It’s finally here, the Summit League tournament kicks off tomorrow and buckle your chinstraps BisoNation, it’s going to be a battle. NDSU finished the season earning the 3 seed but in doing so likely pulled the toughest draw of any of the top 4 seeds. The UMKC Roos have been a handful for every team in the league this season and it’s because they defend like their lives depend on it. When they met earlier this season the Bison and Roos split the series with NDSU winning the first game and then dropping the second by 2 points in one of the ugliest basketball games of the season. The big note of that series, especially the 2nd game was both teams were down a bunch of players so the game we see Sunday night will likely look significantly different than either of the 2 we saw earlier in the year. NDSU was without Maleeck Harden-Hayes and Boden Skunberg on Friday and after injuring his ankle in that first game they were without Jarius Cook in game 2. UMKC was missing Defensive Player of the Year and their best offensive threat in Brandon McKissic along with Josiah Allick and Marvin Nesbitt Jr who all average double figures scoring in addition to their defense. It will be very interesting to see if NDSU can have success early against UMKC to build up a little lead to work with. The Roos come at you for 40 full minutes and the best way to keep them off balance is to be able to hit some outside shots and to be aggressive to the rim to draw fouls. A lot of how this game goes will come down to how the game is officiated, if it is called tightly and NDSU can get to the free throw line where they execute well at 35th in the nation and 2nd in the league behind USD, they should be able to create some space in the scoring column at the end of the halves. If the refs allow the Roos to be physical the Bison will have to adjust and find a way to create some open shots which will definitely be a struggle. Having Harden-Hayes and Cook available and at full strength will certainly help but NDSU finding scoring will be what determines the outcome of this game.
Should the Bison pull off the win in round 1 the road to the championship won’t get any easier with either USD or Western Illinois on the horizon. The Bison just wrapped up the season on the road against the Yotes with a split in that series but with a player like Stanley Umude in March they are definitely a team that can take down anyone. Western Illinois definitely played better down the stretch winning 5 of their last 7 after starting conference play 0-7. They seem to be putting it all together at the right time and Will Carius continues to be strong down the stretch so they have as much of a chance as anybody to pull an upset. With the potent offenses of SDSU and ORU on the other half of the bracket along with last year’s surprise UND, who ends up playing on Tuesday depends on who can string together 80 minutes of quality basketball the first two rounds.
One thing is certain, the Summit League Tournament should be full of exciting games, I just have my fingers crossed that the NDSU Bison continue their tradition of playing well in Sioux Falls and we see them in the championship game Tuesday night playing for their 3rd straight Summit League Tournament Championship. Cheer loud from wherever you’re watching and Go Bison!