Month: December 2019

My trivial Summit League rankings: Dec 27

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SPOILER ALERT: This is going to be boring…

But, maybe you needed some rankings to get you through the days before the Summit League season begins.  I actually doubt you needed that.

1st – South Dakota, 9-5

My last ranking: 1st

The Coyotes have lost two in a row with the injury to Triston Simpson, but he is expected to be back at the start of Summit League play.  The injury has given experience to Kruz Perrott-Hunt, which should help make the Coyotes bench even tougher.

2nd – North Dakota State, 8-5

My last ranking: 2nd

The Bison have faced injuries to two starters, Jared Samuelson and Sam Griesel, and only lost by 14 at Marquette.  That’s considered a bit of a success, right?

3rd – Omaha, 7-8

My last ranking: 3rd

The win over Montana showed the Mavericks have clutch performers in JT Gibson and KJ Robinson to carry the team down the stretch of close games.  Have any other Summit League teams proved they have clutch performers like this?

That’s a serious question…I haven’t watched many close games from Summit League teams.

Fun fact: Omaha has the highest RPI in the Summit League right now.  Helpful that Washington State is on a 5 game winning streak.  The Mavericks also have the 2nd toughest strength of schedule according to RPI, but RPI rankings don’t factor in the Golden Eagles have played Rogers State, Southwestern Christian, Haskell, and Central Oklahoma.

4th – Oral Roberts, 7-5

My last ranking: 5th

It was filled with injuries, and it wasn’t pretty, but the Golden Eagles finished their non-conference schedule with a winning record.  The Golden Eagles actually still have a non-conference games left at BYU.  They also finished with the 2nd highest RPI in the conference…behind Omaha.

5th – South Dakota State, 9-6

My last ranking: 4th

You can call me biased if you want for ranking the a 9-6 Jackrabbits team 5th in the Summit League, but do you really care about this that much?

The Jackrabbits played the 2nd weakest schedule in the Summit League, behind North Dakota State.  The Summit League tea who returned the least amount of its scoring has still yet to be in a situation in which they needed to prove themselves.  I guess they get the opportunity this weekend when they face the Mavericks.

6th – North Dakota, 6-7

My last ranking: 7th

The team with barrel of chemistry beat a Nebraska team with no chemistry.  That’s weird.

7th – Purdue Fort Wayne, 6-7

My last ranking: 6th

At the start of the season, everyone rated the Mastodons in the middle of the Summit League since they lost John Konchar but still had Jon Coffman as a head coach, so they were bound to be okay. It turns out John Konchar was a better player than Jon Coffman is a good coach.  Just watch the Mastodons and watch how the team plays with no organization.

8th – Denver, 4-10

My last ranking: 8th

I don’t like this team. I thought they’d be one of the worst teams to play in the Summit League in the last 5 years.  They might still be, but I think they’re capable of getting a surprise win this season.

What makes me think that?

Actually, nothing.  Pretty much just that they have an altitude advantage in Denver.

It’s currently $630 to fly round trip from Omaha to Denver January 17 to January 19th, if you want to go see the Mavericks play the Pioneers in January.  That’s a lot, isn’t it?

9th – Western Illinois, 3-7

My last ranking: 9th

I thought the Leathernecks would be somewhat decent this season.  I should also mention I haven’t been dieting that well lately, either.  Lots of fried food.  Need to get back to eating more vegetables.

Montana comes to Omaha for Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

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The Summit League won the Summit League/WAC Challenge 5-3. I’d like to take some time to thank everyone involved.  Except for Kansas City beating Western Illinois, I thought you were leaving that conference UMKC?  Why give them any more joy than they deserve?

I can’t wait to see the Summit League/WAC Challenge Trophy when it makes it way to Baxter Arena.  Oh, there’s no trophy?  We all just got some help with filling our non-conference schedules?  Is there a trophy case in that new Summit League office in Sioux Falls?

Omaha now enters the Summit League/Big Sky Challenge, which has scheduling that makes little sense to me, as Omaha, South Dakota State, North Dakota, and North Dakota State are the only teams with Big Sky teams in their non-conference schedules this season.  Northern Arizona didn’t count as part of the challenge?  I seriously don’t understand.

