Summit League Basketball: Power ranking the conference (v. 1)
As league play looms for the eight Summit League basketball teams, now is as good of a time as any to fire up weekly power rankings for the conference.
While the Summit League may not be the most marquee of conferences in comparison to other mid-major leagues, it does hold a fair amount of merit. Over the past decade, the conference has consistently competed hard in the NCAA Tournament. This was most evident when North Dakota State upset Oklahoma in the first-round as a No. 12 seed a few years back.
However, since 2009, only three different teams have won the league: North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Oakland (who is no longer in the conference). While there are some different teams near the top of the Summit League this year, one squad is not far and away better than the others.
That is what makes this league so interesting to study and analyze. The evenness of competition in the league is what warrants a weekly power rankings post. Let’s get started with these rankings!
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. 8. team. 2385. . 4-11.
Two superior opponents stood in the way of the Golden Eagles last week and both ended with relatively ugly results. They were shellacked by Arkansas, 104-69, and then they hung around against Minnesota before losing 77-63. However, the previous week saw Oral Roberts pick up two marquee wins for a team of their stature.
The Eagles defeated Missouri State, one of the favorites to win the Missouri Valley and followed that up with a victory over Florida Gulf Coast. Both of those wins came over teams that are considered top-tier in their respective conferences. While the Missouri Valley is a far better conference overall than the Summit, the Atlantic Sun is about on par. Nonetheless, for a team like Oral Roberts, who has struggled to recruit since the whole “Oral Roberts only recruits Christians” story, those wins are nice to have on the resume.
Come league play, the Golden Eagles will be jostling for position with the next team in the rankings. Oddly enough, they play one another this Saturday.