Summit League Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

7. Matt Mooney

While he’s mostly known as Texas Tech’s point guard for their team that reached the national championship game in 2019, Mooney had great success in the Summit before then. This 6’3 guard from Wauconda, Illinois actually began his career at the Air Force before opting to transfer to South Dakota, spending a pair of seasons with the Coyotes.

He became eligible again in 2016 and wasted no time settling into Craig Smith’s offense, averaging 18.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in his redshirt sophomore season. He led South Dakota to the regular season title and had a season-high 30 points in their tournament loss to South Dakota State, getting the program to the NIT. In his junior year, Mooney put up eerily similar numbers and helped take the Coyotes to a 26-win campaign. He’d boast five more 30-point performances and led the program to the CBI.

Mooney was named First Team All-Summit for each of those marvelous seasons at South Dakota, emerging as a top scorer in the conference. He was among the conference leaders in points and steals in both seasons and helped bring South Dakota significant success, winning 48 games across those seasons. Yes, Mooney headed to Texas Tech and was a major player for a historic season, but his on-court figures with the Coyotes and other contributions cannot be disregarded.