This was a very encouraging season in a very underrated league. North Dakota State is a nationally-relevant team, even if people don’t know it yet. South Dakota State has most of their nationally-relevant team back (except for Nate Wolters, of course, who is now paid by the Milwaukee Bucks), Denver plays some of the best defense in the country, and IPFW has had one of the most surprisingly good seasons anywhere. And, they don’t even have a solid NE-Omaha team playing in this tournament because they are still in transition.
NDSU is the overwhelming pick of the CTC this year, as 19 of the 25 took the Bison here. However, the other 6 picks were spread around 4 other teams, including one pick for last-place IUPUI to shock the league and win the tournament. Lohse has won at least a share of the Summit League title THREE times, including an outright victory last year, so he is clearly the CTC favorite this year.
CHAMPIONSHIP (March 11th – 24 points)
#1 North Dakota State vs #2 IPFW
Here we go, for all the Summit marbles (whatever that means…). All regular season the Bison looked head and shoulders above the rest of the league, and never more so than Tuesday’s semifinal against a good Denver team, when NDSU simply pounded the Pioneers 83-48. Their next and final Summit victim they hope will be IPFW, who played a very solid game in beating South Dakota State in the semifinals. The Mastadons have the 11th best FG% in the country, and the Bison aren’t exactly an elite defensive team, so there might be vulnerability there. And, one of NDSU’s two conference losses came on January 9th at IPFW, 82-71. I actually watched their whole February 8th matchup in Fargo (an 11-point NDSU win), and IPFW certainly didn’t look totally overmatched. They have a good front line, so if (and this is a HUGE if) they can keep Taylor Braun in check, they have a shot here. I’m certainly not predicting it, but this probably won’t be a second straight 35-point win for the Bison.
This is a pretty big game for the chase pack in the overall standings, as overall leader, Colton, is one of two people (along with Teddy) to take IPFW to win this tournament. If they don’t, Colton will give away 24 points to most of the field. Only GrossSr, Lazarow, PapaCim, and RDoc took someone other than NDSU here. No matter what happens, there will be a shared title with perfect brackets. Colton will win yet another conference title (he has a chance at THREE conference titles tonight) if IPFW wins – he will actually share perfection with Teddy. If NDSU wins, GrossJr will be perfect to win his second career Summit title and will share it with Stritts, who would also be perfect to take his first ever CTC conference crown.
North Dakota State 60 – IPFW 57
SEMIFINALS (March 10th – 16 points each)
#1 North Dakota State vs #4 Denver
The four best teams in the Summit League will compete in a pretty interesting semifinal double-header Monday night in Sioux Falls. The Bison of North Dakota State have been the Summit’s best team all year and are going to give some coach absolute fits trying to gameplan against if they are to win this tournament and make the Dance. The Bison beat Notre Dame, Western Michigan, Delaware, Towson, Santa Clara, Rider, and Bryant in a very impressive noncon season, which also included tough road losses at Ohio State and Saint Mary’s. This team, led by two guys that you are absolutely worth the price of admission, is a pretty big favorite to win this tournament. Dead-eye shooter Taylor Braun is as good as they come as far as mid-major guards go, and Marshall Bjorkland is one of the most efficient players in college basketball history. Check out this career – FR: 8.7 PPG, 65% FG; SO: 11.6 PPG, 67% FG; JR: 11.5 PPG, 67% FG; SR: 13.6 PPG, 64% FG. If you’re scoring at home, this dude – at 6’8″ – has scored 1,400 points in his career – 577 field goals on just 879 attempts – shooting at an astronomical 65.6% clip. Try to wrap your head around how ridiculous that is. Braun and Bjorkland open their quest to finish their senior years in the tournament against a tough, efficient Denver team. Denver is very good, but don’t let their unbelievably SLOOOOOW pace of play confuse you into thinking they have an elite defense. They are the second-slowest team in the nation (faster than only, interestingly enough, Jim Larranaga’s Miami Hurricanes), but their defensive efficiency is good, but not great. So, their defense gets overrated by their slow pace, but, on the flip side, they are actually incredibly efficient on the offensive end, which gets entirely underrated because they only score in the low-60s. Ahh, tempo-free stats…they’re FAN-tastic. Anyway, this should be a good opener of the Summit semifinal double-header.
