Summit League basketball tips off Monday
Summit League basketball is back.
Conference play began Monday with all 10 men’s and women’s teams in action. South Dakota and South Dakota State’s men open on the road, with the Jackrabbits visiting Oral Roberts and the Coyotes heading to Kansas City to take on the Kangaroos.
The SDSU women will host the Golden Eagles while USD hosts UMKC, as the league will use a mirror scheduling format again this season.
On the men’s side, there could be plenty of parity this season. After South Dakota State made history by becoming the first Summit League team ever to run the table unbeaten in league play, winning 30 games along the way, the Jackrabbits have, so far, taken a step back after losing stars Doug Wilson and Baylor Scheierman. The Jacks are just 5-7, though they’ve won their last two, including a huge comeback against Eastern Washington they hope will boost them into league play.
Oral Roberts, the preseason pick to win the league, is off to a strong 9-3 start, while Denver has won six straight to get to 9-3 as well. St. Thomas, in its second year as a Division I program after making the jump from Division III, is 9-4.
Max Abmas is back yet again for ORU, leading the league with 19.9 points per game.
Western Illinois enters league play on a five-game winning streak that’s run their record to 7-4, while UND is 6-7, USD is 5-7, and Omaha, Kansas City and NDSU round out the bottom, with the Bison scuffling along at 3-9. But as Summit League fans know, writing off the Bison would be a mistake.
In the women’s league, North Dakota has the best non-conference record at 7-3, but South Dakota State has indicated it will be the team to beat as expected. The Jackrabbits, who opened the season ranked in the Top 25, have beaten two ranked teams already, including a Louisville team that was ranked 10th at the time (but since fallen out of the polls). They also competed well against No. 1 South Carolina last week. The Jacks are 7-5 and still getting healthy in their backcourt.
NDSU is 6-4, St. Thomas is 5-5 and the rest of the Summit’s women’s teams are all below .500. USD is 4-7, having lost six in a row heading into league play.
North Dakota’s Kacie Borowicz leads the conference in scoring (21.5) and assists per game (4.8), while ORU’s Hannah Cooper has been right there with her atop the leaderboards, averaging 20.3 points and 4.8 assists.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Summit League basketball tips off Monday
