Way Too Early Summit League Outlook 2023-24

[Old Titan]

Not a lot of meat left on the bone for this next season in the Summit League...and there's still a month to go before the transfer portal closes.

 

2023 Summit League Award Winners - Status For 2023-24

First Team All-Summit League

• Max Abmas, Oral Roberts^** (Sr., G) - TRANSFER PORTAL
• Trenton Massner, Western Illinois* (Sr., G) - EXHAUSTED ELIGIBILITY
• Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State (So., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Grant Nelson, North Dakota State (Jr., F) - GOING PRO
• Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas (Fr., G) - TRANSFER PORTAL
• Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F) - GOING PRO

Second Team All-Summit League

• Shemarri Allen, Kansas City (Sr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Parker Bjorklund, St. Thomas (Gr., F) - EXHAUSTED ELIGIBILITY
• Matt Dentlinger, South Dakota State** (Gr., F) - EXHAUSTED ELIGIBILITY
• Issac McBride, Oral Roberts (Jr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• RayQuawndis Mitchell, Kansas City (Gr., G) - EXHAUSTED ELIGIBILITY

Honorable Mention All-Summit League

• Tommy Bruner, Denver (Jr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Frankie Fidler, Omaha (So., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Tasos Kamateros, South Dakota (Sr., F) - TRANSFER PORTAL
• Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota* (Sr., G) - GOING PRO
• Boden Skunberg, North Dakota State (Jr., G) - RETURNING (?)

^Player of the year automatically earns a spot on the first team.

*previous all-league selections noted above

All-Defensive Team

• Shemarri Allen, Kansas City (Sr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Matt Mims, South Dakota State (Jr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• Grant Nelson, North Dakota State (Jr., F) - GOING PRO
• Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F) - GOING PRO
• Jesiah West, Western Illinois (Jr., F) - RETURNING (?)

All-Newcomer Team

• Tommy Bruner, Denver (Jr., G) - RETURNING (?)
• William Kyle III, South Dakota State (Fr., F) - RETURNING (?)
• RayQuawndis Mitchell, Kansas City (Gr., G) - EXHAUSTED ELIGIBILITY
• Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas (Fr., G) - TRANSFER PORTAL
• Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts (Sr., F) - GOING PRO

 

Player of the Year

Max Abmas, Oral Roberts - TRANSFER PORTAL

 

Defensive Player of the Year

Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts - GOING PRO

 

Sixth Man of the Year

Matt Norman, North Dakota - RETURNING (?)

 

Freshman of the Year

Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas - TRANSFER PORTAL

 

Newcomer of the Year

Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts - GOING PRO

 

Coach of the Year

Paul Mills, Oral Roberts - CASHED OUT

[Keenan Henderson]

Like death and taxes, we can count on SDSU and NDSU to finish in the top 2-3 in the league.  Omaha and North Dakota should be better as they return most of their top 6-7 guys.  ORU will be the mystery of the league.  How will the new coach and players come together?  Of course conference teams will want to get some revenge on the Eagles after the beating many of them received last year.  ORU will be on everyone's hit list.

[Old Titan]

22 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Like death and taxes, we can count on SDSU and NDSU to finish in the top 2-3 in the league.  Omaha and North Dakota should be better as they return most of their top 6-7 guys.  ORU will be the mystery of the league.  How will the new coach and players come together?  Of course conference teams will want to get some revenge on the Eagles after the beating many of them received last year.  ORU will be on everyone's hit list.

St. Thomas is another mystery team without Rohde returning and two other senior starters moving on.

If Carlos returns to join Issac, Patrick, Sir Issac and Demari in a possible starting five, with Trey and Cam coming off the bench for offense, I could see ORU being picked anywhere from 4th down to 6th. 

[dave]

I would enjoy seeing that lineup, especially if Coach Springmann can sign a big guy that can rim protect and fill up the lane and rebound. 

[Dr. Cornelius]

Has Nelson made any  announcement yet? Or are you just assuming (like I am) that he's probably gone @Old Titan ?

