Summit League basketball: Another Dakota Marker showdown?

By Doug Winkey | Oct 25, 2016

Summit League basketball has been on the rise over the past couple seasons.

The Summit League finished last year 10th overall in conference RPI, which measures the total strength of teams based on their schedule. This placed them just behind the American Athletic Conference, who sent five teams to the Big Dance.

Related Story: Omaha Mavericks look to keep up the pace

In 2016-17, the conference will see big producers depart from Omaha and Fort Wayne, but the biggest change could be at SDSU.

The Jackrabbits bid farewell to their longtime coach Scott Nagy, who left to take the vacancy at Wright State in the Horizon League. First time head coach and former Iowa State assistant T.J. Otzelberger will take over the program in Brookings, SD. The 39-year old coach proved his worth on the recruiting trail with ISU (he also has four commits for SDSU’s 2017 class), but his first year will be interesting.

It helps that he returns Summit Player of the Year candidate Mike Daum, who could be one of the best big men in the nation.

The primary challengers this year to South Dakota State are perennial contender North Dakota State and Fort Wayne.

North Dakota State has represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament in two of the past four years and have firepower with six of last season’s top eight contributors back. They have as good a perimeter trio as any with Khy Kabellis, A.J. Jacobson and Paul Miller back. The Bison are a serious threat again this season.

More from Summit League

Fort Wayne, fresh off their rebrand from IPFW, are one of the more intriguing teams this season. The Mastodons graduated leading scorer Max Landis, but return double-figure scorers Mo Evans and John Konchar to form a lethal one-two punch from the outside. Both shot over 40 percent from deep last season, which will help the team extend the defense.

Fort Wayne’s biggest concern is improving on last year’s 249th adjusted defense.

The middle of the league is a bit muddled, but several intriguing teams will vie for a top-half finish.

IUPUI returns the core of last season’s team with the inside-outside duo of Darrell Combs and Matt O’Leary. South Dakota brings in transfers from Iowa (Trey Dickerson), Colorado State (Carlton Hurst) and Air Force (Matt Mooney). Those three could prove huge for the developing Coyotes.

Western Illinois has maybe the second-best back court in the league with Garrett Covington and Jabari Sandifer. Rounding out the group is Omaha, who has their third and fourth-leading scorers back. However, consistency and depth are concerns.

The teams fighting to stay out of last are Denver and Oral Roberts. ORU lost do-everything guard Obi Emegano to the pro ranks and the Pioneers lost their second and third-leading scorers. However, Denver could compete harder than expected with rising sophomore Joe Rosga leading a bunch of hungry role players.

I personally can’t wait to see what this season holds for Summit League hoops. It has some of the more quality mid-major programs in the nation with SDSU and NDSU, along with rising brands.

Next: Three burning questions for Pittsburgh

I don’t expect the conference to challenge for an at-large bid, but this group is capable of moving upwards in the national conversation. December contests like Denver at Texas A&M and Omaha at Iowa State could be a litmus for just how far the Summit is coming along