Checking in on the… Summit League
Posted by rtmsf on February 27th, 2009Ryan Pravato of College Fast Break is the RTC correspondent for the Summit League.
NDSU 22-6 (15-2)
Everybody’s favorite to be the league rep in the Big Dance. Now the only question is what seed they will be pegged. Many bracketologists (I use that term oh so liberally) have the Bison as a 14th seed, some a 15th, no one else to my knowledge has them as anything different. With such a dynamite record, is a 13th seed really that much to ask? Back on the 21st the Bison tangoed with the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers in a scintillating BracketBuster match up for the ages. Check that, the only BracketBuster game anybody gave a flying squirrel about was Butler versus Davidson, and that game stunk. Do these one bid league teams really need to play an out of conference game during, uh, the conference season? I don’t think so. Plus, some of the BracketBuster match ups were a total waste of time, definitely not all created with equality in mind. But back to the task on hand, NDSU senior guard Mike Nelson tied a season high with 22 points. Senior point guard Ben Woodside was two rebounds short of a triple-double. NDSU concludes the regular season at 2nd place Oral Roberts on Feb.28th .
Update- NDSU clinched at least a share of the regular season title with a road victory over Centenary on Thursday (Feb. 26). Woodside and Winkleman combined for 66 points.
Oral Roberts 16-13 (14-3)
Same old story in Tulsa, and for what it’s worth, I’m not hating (been getting some hellish hate mail from Oral fans lately, probably Jarvis’ relatives) on them at all, the story is in fact a pretty spectacular one. ORU sits right behind NDSU in the standings and not many (me included) believed they would be there right now considering their 3-11 start to the season. Since then it’s been smooth sailing. Front court bruisers Kevin Ford and Marcus Lewis have often canceled out the prevalent mindlessness of Jarvis’ shot chucking (think Allen Iverson) habit. It must be said however, when Jarvis is pragmatic on offense and is making wise decisions, ORU is mighty dangerous. But that might depend on what your definition of “dangerous” is.
Oakland 19-11 (12-5)
The Grizzlies have been on a tear ever since they returned home from the Dakota trip, where, if you hadn’t heard (that damn biased media kept us from the truth long enough yet again), they were forced to kill their own food and sleep in tents. Give credit where credit is due, this divergent mesh of players are a resilient bunch, I hear Dakota winters get a little chilly. In Oakland’s Feb. 21st victory over IUPUI freshman Blake Cushingberry, all 6.3 ppg of him, scored a career high 24 points on 8-11 shooting. And it’s also poignant to point out that the ever bubbly Keith Benson surpassed Rawle Marshall for Oakland’s all-time leader in blocks (101) against IPFW on Feb.14th. Took “the best mid-major conference player you’ve never heard of” all of 56 games to do it. 250 here Keith comes ( I’m not a math major, this could be out of reach).
Southern Utah 10-18 (8-9)
Slayed the Bison (in North Dakota) way back on the 14th of February in what is now commonly referred to as the game Southern Utah got their mojo back (citation unlikely). All I know is the junior guard with two last names is a pretty consistent guy to have on your squad but still among the gazillions of athletes that will go pro in something other than sports.
Update – Davis Baker had a rough go of it Thursday in a 16 point loss at Oakland (5-15 FG’s). The jinx was not intentional. The loss dropped the Lumberjacks into a tie with IUPUI for 4th place.
IUPUI 15-13 (8-9)
6’7 Junior Robert Glenn is having a darn good first year in Indianapolis—averaging 14ppg and 1.8blk in just 25min/gm.
IPFW 12-16 (7-10)
Won four out of the last six. Dangerous team from downtown. Weak inside.
SDSU 12-18 (7-10)
In midst of a three game skid in which one of the opponents was 7-18 Cal Poly. Yeah BracketBusters!
Western Illinois and Centenary
Western Illinois has a one game lead on Centenary for the right to get trounced by NDSU on March 7th.
UMKC
3-14 in league play. Next season they return everybody but leading scorer senior Dane Brumagin.
Checks and Balances
My regular season predictions I made back on Oct. 23rd don’t look too cute. I had UMKC winning 14 total games, Centenary winning eight league games, and Southern Utah winning just three league games. Ouch. However the first three slots I did predict correctly, though, much to my chagrin.
