Get to Know a College Basketball Mid-Major: Summit League

You know all about the Power 5 conferences in college basketball. You hear about those more than any other, and those groups often dominate the March Madness conversation. There are 26 other conferences out there, however, and our goal is to get you up to speed on the teams, players and fights in the standings to know before the conference tournaments, Selection Sunday and the official start of March Madness.

It’s time for you to get to know a mid-major: this time, it’s the Summit League.

"The Summit" is a midwestern-centered conference with nine teams, formed in 1982 — right around when the NCAA became the sponsor of women’s college basketball. None of the original conference members remain, however, so the present-day Summit, 32 schools later, is vastly different than it was at its inception. And will be different again a year from now, when Denver heads to the West Coast Conference for the 2026-2027 season, leaving the Summit with eight members.

In the present, though, all nine teams make it to the conference basketball tournaments, with the 8- and 9-seeds facing off in a first-round matchup to get the field down to an even eight. The winner of that game takes on the top seed, while No. 2 faces No. 7, and then the other half of the quarterfinals pits four vs. five and three vs. six.

The automatic bid for the conference champion is likely the only way into March Madness for men’s basketball, as that’s how it has been the last three years, and none of the teams are playing well enough to change that in 2026. Women’s basketball, though… well, it’s an open question, at least.

Summit League — Men’s College Basketball

Leaders:

• Points Per Game: Carson Johnson, Denver, 20.2
• Rebounds Per Game: Cameron Fens, South Dakota, 8.6
• Assists Per Game: Andy Stefonowicz, North Dakota State, 4.8
• Steals Per Game: Eli King, North Dakota, 2.2
• Blocks Per Game: Cameron Fens, South Dakota, 1.5

The Summit League men’s tournament field is already set, and will begin play on March 4. Oral Roberts (8-seed) will face Kansas City (9) in the opening round, with the winner taking on top-seeded North Dakota State on March 5. North Dakota State (7) will face St. Thomas (2) on the same day, with South Dakota (4) vs. Omaha (5) the next day, as well as North Dakota (3) against Denver (6).

North Dakota State was well ahead of the pack this season, going 14-2, two games ahead of second-place St. Thomas, four games up on North Dakota and six ahead of South Dakota, Denver and Omaha, which all tied for fourth. The Bison aren’t invulnerable, however: Denver beat them, 78-71, a month ago, and St. Thomas did so with authority on Feb. 26, 84-62. The first meeting between the two was much closer, with the Tommies losing, 68-65: a 1-point loss to North Dakota, a 98-94 defeat against Omaha and an 82-80 loss to Denver were the Tommies’ other Ls.

In short, the standings present some clear favorites, but the reality is that even the best teams in the conference are capable of losing to the ones in the middle of the standings. While most of the conference is in the bottom-150 teams in the league per the NCAA Evaluation Tool’s accounting, it’s not as if North Dakota State and St. Thomas are so far ahead that it’s clear it will be those two facing off in the tournament finals, either. St. Thomas is 106th in NET and 104th in Wins Above Bubble, while North Dakota State is 117th and 98th — neither figure suggests that there will be an at-large bid coming.

St. Thomas is powered by a top-100 (unadjusted) offense, according to KenPom’s Offensive Rating, as it scores 114.7 points per 100 possessions. The issue is that it allows 108.5, putting it 148th in Defensive Rating and resulting in an unadjusted 6.22 Net Rating. That is better than North Dakota State, however, which has roughly the same defense (108.3 points per 100 possessions, 145th) but with an offense that lags behind the Tommies, at 112.9 and 117th. Admittedly, those differences are slight, but since neither is particularly dominant it also opens them up to defeat. Denver, for instance, has one of the worst defenses in the league. Not the Summit League, either, but Division I basketball. However, it also ranks 67th in Offensive Rating, meaning if it does play serviceable defense and the offense is cooking, either of the Bisons or Tommies could go down.

Summit League - Women’s College Basketball

Leaders:

• Points Per Game: Brooklyn Meyer, South Dakota State, 22.1 (10th in D-I)
• Rebounds Per Game: Avril Smith, Omaha, 11.5 (9th in D-I)
• Assists Per Game: Jade Hood, St. Thomas/Mackenzie Hughes, North Dakota, 3.5
• Steals Per Game: Alyssa Sand, St. Thomas, 2.3
• Blocks Per Game: Avril Smith, Omaha, 2.2

The women’s Summit League standings and tournament seeding are also set: Omaha (8) faces North Dakota (9) on day one, March 4, then the tournament resumes March 5 with South Dakota (2) facing Kansas City (7) and North Dakota State (1) against the winner of Omaha-North Dakota. Oral Roberts (4) takes on St. Thomas (5) on the second day of the quarterfinals, then South Dakota (3) faces Denver (6).

Unlike with the men’s Summit League, there are two genuinely tournament-worthy teams in the Summit. However, because of the fact that one of the two will lose a game in the Summit League tournament, that might not result in an at-large bid. South Dakota State (24-6) is 43rd in NET and 46th in WAB, while North Dakota State (24-3) ranks 45th and 50th. That’s two top-50 teams in both NET and WAB, but again, there might be just one when Summit League play is truly over.

It’s not difficult to see why it’s these two teams standing so far ahead of the rest — the next-best team in the Summit by NET is South Dakota, at 114, and the only other top-200 one is Oral Roberts at 184. The difference is that each has a player driving them to a possible March Madness berth to a degree that outshines what anyone else in the Summit League is doing, as well as most of the rest of Division I. South Dakota State senior forward Brooklyn Meyer is the Summit’s leading scorer at 22.1 points per game, but she also has a Player Efficiency Rating of 46.0, which puts her second in Division I behind UConn’s Sarah Strong. Right behind her, in both the Summit PER rankings as well as D-I’s, is North Dakota State junior forward Avery Koenen, at 45.6. Just two other players — Iowa State’s Audi Crooks and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo — have a PER over 40.

Meyer has the top Plus/Minus in the Summit; Koenen is second. Koenen has the best Offensive Rating (136.4) and Defensive Rating (77.2) in the conference; Meyer is second and fifth. Koenen is second in the Summit in rebounds per game; Meyer is third. As said, Meyer leads the conference in scoring — Koenen is in third, at 19.2 points.

Meyer leads in shooting percentage (65.3%), and is averaging 7.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 blocks per game. Koenen is behind in points, but has 11 rebounds per, with 2.3 assists and over a steal and block each per game. Both players can change the direction of a Summit League game on their own, and chances are good the two are going to clash in the conference finals. It’s possible — not likely, but possible — that both teams end up making it to March Madness if that happens and the championship game is a close, impressive affair for both teams, but if there is any one-sidedness to it at all, then it’s unlikely the human element of the Selection Committee is going to overlook what WAB cannot.

North Dakota State’s lone loss in conference play? That came against South Dakota State on Feb. 25, 59-54. The Jackrabbits lost to North Dakota State back on Jan. 17 in the first matchup between the two, 76-68, and then to South Dakota to close out January. Since then? Seven-straight wins, including evening up the season series with the Bison.