GrossSr, PapaCim, and RDoc are the only 3 that have Denver in a solid upset pick here. The other 22 people all have NDSU, including 19 that picked them to win it all.
North Dakota State 83 – Denver 48
Uh…wow. Denver’s slow-it-down offense making their defense look better scheme falls apart when you allow your opponents to shoot 63% from the floor and 8-12 from 3-point land. 83 points and only 7 turnovers is remarkable. Taylor Braun went crazy, dropping 28 in an absolute rout of a semifinal for NDSU. Denver’s season ends ignominiously, to say the least.
GrossSr, PapaCim, and RDoc miss the upset here. 19 people keep alive a champion that looks pretty good right now.
#2 IPFW vs #3 South Dakota State
IPFW had a day off after their exhibition quarterfinal match against IUPUI where they torched the Jaguars by 38 in a game that wasn’t even that close. South Dakota State is on the backend of a back-to-back, though they did cruise over Western Illinois on Sunday night. Will the surprising season for IPFW continue to the Summit finals or will the Jackrabbits continue their hot play down the stretch and get one game from heading back to the Dance without the Wolters worship.
Only 10 people (Colton, Dave, GrossJr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, Scoot, Stritts, Teddy) have the 2nd-seeded Mastadons here, while 14 people have the Jackrabbits. Lazarow is the only one with no chance of winning this one, as he had IUPUI here. Colton and Teddy put their Summit champ on the line with IPFW; GrossSr puts his on the line with SDSU.
IPFW 64 – South Dakota State 60
The Jackrabbits entered this tournament playing very well, but they are ousted by 2nd-seeded IPFW, whose dream season continues. This game – in which neither team had a double-digit lead the whole way – was taken over by IPFW’s sensational freshman Mo Evans (the Summit League’s 6th Man of the Year and one of only two freshmen on the All-Newcomer Team), who came off the bench to go 6-7 from downtown plus 4 steals on the defensive end. Now, Evans and All-Summit forwards Luis Jacobo and Steve Forbes will move on to try and take down the might NDSU Bison.
10 people hit this one, including Colton and Teddy, who keep alive their Summit champ. GrossSr loses his champ here.
QUARTERFINALS (March 8th & 9th – 8 points each)
#2 IPFW vs #7 IUPUI
These two programs have switched places from where they were a few years ago. IUPUI, under Ron Hunter, was on the national landscape, while IPFW was still building. Now, IUPUI has fallen on hard times – and was really bad this year – while IPFW is a serious conference title contender. Led by the big guy in the middle, Steve Forbes, IPFW shocked all who picked them 7th in this 8-team league in the preseason, finishing behind only NDSU.
23 people have IPFW in this one. Only Bry and Lazarow went with IUPUI. Lazarow went crazy, though, and took the last-place Jaguars to win this whole tournament. Colton and Teddy have the most at stake here with Fort Wayne, as they have IPFW winning it all, so someone is going to lose a Summit champ here in the first quarterfinal. 8 more (Dave, Grossjr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, Scoot, Stritts) have IPFW reaching the finals.
IPFW 85 – IUPUI 47
IPFW absolutely plastered their rivals, IUPUI, here in the lone game of the Summit League tournament’s opening day. When you shoot 57% from the field, outrebound your opponents 37-23, AND force 16 TOs to only 10 committed, you know you THOROUGHLY dominated your opponents. We probably won’t see a blowout quite this bad throughout these two weeks. What a nightmare of a season for IUPUI, while a really nice season in Fort Wayne continues to the semis (after a day’s rest).
Bry and Lazarow probably aren’t proud of going for this upset. The other 23 picked up the easy 4 points. Colton and Teddy have to be happy with the performance of their Summit title pick.
#4 Denver vs #5 South Dakota
South Dakota was picked last in the league in the preseason, but the Coyotes were decent and can rise up and beat someone. Denver and their suffocatingly slow defense is loved by the tempo-free people, but they really didn’t actually win that many games. But, if these advanced metrics are any indication, they will be a really tough out in this – or any – tournament. The winner of this game will face #1 North Dakota State in the semis. A Denver-NDSU semi could be VERY interesting.
Only 7 people (Dave, Gersh, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, Primm, Stri) went for the mild upset pick with South Dakota here, with none of them picking the Coyotes to go any further. PapaCim and RDoc put their Summit champ on the line here with Denver. GrossSr is the only other person to pick the Pioneers to reach the finals.
Denver 71 – South Dakota 55
The Pioneers have had really good, tournament-quality teams the past two years, but while they underachieved a bit in the regular seasons, they also happened to pick seasons where there were special teams in the Summit. Last year, South Dakota State’s Nate Wolters, Jordan Dykstra, and company were not going to be denied, and this year, North Dakota State looked like a juggernaut. But, Sunday’s quarterfinal win for Denver sets up a semifinal date with the Bison.
18 people got this one right, including PapaCim and RDoc, who keep alive their champ. GrossSr keeps alive a finalist.
#3 South Dakota State vs #6 Western Illinois
The Jackrabbits have been kind of an afterthought this year in an interesting Summit League, but they are right there and definitely a threat, even with Mr. Wolters. The Leathernecks of WIU used to be relevant in this league, but this year is a building year, as their two best players are freshmen (and good ones). The future is bright for WIU, but it probably hasn’t arrived yet.
24 people picked the Jackrabbits in this one, with Scoot being all alone on Western Illinois, so he’s looking for a free 20 points here. GrossSr puts his Summit champ in play here, as he picked SDSU to win this tournament. 12 others (Alexi, Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Doogan, Gersh, J, Lohse, Lynch, Stri, Stumpf) have the Jackrabbits reaching the finals.
South Dakota State 71 – Western Illinois 50
In a close game most of the first half, the Jackrabbits ran away from the Leathernecks in the second half setting up Monday’s semifinal matchup with IPFW. Jordan Dykstra adds a double-double for SDSU.
Scoot misses out on a solo victory here, as the other 24 people all get this one right. 13 people keep alive a finalist with this one, including GrossSr, who keeps his champ alive.
CTC UPDATE
Championship Picks
- #1 North Dakota State (19)
- #2 IPFW (2) – Colton, Teddy
- #3 South Dakota State (1) – GrossSr
- #4 Denver (2) – PapaCim, RDoc
- #5 South Dakota (0)
- #6 Western Illinois (0)
- #7 IUPUI (1) – Lazarow
Biggest Upsets
- QF – #7 IUPUI (Bry, Lazarow)
- SF – #7 IUPUI (Lazarow)
Previous CTC Champions
- 2008 – Waters (perfect)
- 2009 – Doogan, Stri
- 2010 – Alexi, Bry, Lohse
- 2011 – Bry, GrossJr, Lil Lohse, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Stri, Teddy
- 2012 – GrossJr
- 2013 – Lohse
Final 2014 Scores
- GrossJr – 80*
- Stritts – 80*
- Dave – 72
- Mac – 72
- Primm – 72
- Scoot – 72
- Alexi – 64
- Becks – 64
- Caleb – 64
- Chris – 64
- Doogan – 64
- J – 64
- Lynch – 64
- Stumpf – 64
- Bry – 56
- Colton – 56
- Gersh – 56
- Lohse – 56
- Stri – 56
- Teddy – 56
- PapaCim – 40
- RDoc – 40
- WaTers – 40
- GrossSr – 24
- Lazarow – 24
