2017-18 Summit League Post-Mortem

After the 2017-18 season, it can safely be said: the Summit League is in the midst of a long-term period of greatness by one of its members.

Only one other time in league history has a program put together a run of success like South Dakota State’s over the last seven years. Valparaiso won eight championships over a span of 10 years from 1995-2004, but the Jackrabbits are starting to creep up on that standard after they won their fifth championship in seven years.

South Dakota State has proven to be a program that goes beyond one coach or perhaps a single special class of players. Coach T.J. Otzelberger’s first two years have netted two NCAA Tournament berths, including this year’s that capped a gaudy 28-7 mark and a 16-1 run through Summit regular season and tournament play. And while this latest squad included Mike Daum-nothing less than one of the best players in the country-and valuable four-year starter Reed Tellinghuisen, its No. 2 scorer was a freshman (David Jenkins), and several junior college transfers also played prominent roles.

The Jackrabbits were impressive from start to finish, with non-conference conquests over eventual NCAA first round winner Buffalo and UC Irvine as well as a pair of name-brand victories over Iowa and Mississippi. SDSU also nearly won at Colorado and Wichita State, and in the NCAA Tournament battled through a tough-shooting day to still nearly take down Ohio State.

Of course, it helps to have Daum, a two-time Summit player of the year who averaged 23.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game and is an offensive threat from three-point range (96 triples made) or on the block. As a team, though, SDSU was one of the most lethal offenses in the country, ranking seventh in Division I in scoring (84.5 ppg) and among the national leaders in both three-pointers made and three-point percentage. Four players hit at least 55 triples and five shot at least 38% from deep for a team that plays a fast, fun style and truly had threats from anywhere.

South Dakota State and in-state rival South Dakota (which posted a 26-win season of its own) provided the highlights for what was otherwise a comme ci comme ça year for the Summit. The league hung at 19th in the conference RPI ranking for the second straight year, a mild disappointment after it shot up to 12th in 2015-16.

It would be fair to wonder if the league is in slight decline, except its rank this year is still very close to its average (18.5) in the other six seasons from 2011-18. And it’s not like league teams weren’t capable. In addition to South Dakota State’s work, IPFW drilled Indiana for the second straight year. South Dakota pushed TCU and UCLA on the road. The Summit as a whole posted a 5-3 record against the Missouri Valley Conference.

While they have flashed the last couple years, though, consistency has been harder to come by for programs like Denver, IPFW and North Dakota State. That gave a distinct feeling that the league was South Dakota State, South Dakota, and everyone else this year. In the case of the Jackrabbits vs. the rest of the league over the past seven years, it rather feels like that anyway.

Final Standings:

Conference Tournament
The Summit League Tournament has become nothing less than one of the top conference tournaments in the country, reliably delivering good crowds every year now in Sioux Falls, S.D. This year’s event did have the feeling of being one big list of coming attractions before a main feature between South Dakota State and South Dakota. Indeed, it played out that way with the two meeting for a highly anticipated third matchup of the season.

The top-seeded Jackrabbits did get a stern challenge in the quarterfinals as No. 8 seed Western Illinois pushed SDSU before falling 66-60. Daum scored half of South Dakota State’s points-33, plus 19 rebounds, carrying the Jacks as they shot just 32.8%. Second-seeded South Dakota had less trouble, blowing out to a 27-point first half lead and cruising past No. 7 Nebraska-Omaha 87-73. The remaining two quarterfinals provided high drama. IPFW staged a furious comeback in the 4/5 game, nearly rallying all the way back from 23 points down in the second half before No. 5 North Dakota State held on to win 86-82. The final quarter saw 6 seed Oral Roberts very nearly stage an upset, but Denver got a banked three-pointer by Joe Rosga with five seconds left in regulation to tie it, and then Ade Murkey hit a go-ahead leaner with 40 seconds left in the second overtime as the Pioneers outlasted ORU 90-88.

The top two seeds dominated their semifinal games, with South Dakota State drilling North Dakota State 78-57 and South Dakota handling Denver 76-58, holding the Pioneers to 32.8% shooting. That set up a winner-take-all battle between two teams that split their regular season meetings, but SDSU took over with a big run in the first half. Ironically, it came after Daum picked up his second foul less than nine minutes into the game, as a 26-10 run led by David Jenkins and Reed Tellinghuisen put the Jacks in control. USD whittled a 20-point second half deficit down to six late, but South Dakota State held on for a 97-87 win in front of more than 11,000, the biggest crowd ever for a championship game in Summit history.

Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Mike Daum, F, Jr., South Dakota State
Freshman of the Year: David Jenkins, G, South Dakota State
Defensive Player of the Year: Brandon Gilbeck, C, Jr., Western Illinois
Sixth Man of the Year: Albert Owens, F, Sr., Oral Roberts
Transfer of the Year: Austin Ruder, G, Sr., Oral Roberts
Coach of the Year: T.J. Otzelberger, South Dakota State

All-Conference Team
Mike Daum, F, Jr., South Dakota State
John Konchar, G, Jr., IPFW
Paul Miller, G, Sr., North Dakota State
Matt Mooney, G, Jr., South Dakota
Joe Rosga, G, Jr., Denver
Bryson Scott, G, Sr., IPFW

Season Highlights

• South Dakota State won its fifth Summit League postseason tourney title in seven years and concurrently appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in that span.
• South Dakota (CBI) and IPFW (CIT) also appeared in postseason tournaments, with both defeated in the first round. South Dakota also won a school Division I-record 26 games, while IPFW defeated Indiana for the second straight year.
• Set new league record attendance in its tournament championship game when 11,114 showed up to see South Dakota State top South Dakota in Sioux Falls.
• South Dakota State’s Daum ranked in the top 20 nationally in defensive rebounds/game (3rd), total points (4th), field goals made (6th), double-doubles (6th) and rebounds/game (16th). Daum also was part of an SDSU team that ranked No. 1 in the country in total defensive rebounds/game  with 30.11.
• North Dakota State senior A.J. Jacobson repeated as a first team CoSIDA Academic All-American, receiving Academic All-America honors for the third time in his career.

What we expected, and it happened: Mike Daum was awesome again, and South Dakota State not only was a heavy contender, it won the league tourney for the fifth time in seven years.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: North Dakota State has been a consistent contender almost from the time it joined, but the Bison slipped from 11-5 and second in the league to 5-9 in conference, their worst record in 10 years in the Summit.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: The Summit had some serious balance in previous years with the likes of IPFW, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota State winning or challenging for titles. The thought was that would continue, but this year was a distinct two-team race between the Coyotes and Jackrabbits.

Team on the rise: Denver. The Pioneers appear on the brink of becoming a consistent contender under Rodney Billups, who has led teams that were efficient offensively and good on the boards each of the last two years. Joe Rosga is one of the best guards in the West, and if the Pioneers can reduce their turnovers (327th in NCAA Division I in TOs committed last year and 341st in turnover margin), they can challenge for the top spot.

Team on the decline: Nebraska-Omaha. The Mavericks were plundered by graduation and transfers last year, big reasons for their dip to a 9-22 record. Almost everyone will be back for another go-around, but defensive woes that were bad even by UNO’s typical fast-paced standard need to be improved.

2018-19 Summit League Outlook
The outlook for next year’s Summit League race hinged heavily on whether Daum stayed in the NBA Draft after declaring in April. Several weeks later, he announced he was returning for a fourth year at South Dakota State. As such, you can pencil in the Jackrabbits as heavy favorites again. It will be a treat to get to see one more year of Daum playing in college-and four years for the same team! How novel. Seriously, it’s wonderful to see someone who is enjoying his time in college and not messing with happiness. Daum and Jenkins are a dynamite 1-2 punch, and players like Skyler Flatten and Tevin King provide balance around them to make SDSU formidable.

The Jacks will be favorites also in part because no one else appears ready to step to the Jacks’ level yet. South Dakota would’ve been the logical first choice, but who knows how the Coyotes will fare after coach Craig Smith and leading scorer Matt Mooney jumped ship. It should be noted the Coyotes will still have four starters back, too, including Tyler Hagedorn. In fact, USD is the biggest wild card, with a new coach (alumnus and most recently Grand Canyon assistant Todd Lee) taking over an otherwise experienced team. If they take to the new coach, there’s little reason the Coyotes can’t challenge for the title again.

Denver will miss the big man presence of Daniel Amigo, but the Pioneers have enough weapons around Rosga like the versatile Ade Murkey that they can challenge for the title. Another to watch will be an old hand that will be unfamiliar at first. Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne becomes just Purdue-Fort Wayne and will have new colors, going from a beautiful royal blue and white to Purdue’s trademark black and gold. (Its teams will continue to be known as the Mastodons, and will also presumably keep their confusing preference to be called ‘Fort Wayne,’ even as there is no Fort Wayne University.) What the Mastodons will have back is John Konchar, who has been among the best players in the Summit seemingly since the 90s.

A positive for the Summit as a whole is that, as a whole, league teams should return a good number of starters and key players. If you’re looking for a team to surprise, keep an eye on Oral Roberts, which loses big men Albert Owens and Javan White but retains a solid core with still-improving big Emmanuel Nzekwesi and guard Sam Kearns, who was rock-solid in his first year playing at the point or taking big shots. North Dakota State brings most of its team back, too, but will have a different look without star Paul Miller. Nebraska-Omaha should be better, while Western Illinois could climb to the middle of the pack with another experienced team. Also, the Summit will welcome North Dakota, which comes over from the Big Sky and also is equipped to be in the mix, with four starters and almost everyone back from a team that was in the NCAA Tournament in 2016.

Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam