Old Titan Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 In case you needed proof the Summit League is up for grabs this year, just take a look at some of the highlights in this first week of play: 1. Preseason "favorite" (among league media, SID's, etc.) Fort Wayne has tumbled out of the blocks at 0-2, with losses at Western Illinois, and to IUPUI at HOME. Really don't understand how they were anyone's pick to win it all in the first place: they have a new coach with no previous head coaching experience. 2. Legitimate preseason favorite Denver lost at HOME Sunday to South Dakota, and stands at 1-1. Does that tell us Denver has issues, or instead that South Dakota is better than expected? Could it be both? 3. North Dakota State held serve at home in beating ORU and SDSU this weekend, but didn't look overwhelming in either victory. Remains to be seen how they will fare on the road. 4. South Dakota State stands at 0-2, but their losses were at Denver and NDSU - while they no doubt would have preferred at least a split, no shame in those two outcomes. 5. ORU looked pretty good at NDSU in their sole outing of the week, at least giving them a closer game than SDSU did the Bison for most of their contest. ORU and NDSU don't meet in Tulsa until the last week of the regular season; wonder how important that game may be? 6. Western Illinois is tied for first at 2-0 with home court wins over Omaha and Fort Wayne. Their previous best wins of the year had been over Alabama State and Idaho. So what have we learned? Nothing, other than there's obviously no Stephen F. Austin in this conference, and there's no Nate Wolters or Taylor Braun on any of these teams. The Summit League regular season title truly is ANYONE's to claim this season... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Always key in the Summit (or in any conference, for that matter) is holding serve at home and stealing an occasional road win. So, using the +1 for road win and -1 for home loss... here's how the first weekend stacked up: Omaha +1 IUPUI +1 Denver -1 IPFW -1 All others broke even... Omaha's road win at South Dakota on Friday sure looked a whole lot better after USD beat Denver on the road on Sunday. Another interesting observation.... Average margin of victory was 5.4 points, and in ALL eight games, the margin of victory was single digits. Widest margin was Omaha's 9 point win at USD - and closest game was Omaha's 2 point loss at Western. This all further validates OT's statement - the league title is WIDE open. And the March tournament should be a dandy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Yeah....this years' Summit title is really up for grabs.....ORU must win our next few games vs. IUPUI, Western Illinois and Omaha...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Actually, to meet the goal of "win at home, split on the road", ORU needs to win seven of their remaining eight games in January. Four conference games (plus Tabor) are at home - and need to win two of three on the road to balance out the early NDSU loss. If the Eagles pull this off, they would definitely be in the "contender" category entering the second half of the Summit season. Certainly plausible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 TheEagleman agrees, TrueBlue......we will definitely know what kind of ORU team we have within the next two weeks.....this season could go either way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDakotaState Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 SDSU throttled Western Illinois at Frost Arena 75-44. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 TheEagleman is not surprised that SDSU beat WIU but the margain is eye-opening......I am guessing that Western will be more than a little ticked when they take the floor Saturday night against us....still, this is a team we should beat....then again, this year with ORU....we never know what team is going to show up....could be a wild year in the Summit...any team can win anyhere.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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