CSJ Summit League Men’s Hoops Preview & Review Feb. 12, 2020

NDSU PG Vinnie Shahid (Courtesy of NDSU Athletics)

The Summit League top three teams have seperated themselves from the rest of the pack over this past week of action. North Dakota State tied South Dakota State atop the standings, while South Dakota is just one game back of the co-leaders.

All three teams are on impressive winning streaks. South Dakota has won seven games in a row, while SDSU has four and NDSU with five.

Those three teams all but have assured themselves of finishing in the top three. It just the order that remains as each of these teams each play each other as we close out the regular season. The following are the future match-ups of the three front runners:

  • Feb. 19: NDSU at USD
  • Feb. 23: USD at SDSU
  • Feb 27: SDSU at NDSU

Those three teams are in action this week against some of the lower half of the league standings.

The fourth and fifth spots, however, will be up for grabs. Omaha has this spot now but the Mavericks are just a half game ahead of the log jammed fifth spot tie with Oral Roberts, North Dakota, and Fort Wayne.

Western Illinois and Denver are battling for the eighth and final spot for the Summit League tournament. Only the top eight (of nine) teams get a spot in the postseason tournament. WIU holds a one-game lead on the Pioneers for that spot right now.

The star in the Summit League last week was NDSU’s Vinnie Shahid. The senior averaged 27.5 points in the Bison wins at Omaha and at home versus Oral Roberts.

He won the Summit League player of the week for a second time this year and in the Oral Roberts win, scored a career high 31 points. He has reached 20-plus points in eight of 11 league games, including three straight now.

Here some highlights of Vinnie and the Bison winning my game of the week at Omaha.

This week, the fourth and fifh place teams meet to try to settle the middle portion of the standings.

Here is the full schedule this week wih my pick for each game in bold:

Wednesday, February 12
Western Illinois at South Dakota* (MSN/E+) 7:00 PM
Omaha at Oral Roberts* (E+) 7:00 PM

Friday, February 14
Denver at SDSU* 7:00 PM
Purdue Fort Wayne at NDSU* (MSN2/E+) 7:00 PM

Saturday, February 15
North Dakota at Western Illinois* (E+) 7:00 PM
South Dakota at Oral Roberts* (E+) 7:00 PM

Sunday, February 16
Purdue Fort Wayne at SDSU* (MSN/E+) 2:00 PM
Denver at Omaha* 4:30 PM
All times local to site | *Summit League game

With three weeks left, it looks like it could be any of the three Dakota teams that will win the league as each hosts one of the fellow contenders. This week probably won’t settle much but in week’s to come, we shall see who truly is on the Summit of the Summit.