[jamtod]

UST's Bjorklund technically (I think) has 2 years of eligibility left (I'm not 100% clear on how that works for a guy who didn't play NCAA ball till his Junior/COVID season), so there's a chance he'll be back.

[Old Titan]

In response to previous questions:  other than names in the portal or social media announcements from players themselves, it's very subjective trying to ascertain player status in the off-season these days. 

Guys in the portal could return to their current schools instead; guys "going pro" but still with eligibility could at the last minute enter the transfer portal or return to their current school, guys who have already played 4 or 5 years in the NCAA (at any level) could appeal for additional years for a variety of reasons/excuses.

And there's no true indicator of which guys intend to stay put at their current schools, at least not until the '23-'24 rosters start popping up on school websites in August or September.

Bottom line:  the Summit League gets hit pretty hard these days in the off-season in regards to returnees. 

And if we think it's confusing as fans, imagine what it's like for Summit League coaches trying to recruit to team needs for next season.

[Keenan Henderson]

Joey Brackets just released his first look at the tournament pairings for next year and he has NDSU as a 15th seed.  I would guess that would be based on him thinking Grant Nelson is coming back to the Bison, which it seems no one knows that yet.

[Dr. Cornelius]

17 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Joey Brackets just released his first look at the tournament pairings for next year and he has NDSU as a 15th seed.  I would guess that would be based on him thinking Grant Nelson is coming back to the Bison, which it seems no one knows that yet.

I would think Nelson is back for NDSU at this point. I was surprised Grant didn't get an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational after some of the buzz he was getting towards the end of the season.

[Keenan Henderson]

This is a wild predication for next year's Summit League: no one will finish undefeated in league play!  After SDSU and ORU going 21-0, it will not happen again in 23-24.

[jmg1984]

20 minutes ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

I would think Nelson is back for NDSU at this point. I was surprised Grant didn't get an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational after some of the buzz he was getting towards the end of the season.

Not after ORU shut him down

[Bogus Smith]

1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said:

This is a wild predication for next year's Summit League: no one will finish undefeated in league play!  After SDSU and ORU going 21-0, it will not happen again in 23-24.

The Summit League will be won by a team with no less than four losses next year.  It will be a "King-of-the-Hill" dogfight.

[GoldenEagleFan]

1 hour ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

I was surprised Grant didn't get an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational

PIT is for seniors only. 

[Old Titan]

The better NBA prospects do not take part in the Portsmouth event. Very few of the participants will end up being drafted.

[ORob2]

This seems awesome!  Next three years, Summit teams will play Big Sky teams in early January based on last year’s NET rankings.

Edit: Looks like its a home and an away game for each team, so we'll probably play Eastern Washington and Montana State.

[Bogus Smith]

10 minutes ago, ORob2 said:

This seems awesome!  Next three years, Summit teams will play Big Sky teams in early January based on last year’s NET rankings

"This incoming campaign, the challenge will take place on January 3 and 6, 2024. For the Big Sky, this means there will be one weekend of in-conference competition on December 28 and 30, 2023, leading into the challenge the following week."   I don't think our students will be back for this series, should it happen at the first of the next calendar year.

Member schools include (in order of their finishing in 2022-23):

Eastern Washington	Sacramento State
Montana State	Portland State
Weber State	Northern Colorado
Montana	Northern Arizona
Idaho State	Idaho

 

[ORUSwagger]

28 minutes ago, ORob2 said:

This seems awesome!  Next three years, Summit teams will play Big Sky teams in early January based on last year’s NET rankings.

Edit: Looks like its a home and an away game for each team, so we'll probably play Eastern Washington and Montana State.

Thanks for this update. This is a plus for the SL and all teams. 

[Old Titan]

*sigh*

Only the Summit League, with schools in metropolitan areas such as Denver, Kansas City, Omaha, Tulsa, and the Twin Cities would think it's a good idea to send their marquee programs to places like Ogden (UT), Pocatello (ID), Cheney (WA), Bozeman (MT), Greeley (CO), and Flagstaff (AZ) in the middle of winter to play games that, win or lose, will most likely hurt their NET rankings.  #ThinkBigger