Omaha already has one game in the challenge, where they lost 97-56 at Eastern Washington. If I discuss this game any further, I’m just going to list off excuses as to why they lost by 41 points, and we’re all going to get frustrated with me.

Next up in the Challenge, Montana comes to Baxter Arena on Ugly Christmas Sweater Day.

Seriously, you’re going to get to watch the coaching staff in ugly Christmas sweaters on the bench.  Derrin Hansen is going to be wearing an ugly Christmas sweater and have an argument with a NCAA official at some point.  How are you not into that?

Now about that Montana.  They’re coming to Baxter Arena as Omaha will attempt to get their record to one game under .500 before the beginning of conference play.

One of my best friends is from Montana.  He went to Montana and played football for the Montana Grizzlies.  I texted him a couple weeks ago, telling him how I was excited about this game.  His response…

“Congrats on your 20 point win. Montana lost to Montana Tech. We suck.”

The Grizzlies won the Big Sky tournament last season, and they were picked to finish second in the Big Sky preseason poll, even received 3 first place votes.  Their team in the NCAA tournament last season was senior loaded and they lost a lot heading into this season.  I remember looking at their roster for this season, when it was first posted, and first thinking to myself it was just a funky looking roster.

There are 3 active seniors on the roster.  6’5″ Sayeed Pridgett, who earned 1st Team All Big Sky last season as a junior.  Jared Samuelson, a 6’7″ forward who played his freshman year at Montana, then transferred to a NAIA school for 2 years and then transferred back to Montana.  That alone rates pretty high on the funky scale. 6’4″ Kendal Manuel, who spent his first two seasons at Oregon State before transferring to Montana, was named the Big Sky Top Reserve (seriously, I think that’s the name of the award) and Big Sky Newcomer of the Year last season.

Pridgett and Manuel are the only two players for Montana averaging more than 10 points per game.

Montana and Omaha seem similar on paper.  Both teams only have eight man rotations, both teams are fairly young, and both have been good at home but bad on the road.  Yet, they don’t exactly match up well.

Pridgett and Manuel playing at the wings are likely to outmatch JT Gibson and Zach Thornhill.  On the other hand, Montana has genuinely no size to match up with Matt Pile, and as we’ve seen in the past when Matt Pile has no one to match up with him, he plays very well. He dominates the game.

Matt Pile should be able to take over the game on the offensive end in the post.  Omaha will also need big games out of KJ Robinson and Ayo Akinwole at the point to get penetrate and create shots for themselves and teammates.

Montana is 0-5 on the the road (Stanford, Arkansas, New Mexico, Washington, and Oregon so it’s fairly understandable for them to be 0-5).   Omaha is undefeated at home.  Montana lost to a NAIA team at home, so it might be easy to write them off, but the Grizzlies have beaten North Dakota, Texas Southern, and Coppin State who are all division one, last I checked.  Don’t write them off.

They’re still well coached, they create an awkward match up for Omaha, both teams need this win for momentum heading into their conference schedules.

 

 

 

My trivial Summit League rankings: Dec. 16

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1st – South Dakota, 9-3

Last month’s ranking: 1st

Even with a knee injury to senior guard Triston Simpson, the Coyotes are the still the deepest team in the Summit League, even though they don’t really have a signature win.

Forwards Tyler Hagedorn and Stanley Umude combine for the best front court in the League, averaging 34.8 points and 14.2 rebounds together.

2nd – North Dakota State, 7-4

Last month’s ranking: 3rd

This ranking, while trivial, may actually just be based on respect to North Dakota State.

I don’t really like to compare team stats in the non-conference season because everyone plays different levels of competitions, and there are a ton of outliers.  North Dakota State, however, has a weird make up.

The Bison are currently 8th in the conference in points and field goal percentage, 7th in 3 point field goal percentage, last in blocks per game, 8th in forced turnovers, 6th in defensive field goal percentage.  They also have the worst RPI strength of schedule in the Summit.

