Sioux Falls, S.D. – The Summit League Basketball Championships are just a couple days away from starting. The ninth-seeded South Dakota Coyotes are looking to take down the eighth-seeded Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in the opening game at 7:00 P.M. CT on Friday before the remainder of the madness ensues. Leading up to the tournament, I’m going to break down what you should be on the lookout for and give you insight into some potential NCAA tournament teams.
This year’s tournament doesn’t have a purely dominant team as in previous years, although the South Dakota State Jackrabbits appear to be the leader of the pack. The Jackrabbits finished the season with a 12-4 conference record and earned the No. 1 seed in the Summit League Championship. SDSU is led by junior guard Zeke Mayo, who averages 19.3 points per game, along with 5.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Don’t discount sophomore forward William Kyle III as well, who averages 13.1 points per game while working his way into the starting rotation throughout the season. Behind them are a plethora of solid shooters led by Charlie Easlie, Matt Mims, and Kalen Garry who all average 1+ 3PM per game.
Behind the frontrunners are the two-seeded Kansas City Roos, three-seeded North Dakota Fighting Hawks and four-seeded St. Thomas Tommies. The Roos lean on a strong defense that propelled them to their highest seed in the tournament since 2005 with a 10-6 conference record. Kansas City ended the season on a six-game win streak and have been led by junior Jamar Brown, who averages 15.3 points per game.
The Fighting Hawks were right behind the Roos, falling to the third seed on a tiebreaker after finishing with a 10-6 conference record as well. North Dakota improved more than any other team this past season, improving its conference record by four games thanks to contributions from its big three of BJ Omot, Tyree Ihenacho and Treysen Eaglestaff.
The Tommies finished the season with a 9-7 Summit League record but will have their hands full in the first round with the five-seeded North Dakota State Bison. The Tommies have a team mentality, not being led by one player, but rather having everyone pitch in similarly. Despite a down year, the Bison will be tough to beat as they’ve made the championship game each of the last five years. They will lean on Boden Skunberg for scoring with supplemental play from Andrew Morgan, Damari Wheeler-Thomas and Jacari White to try and carry them to another deep run.
The remaining teams all finished sub-.500, although the worst record in the league still had five wins. Even though his team hasstruggled, look out for Oral Roberts’ Isaac McBride, three-time Summit League player of the week winner. He averages 19.7 points per game on .444/.380/.888 shooting splits and is a deadly player. Denver’s Tommy Bruner is also someone to take note of, an incredible player scoring 24.5 points per game with 4.4 assists and .439/.366/.812 shooting splits. He’ll try to lead Denver, along with Touko Tainamo, to take down some of the top dogs and make a run of their own. One final player to keep track of is Omaha junior Forward Frankie Fidler, who can score at all three levels and puts up 19.5 points with 6.1 rebounds per game.
Looking at the field, one of the teams I see as a potential underdog story is Denver. The Pioneers struggled to a 6-10 record, but they’ve shown flashes of a team that could make a deep run. They need to play more consistently and throw out the end of the regular season, but they were able to win a statement game over South Dakota State at the outset of conference play and started 4-2 in Summit League play. Don’t be shocked to see the Pioneers surprise some fans with a run.
While everyone loves to look at the underdogs in March Madness, there’s always some higher seeds that end up disappointing fans. One of those teams that worries me is Kansas City, who faces Denver in the first round on Saturday. Despite a stalwart of a defense and Jamar Brown, the Roos don’t have a fearful offense and offensive depth can be a problem for teams in the postseason. With a good defensive strategy from Denver to lock down Brown, it could be difficult for the Roos to score points.
It feels like all these teams are similarly matched which makes picking a champion incredibly difficult. If I were feeling risky, I’d choose Denver to make it to the championship, but I feel North Dakota would be able to take them down with their strong big three. As for the other side of the bracket, South Dakota State has been the team to beat and I pick them to appear in the championship. While the Jackrabbits would likely be the favorite in a championship between them and the Fighting Hawks, where’s the fun in picking the favorite? Both teams look incredibly well-rounded, but North Dakota will be extra motivated to win their first Summit League championship in program history and sometimes you have to bet on chaos.