Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) -
OUTLOOK: The Summit League may have gotten a little weaker since the 2011-12
season ended with the departure of Oral Roberts (17-1 Summit mark last year)
to the Southland Conference, but there are still a handful of talented squads
that are poised to make a run at the league's automatic berth to the NCAA
Tournament.
Nothing is likely to change at the top, as South Dakota State returns a
veteran squad that hoisted the Summit League Tournament trophy last season,
led by the league's best player, Nate Wolters.
It won't be a cake-walk for the Jackrabbits however, with three teams looking
to dethrone the defending champs. Oakland may have lost the nation's leading
scorer in Reggie Hamilton, but with four consecutive 20-win seasons it
certainly has the pedigree to be in the hunt again. North Dakota State was
underwhelming last season, but it returns several key pieces and seems set for
a late-season run. Western Illinois may not be as deep as Oakland or NDSU, but
it can ride stars Ceola Clark III and Terell Parks a long way.
IUPUI returns most of its players from last season, so an improvement upon a
7-11 league record isn't out of the question, but with the loss of Alex Young
(20.4 ppg), it just doesn't have the talent to keep up with the league's best.
Fort Wayne has been up and down over the past few years, and the new-look
starting five could give it a burst of energy this time around.
South Dakota and UMKC were disappointing in 2011-12, and neither appears to
have the personnel to make a serious run at the Summit title, although they
will be far from pushovers. Omaha is in its first season as a full-time member
of Division I and is expected to bring up the rear.
CONFERENCE CHAMPION: South Dakota State
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: 1. South Dakota State, 2. Oakland, 3. North Dakota
State, 4. Western Illinois, 5. IUPUI, 6. Fort Wayne, 7. South Dakota, 8.
Kansas City, 9. Omaha
TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS:
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: The Jackrabbits put together one of the best seasons in
school history in 2011-12, finishing 15-3 in the Summit League and 27-8
overall. Although they finished second in the conference standings during the
regular season, they won the Summit League Tournament and advanced to their
first-ever NCAA Tournament where they gave third-seeded Baylor a run for its
money, losing 68-60. With head coach Scott Nagy returning eight players from
last year's squad, including four starters, South Dakota State should have the
goods to make another run this season. A preseason poll of Summit League
coaches agrees, as the Jackrabbits received 30 of a possible 31 first-place
votes. After being named the 2012 Summit League Tournament MVP, Nate Wolters
(21.2 ppg, 5.9 apg, 5.1 rpg) comes in as the preseason conference player of
the year. He was just the fifth player in NCAA history to average at least 20
points, five assists, and five rebounds per game in a season. Also returning
is Jordan Dykstra (11.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg), Chad White (10.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), and
Brayden Carlson (7.3 ppg), all of whom contribute more than a 3-pointer per
game at better than 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc. One of five true
freshman joining the team this season is 6-10 forward Connor Devine, who is
the reigning Gatorade Player of the Year in Alaska.
OAKLAND: Greg Kampe is a legend on the Oakland campus, and during his 28 years
as head coach of the Golden Grizzlies he has built the program into one of the
most respected in the country. With a 20-16 record (11-7 Summit) in 2011-12,
Kampe's squad eclipsed the 20-win mark for the fourth year in a row, while
also going to the postseason for the fourth straight season by making a run to
the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Final Four. The Grizzlies will need to
overcome the loss of Reggie Hamilton, who at 26.2 ppg was the nation's leading
scorer a season ago. Replacing all that production with one guy isn't likely,
but Travis Bader will do his best as he tries to improve upon last year's
scoring average of 15.9 ppg. He's also one of the nation's deadliest 3-point
shooters, nailing 3.4 treys per contest. Three others return to the starting
lineup for Oakland, as Drew Valentine (11.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg) and Corey Petro (8.7
ppg, 7.2 rpg) make up one of the most imposing forward combinations in the
league, and Ryan Bass (7.3 ppg) is a spark plug at the guard position despite
lacking ideal size (5-9, 170). After being redshirted last year, 6-11 center
Korab Imami hopes to make an impact in the frontcourt in his first season.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE: In Saul Phillip's five seasons as head coach of the Bison,
they have been one of the Summit League's most consistent teams as they have
racked up a 84-67 record in that time and represented the league in the NCAA
Tournament in 2009. While the 2011-12 campaign was largely a success (17-14
overall), NDSU finished in a tie for fourth in the league with a disappointing
9-9 record, although the squad did earn a bid to the College Basketball
Invitational at year's end. The Bison appear to be a solid bet to improve this
season as it returns eight players, including four starters, three of whom
were named to the Preseason All-Summit League team in Taylor Braun, Lawrence
Alexander and Marshall Bjorklund. Braun was named First Team All-Conference a
year ago after leading the team in scoring (15.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.6
rpg). Alexander (12.8 ppg, 4.6 apg) was outstanding as a freshman, winning the
league's Newcomer of the Year award, and Bjorklund (11.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) has a
great combination of size and skill. TraVonn Wright is no slouch either, as he
averaged 7.7 ppg while starting 23 games last season.
WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Leathernecks were one of the Summit League's most
improved teams last year, making an incredible 11-game jump with its overall
record -- 7-23 in 2010-11 to 18-15 in 2011-12. Jim Molinari's fourth year at
the helm of WIU led it to a berth in the College Basketball Invitational
tourney, which was the first Division I postseason appearance in program
history. As the only team to have a pair of players named to the Preseason
All-Summit League First Team, WIU has the potential to be even better this
season. Ceola Clark III (13.3 ppg) led the team in scoring a year ago and was
one of the best distributors in the league, handing out 4.7 apg. Entering his
senior season, Terell Parks (11.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.4 bpg, .610 FG percentage)
is perhaps the most polished big man in the conference. Jack Houpt (6.5 ppg)
and Remy Roberts-Burnett (4.5 ppg) have experience, but no other returning
player averaged more than three points per game last year. Of four incoming
freshmen, John Schneider (6-7) appears most likely to garner immediate playing
time considering his useful combination of size and shooting touch.
IUPUI: After winning 19 or more games in back-to-back seasons, the Jaguars
were a disappointment in 2011-12, going just 7-11 in the Summit League and
winning 14 games overall in Todd Howard's first season as head coach. They
suffered a huge loss in the offseason with the graduation of one of the
league's best players in Alex Young (20.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg), who finished his
career fourth in Summit history in scoring with 2,286 points. Replacing
Young's production will be no easy task, but the good news is that IUPUI has
an experienced crew back this year with a total of 10 returnees. Ian Chiles
averaged 10.5 ppg as a sophomore and he is expected to take over the role as
the team's go-to guy. He has earned the respect of the coaches around the
league, being named to the Preseason All-Summit Second Team. Sophomore Lyonell
Gaines (6.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) is expected to take on an increased workload as
well. Headlining a batch of five newcomers is Purdue transfer John Hart, a 6-2
guard who appeared in 63 games for the Boilermakers over three seasons.
FORT WAYNE: Tony Jasick's first season as head coach of the Mastodons marked a
step backward for the program. After finishing 18-12 in 2010-11, IPFW won just
11 of its 30 games a season ago, and posted a 5-13 record in conference play.
This year's club boasts just one returning starter, but the turnover may be a
good thing as only Trey McCorkle (12.2 ppg, 5.1 rpg) was an above-average
contributor from last year's senior class. While the Mastodons will feature
plenty of fresh faces in the starting lineup, they return their most important
piece in 6-5 guard Frank Gaines (21.2 ppg, 5.9 rpg), who was named to the
Preseason All-Summit League First Team. After playing significant roles off
the bench last season, Justin Jordan (6.9 ppg), Mario Hines (7.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
and Michael Kibiloski (5.2 ppg) are all expected to make a jump to the
starting lineup with the hope of sparking some life into a squad that played
well under its potential last year.
SOUTH DAKOTA: The Coyotes were a dominant Division II squad for years before
joining the higher ranks of competition for the 2008-09 season. After winning
18 games or more in one season as an Independent and two years as a member of
the Great West Conference, South Dakota stumbled last season in its first year
as a member of the Summit League, winning just 10 of 28 games while going 5-13
in conference play. Entering his 24th year as head coach, Dave Boots is
certainly anticipating a big turnaround for his team, but he may not have the
personnel to do so as leading scorers Charlie Westbrook (18.7 ppg) and Louie
Krogman (16.8 ppg) have graduated. The top returning player for the Coyotes is
6-10 junior Trevor Gruis, who averaged 11.3 ppg while leading the team in
rebounding (6.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (.528) in 2011-12. After
serving as role players last season, Steve Tecker (5.6 ppg) and Jordan Boots
(5.0 ppg) will need to step up in the backcourt to make up for the lost
production of Westbrook and Krogman.
KANSAS CITY: The 2011-12 season was much of the same for a UMKC team that has
won just 43 percent of its games since joining the Division I ranks back in
1987, finishing 10th in the league with a 4-14 record and winning just 10 of
31 games overall. Matt Brown enters his sixth season as the Kangaroos' head
coach, and he is still looking for the team's first berth in the NCAA
Tournament. Unfortunately, this year isn't shaping up to be the team's year as
the 'Roos will go into battle without former star Reggie Chamberlain (17.3
ppg). The good news for UMKC is that Chamberlain is the only starter missing
from last season's squad, meaning if nothing else the team should retain some
semblance of chemistry. Trinity Hall (10.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Thomas Hall (7.8
ppg) and Kirk Korver (7.6 ppg) bring plenty of scoring experience to the
table, but all three will need to improve upon their outside shooting as none
of them connected on more than 33 percent of their 3-point attempts. Estan
Tyler (5.3 ppg, 3.0 apg) is also back after starting 20 games as a freshman.
OMAHA:The Mavericks make the switch from Division II's Mid-American
Intercollegiate Athletic Association to the Summit League full-time in
2011-12. Derrin Hansen's bunch had found success in the lower ranks of
competition, winning conference championships in both 2008 and 2010, while
winning more than 58 percent of their games over the past seven years,
although the team went just 11-18 in last season's transitional campaign.
Omaha brings with it plenty of experience to this new season however, as four
of its five starters are back, including three players who averaged double
figures in points in C.J. Carter (10.4 ppg), John Karhoff (12.9 ppg) and Alex
Welhouse (10.4 ppg). As a freshman, Carter was impressive across the board,
averaging 3.6 rpg, 2.6 apg and 1.2 spg. Welhouse (6-7, 220) and Karhoff (6-8,
225) bring with them good size which will be helpful in matching up with more
formidable opponents.
The Sports Network