Again, this might be a step above of being on the range of worthlessness of Joe Lunardi’s bracket on August 5th…

1. Omaha, 4-0

Mehehehehehehe.  Never give up on this team.  They have 5 wins so far this season where they had to make a push for a comeback, and they almost had a comeback win against Santa Barbara.  The Mavs also showed stretches of comeback attempts on Eastern Michigan and Wyoming.  They can be down 20 at half time, and they would still feel confident enough to come out in the second half for the win.  What’s the make up a team that is built for a comeback in a game?  One that can force a load of turnovers, score in bunches, and force their opponent into foul trouble.

One amazing thing is that Omaha is currently 4-0 in the Summit League, and do you even remember that this has been done without Marcus Tyus on the team?  The Mavs have a top 3 back court in the Summit with Tra-Deon Hollins and Devin Patterson to go up against the back court of South Dakota State with George Marshall and Deondre Parks, and IPFW with a back court of Mo Evans and Max Landis.  Now throw this out there for next season, the Mavs could again have a top back court with Tra-Deon Hollins and Marcus Tyus…

2. South Dakota State, 2-1

Hey come on, man!  They lost to IUPUI!  They played that game on the road without the lifeline of their offense, Jake Bittle.  Bittle is expected back soon.  The team is also playing without back up wing Skyler Flatten right now.

3. IPFW, 3-0

Fully admit to being down on the ‘Dons before the year.  Mo Evans is a top 3 point guard in the Summit League, Max Landis is one of the best three point shooters, and John Konchar is the top rebounder as of right now.

The ‘Dons have played a relatively new Oral Roberts, South Dakota at home who lost more than half of their scoring from last season, and a new and young Denver team.  Their next three games are at South Dakota State, at Omaha, and North Dakota State in Fort Wayne…so the ‘Dons are going to have a chance to actually prove themselves in the next couple of weeks.

4. IUPUI, 3-1

Their one loss in the Summit League is an away game at Omaha.  Beating Western Illinois in Macomb is not an easy task.  As one of the better defensive teams in the Summit, they were able to hold Garret Covington and JC Fuller to 11-of-30 from the field.

The Jaguars have two games at home this week against Oral Roberts and Denver.  Could they seriously be 5-1 in the Summit League?  Wasn’t this basketball team almost garbage when Marcellus Barksdale started his career at IUPUI?

5. North Dakota State, 1-2

The home winning streak is over!  The Bison had to go from that to going on the road at Oral Roberts, who was getting Obi Emegano back.  The Bison are young, but David Richland does not seem like a guy who is going to let them give up anytime soon.  The Bison will get a chance to get things back on track this week with two home games against South Dakota and South Dakota State.

6. Oral Roberts, 1-3

The Golden Eagles dropped their first three games, but two of those games were without the preseason player of the year Obi Emegano.  This team is almost completely new, and really have not had many chances to all play together.  Seniors Obi Emegano and Brandon Conley did not play in their international trip this summer.  Scott Sutton has only finished outside of the top 3 once in conference play since 2003-2004, and that was 2 years ago when the Golden Eagles were in the Southland Conference.

The Golden Eagles have to play at Western Illinois and IUPUI this week…two places not very easy to play.

7. South Dakota, 1-3

Many polls had the Coyotes selected 4th or 5th in preseason polls.  The make up of the team does not make much sense though to be qualified to be in the top half of the league.  They lost 54% of their scoring, have several newcomers, and a few players sitting out due to transfer.  South Dakota also had several injuries over the summer.

8. Denver, 1-3

Another team made up of primarily newcomers.  Denver is still a good team at home though, they were able to beat Oral Roberts, even though the Golden Eagles were without Obi Emegano, a win is a win…I guess.

The Pioneers are not known for being a great road team, and they have Western Illinois and IUPUI this week on the road.

9. Western Illinois, 0-3

They beat Wisconsin.  We get it, some people think they are a good basketball team.   You watch a game of theirs on ESPN3 and the commentators will talk about the Leathernecks as if they are a deep threatening team.  They are 0-3, and their shooting appears to get worse and worse.