember those days?) to see how many rebounds the guy grabbed the night before in some far-off NBA city.
Now, though, Snyder channels his inner Dennis Rodman.
The kid's just a baller
Snyder doesn’t do the wild hair (braids are just fine, thank you) or the full sleeve tattoos down each arm or the nose/ear/body piercings. He doesn’t do any of the crazy stuff that the guy once called “Worm” did to gain worldwide notoriety during his NBA career.
Quiet and unassuming off the court, Snyder’s not about any of that. When he steps on the floor, he’s all about playing like Rodman. That means playing with a motor that always runs. That means chasing loose balls — chasing rebounds — as if his livelihood was at stake. Just playing with an energy that never hits empty.
If there’s a rebound to get — if there’s an offensive rebound to get — Snyder’s going to get after it and get it. Heading into Wednesday’s home game against Roosevelt (Ill). University, Snyder ranks first in all of NAIA for offensive rebounds (87). The kid who’s played only 20 collegiate games grabs an average of 4.3 per game.
“I did not know that,” Snyder said when informed that nobody in the country has offensive rebounded like he’s offensive rebounded.
Snyder let the stat sink in for a second, then smiled. Yeah, the look seemed to say for someone who rarely says much, I like that.
“Rebounding is hard, confusing,” Snyder said. “There are times when I get tired of rebounding, but it’s like, ‘I’ve got to do it.’ That’s my main thing. I just love it. I don’t know why I love it. I just love it.”
Snyder loves it because he can’t quit it. If there’s a missed shot, he’s not worried about getting back on defense or finding his guy to guard. He has to go and get it the ball. It’s his.
“He’s to the ball,” McBride said, “before his man can even think about blocking him out.”
Snyder, unlike Rodman, is more than just a defender/rebounder. He’s a baller. He'll rebound, but he’ll also score. It’s hard to keep him off the backboard, sure, but it’s also hard to keep him from doing anything — everything — on the basketball court.
Point him in the direction of the basket and watch him work. Snyder leads the Saints in scoring (19.6 ppg.) and rebounding (8.7). He does that in 24.5 minutes per game, which ranks fourth on the squad. He shoots 60.6 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from 3 and 69.0 percent from the foul line. He’s made 17 starts and has seven double doubles for points and rebounds.
In early January, Snyder earned Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the week honors after a two-game burst of 27 points and 12 rebounds in one game, then went 30 and 12 the next. The Saints won both games.
Snyder's game remains as raw as the South Bend wind in winter. He admits that his defense still needs work. He often needs to move his feet quicker, needs to find more of a stronger voice, needs to build confidence to step out and shoot the 3. He sometimes takes too quick of a shot for McBride’s liking (“Tommy … that’s not it!”). But all that will come over time. He’s already done a ton.
First official week of practice, veteran big man Mick Sullivan, who has played collegiately at the Division II (Quincy) and Division I (DePaul) levels, was assigned to check Snyder. A senior against a freshman? Fresh meat, right?
“We started going live and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t get a rebound against this guy,’” said the 6-8, 240-pound Sullivan. “He’s so hard to box out. He moves so well. He definitely doesn’t play like a freshman. He plays like a fifth-year guy.”
Plays like an old guy, because Snyder doesn’t want to let the old guys down. He has to grab those rebounds. He has to score those points. He has to make a difference. Those veterans, like Sullivan and senior guards Storm Cook and Beau Ludwick, a fellow former area prep standout (Penn), often remind Snyder daily to bring it.
He brings it.
“Beau tells me straight up, ‘You’re our guy; we need you out here,’” Snyder said. “Him doing that motivates me and keeps me strong.”
That mythical wall that so many freshmen run into their first year of college? Snyder insists he’s never even heard of it, let alone hit it. Even when he rolled his right ankle two days earlier in practice, he pushed through the Jan. 11 home game against Trinity Christian.
Snyder kept the leg loose while on the bench by doing stretching exercises with an elastic band. When the ankle started to throb, he asked for an aspirin. He popped one at halftime and popped Trinity Christian for 18 points and eight rebounds, both team highs, in an 81-57 Holy Cross win.
Slow out of the gate to start the season, Holy Cross (11-10 overall; 7-7 CCAC) recently won five straight and six of seven. Snyder has come off the bench in some games. He's started the majority. Doesn’t matter the assignment, Snyder will do his job. If there’s a game to play, he’s going to play at a high level. It’s the only way he knows.
Even after he committed to Holy Cross, Snyder kept playing in AAU tournaments. That worried McBride. Was Snyder showcasing his skills with a hope that another school higher up the college basketball food chain might notice?
Snyder just had to play.
“He’s already good,” Sullivan said. “By the time that he’s done here, he’s going to be insane.”
Speaking strictly in a basketball sense, just like Rodman.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Former Adams High standout has relatively smooth adjustment to college life
