The Summit League will get a boost starting in 2018-2019 when North Dakota basketball joins the nine-team league.
North Dakota is having themselves a fine season in the Big Sky Conference. The Fighting Hawks are 11-7 overall and 6-2 in league play which puts them just a half a game behind first-place Weber State. They have made the postseason via the CIT three times since joining the Big Sky in 2012. Coach Brian Jones has done a terrific job getting this team to consistently compete over his 10-plus year tenure.
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That will change soon enough as the school announced they will join the Summit League for all sports, except football, starting in 2018-2019. That will boost the Summit’s membership to 10 schools and drop the Big Sky’s to 11. While it diminishes the Big Sky’s midwestern footprint, it reinforces the Summit League’s national presence and puts UND back in touch with some of its historical rivals.
The Fighting Hawks will immediately challenge in-state rival North Dakota State and neighboring South Dakota and South Dakota State as the regional power. NDSU currently leads the Summit at 7-1 while South Dakota is tied for second at 5-3. SDSU is struggling at just 2-6 in Summit play, but the Jackrabbits are still transitioning under first-year head coach T.J. Otzelberger. Denver, Fort Wayne, Omaha, and IUPUI are also solid programs that won’t make life easy for North Dakota in their new home.
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This is definitely a positive move for UND. The Summit League is a more competitive basketball conference than the Big Sky and has closer rival schools. North Dakota has a great chance to play tougher competition and increase its national prestige with this move. The Summit League also adds a terrific regional member to its current roster.