Last year, North Dakota State ran through their conference tournament to the NCAAs after a decidedly average regular season. With nearly everyone returning, can they turn in a better performance wire to wire in 2019-20?
Since becoming eligible for the postseason after transitioning to Division 1, the North Dakota State Bison have been impressively consistent, making the NCAA tournament four times in eleven years out of the Summit League. The high water mark came in 2014 when the 12th seeded Bison upset Oklahoma in the Round of 64. Since that point, the wins had slowly declined in Fargo, from 26 that season down to 15 in 2018. 2018-19 represented a reasonable bounce back for NDSU during the regular season, with a 19-16 overall record and a 9-7 conference record earning them the fourth seed in the Summit League tournament.
Without any notable wins, or close losses to tough opponents, in the non-conference portion of their schedule, it looked like last year would be a very ho-hum season for NDSU. The entire outlook on the Bison season was shifted when the Summit League regular-season champion South Dakota State were upset in their first game of the tournament, opening the door for an unexpected representative to the NCAA tournament.
An NDSU squad with no seniors responded by winning three games in three days, including a 3-point win over the Western Illinois team that upset SDSU and an impressive 10-point victory over a quality Omaha team in the championship game to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.
After knocking off North Carolina Central in Dayton, the Bison had the unenviable task of taking on the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils and Zion Williamson. Despite being outmatched and eventually falling 85-62, NDSU showed surprising fight, trailing by only four at half time.
The only substantial loss from a year ago was reserve forward Deng Geu, who transferred to North Texas after averaging just shy of 10 points and five boards.
But with nearly all of last years production returning otherwise, will the Bison be able to turn last year’s late-season surge into this year’s sustained success?