How good are the top Summit teams?

[ORUJason]

Here's a quick look at the top 5 Summit teams (by RPI), and who they have actually played (not counting non D-1 wins):

ORU (94)

11-13  at  Texas A&M  11-1 (0-0) 8  53-67  L

11-14  at  Texas A&M C.C.  2-8 (0-0) 321  81-86  L

11-20    LA Lafayette  3-7 (1-0) 234  62-53  W

11-24  at  Lamar  1-6 (0-0) 276  65-57  W

11-27    Tulsa  6-4 (0-0) 140  84-70  W

12-01  at  Arkansas  9-3 (0-0) 75  51-62  L

12-06    North Dakota St  5-5 (1-1) 122  69-57  W

12-08    South Dakota St  4-7 (0-2) 270  80-51  W

12-18  at  Texas  10-2 (0-0) 24  56-66  L

12-20  at  Oklahoma St.  6-5 (0-0) 90  74-59  W

IUPUI (118)

11-10  at  Marquette  9-1 (0-0) 43  68-76  L

11-16    Portland St.  5-7 (0-1) 131  73-75  L

11-17  at  South Carolina-Spartanburg  1-9 (0-0) 247  80-54  W

11-24    Chicago St.  2-11 (0-0) 267  78-70  W

12-01    Massachusetts  9-2 (0-0) 17  89-77  W

12-08  at  Western Ill.  3-7 (0-1) 295  64-47  W

12-15    West. Michigan  5-7 (0-0) 151  71-63  W

12-17    Fla Gulf Coast  3-9 (0-0) 248  84-62  W

NDSU (122)

11-09  at  Florida  11-2 (0-0) 134  65-75  L

11-11  at  Rutgers  8-5 (0-0) 167  67-79  L

11-17    N.C. Central  1-15 (0-0) 274  104-51  W

11-19  at  Tennessee Tech  2-9 (1-2) 319  90-72  W

11-24  at  Wisc. Green Bay  7-4 (1-1) 116  77-85  L

12-03  at  Minnesota  9-1 (0-0) 28  56-88  L

12-06  at  Oral Roberts  6-4 (2-0) 94  57-69  L

12-08  at  Centenary  6-6 (1-1) 157  102-99  W

12-15    Colorado St.  5-7 (0-0) 194  83-69  W

12-28    Bucknell  4-7 (0-0) 214  68-60  W

Centenary (157)

11-09    Lipscomb  4-8 (0-0) 238  72-69  W

11-10  at  Iowa St.  7-5 (0-0) 105  57-67  L

11-17  at  South. Methodist  3-5 (0-0) 332  93-76  W

11-20  at  AR Little Rock  7-3 (1-0) 145  64-72  L

11-24  at  Baylor  8-1 (0-0) 25  62-85  L

11-27    Northwestern St.  1-8 (0-0) 279  105-90  W

12-01    Texas Tech  6-5 (0-0) 74  70-66  W

12-06    South Dakota St  4-7 (0-2) 270  80-77  W

12-08    North Dakota St  5-5 (1-1) 122  99-102  L

12-13  at  Louisiana Tech  2-9 (0-0) 335  62-50  W

12-20  at  North Texas  6-3 (0-1) 91  54-76  L

12-22  at  Georgia Tech  6-5 (0-0) 78  41-86  L

Oakland (189)

11-09  at  Wisc. Green Bay  7-4 (1-1) 116  75-76  L

11-17    East. Michigan  4-6 (0-0) 168  86-71  W

11-20    Duquesne  8-3 (0-0) 38  77-92  L

11-24  at  Michigan St.  11-1 (0-0) 7  71-75  L

11-28  at  Xavier  9-3 (0-0) 23  68-93  L

12-01    Bowling Green  4-6 (0-0) 285  90-80  W

12-06    Mizzou KC  3-8 (0-2) 277  114-105  W

12-08    Southern Utah  2-9 (1-1) 290  73-82  L

12-12  at  Michigan  4-8 (0-0) 175  87-103  L

12-22    Oregon  9-3 (0-0) 61  68-62  W

4 of these 5 teams have one win against a Top 100 RPI team, and according to RPI, the IUPUI win over UMASS (17) is more impressive than the Oakland win over Oregon (61).  It also shows Centenary's win over Texas Tech (74) as being more impressive than ORU's win over OSU (90).

With the non-conference season winding down, I consider these 4 higher-profile wins to be pretty good for the Summit League, but a lot of the other wins are against low RPI teams.  Really, Centenary looks pretty impressive with wins over Texas Tech, SMU, and Louisiana Tech, but then they were blown out by 45 points against Georgia Tech.

[ashVID]

It is hard to say, generally the Summit teams are forced to play on the road in adverse conditions against decent teams. It is really hard to get a bench for how good they really are. The biggest difference is the play of the 4-5 spots which generally tends to be much better in the bigger conferences.

ash  =o)