The Bison are the reason people use the expression “they just find ways to win.”  That’s basically why they are 2nd.  And because I’ve ranked them low in the past, and then they do crazy things like win the conference.

3rd – Omaha, 6-7

Last month’s ranking: 4th

Last I checked, the Mavericks are still the only Summit League team with a win over a power conference school.

With just an 8 man rotation, the overall depth of this team could turn into a potential issue. Finishing in the top 2 in the standings will be most important for the Mavericks, as their depth may not be able to survive 3 games in 3 days in the Summit League tournament.

It cannot be stated enough how important Matt Pile is to this team.  His 19 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks against University of Texas – Too Many Words In a Name has to be one of the Baxter Arena performances by a Maverick.  Three of his assists came from him being double or triple teamed and he just looked at the weak side and saw a cutting Zach Thornhill or Marlon Ruffin to the basket for the easy lay up.  That’s not something he could do the last few years.

Watching Matt Pile on a basketball court is like watching a group of puppy shih tzus playing with a ball, and someone throws a 3 year old English bull dog into the mix and he just bulldozes his way to the ball and take it away from all the shih tzus and doing whatever the hell he wants for the rest of the day.

4th – South Dakota State, 7-6

Last month’s ranking: 5th

The Coyotes have had the luxury of not running into any big injury issues while trying to figure out their new roster.  I also wanted to say “while trying to figure out that new team smell” but I thought that would be weird.

The Jackrabbits have beaten the teams they were supposed to beat, and lost to the teams to the teams they were supposed to lose to.  Except for Nebraska, they should have beat Nebraska.

5th – Oral Roberts, 5-5

Last month’s ranking: 2nd

Oral Roberts is just weird and I don’t even feel like discussing them.

Emmanuel Nzekwesi has missed half of the season with an injury.

They’ve kind of played a tough schedule with Creighton, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Wichita State, and Tulsa but they’ve also played 4 non-division one opponents.

The guards seem selfish and look like they’re intentionally trying to miss jump shots.

Maybe when they get to the conference season and play a more consistent schedule things will turn around for them.

6th – Purdue Fort Wayne, 7-7

Last month’s ranking: 7th

If you watch the Mastodons play basketball, you’ll constantly find yourself asking what’s wrong.  Eventually, you’ll realize their problem is that John Konchar graduated and is now playing professional basketball.

Every offensive possession is played as if there is no plan.  That may be because Jon Coffman has elected to not play a true point guard in the starting lineup.

7th – North Dakota, 4-7

Last month’s ranking: 6th

The Fighting Upset Mascots wont play a home game this season against a division one opponent until January 5th when they play Fort Wayne, so it’s understandable they’ve had a frustrating non-conference.

I thought they turned a corner when they picked up wins against Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia Southern, and a 2 point loss against Campbell in a 3 day tournament.  They lost two games since and are now on a 3 game losing streak.

Freshman De’Sean Allen-Eikens has been a nice surprise for North Dakota, averaging 13.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and he’s already had 2 double-doubles on the season.

8th – Denver, 4-8

Last month’s ranking: 8th

The Pioneers have 2 more wins than most people thought they would at this point in the season, so that’s good.

I don’t really have much to talk about with the Pioneers other than something I want to vent about…

At the Summit League media day, Rodney Billups took a moment to mention junior college transfer Tristan Green could be a big time player for them.  After that, every person making a preseason prediction mentioned how Green could be a difference maker for the team.

Green averaged 2.5 points at a junior college last year, and people just took Billups’ word for it and thought he’d be some kind of stud.  He’s currently averaging 1.6 points in 14 minutes per game. I didn’t understand any hype given to Green, and I think Billups tried to jedi mind trick people.  That or Billups is in over his head as a head coach.

9th – Western Illinois, 2-6

Last month’s ranking: 9th

While 2-6, it might be worth mentioning that Western Illinois has been in all of their losses, with the exception of their loss to Indiana.

All of their losses have been in single digits and they only lost to Evansville by 4, who beat Kentucky.

The Leathernecks also shoot 85% from the free throw line.