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The NCAA Tournament is a few weeks away, which means it’s conference tournament time to set the table for March Madness. We’ll be taking a look at some of the best teams in each conference, and providing picks and predictions each conference tournament. Plenty of favorites will win, but we’ve got some sleepers to consider that might be able to pull off a big upset on the way to the NCAA Tournament.
Here’s the bracket for the Summit Conference Tournament with TV listings, dates and times.
The Summit League will send one team to the NCAA Tournament with nobody sniffing at-large bid territory. Sometimes these tournaments are the most compelling of the bunch because every single game means so much with everything on the line. The North Dakota State Bison and South Dakota State Jackrabbits are atop the conference at 13-3 in league play. The winner of the conference is likely looking at a NCAA Tournament seed around 15.
Favorite: North Dakota State
The North Dakota State Bison are currently at +150 odds to win the conference tournament, slightly ahead of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits at +165. The two teams split the season series, with SDSU winning by five in January and NDSU winning an overtime thriller in late February. Nobody would be complaining if these teams play again for a shot at the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State is the best in the conference away from home as the only team with an above .500 road record, which is huge this time of year.
Sleeper: South Dakota
While everyone’s attention is focused on North Dakota State and South Dakota State, let’s give another Dakota some love with the South Dakota Coyotes, coming in as the No. 3 seed in the tournament. South Dakota has the fourth best odds to the win the tournament on DraftKings Sportsbook at +500. The Coyotes lost three of the four matchups with the Bison and Jackrabbits, but three of the four were by five points or less. They proved to themselves they can hang with the best in the conference and want another shot at the big boys.
Dark Horse: Omaha
The Omaha Mavericks are coming in as the five seed, and they’ve been playing good basketball as of late. Before a road loss to North Dakota State to end the regular season, Omaha won four games in a row and nearly five with an overtime loss to Oral Roberts. The issue is Omaha’s second game of the tournament would be against North Dakota State, which just beat the Mavericks by 20 on Saturday.