Summit League Tournament Preview and Predictions

Summit League Tournament Preview and Predictions

Favorite

Oral Roberts

As the only team in the country undefeated in conference  play, picking Oral Roberts to win the Summit League championship is the most obvious and easy choice to make out of any prediction you could possibly make about a conference tournament. 

Not only does Oral Roberts have the best record since conference play began, they are also creeping into the top-25, as they received 40 votes in the last AP Poll. However, they have a flaw, that flaw being their non-conference resume. Outside of a win over Liberty, the Golden Eagles lost to every decent team they played. 

This could be due to early-season jitters, as their leading scorer Max Abmas didn’t shoot with the best efficiency against currently ranked teams. They also shot well against Saint Mary’s and Utah State, but lost due to their defense in close games. 

So, though I think they’ll win the Summit League tournament and be one of the most dangerous mid-majors in March, they’re not perfect.

Sleeper

St. Thomas - Minnesota

Obviously, nobody has beaten Oral Roberts, but St. Thomas has consistently gotten somewhat close. St. Thomas started the season strong, only losing by 12 to Creighton as well as picking up wins against Troy and Milwaukee. 

They weren’t as consistent during conference play, sitting at .500 at the end of conference play. However, their offense almost carried them to a win against Oral Roberts.

The Tommies shot a very nice 41% from 3 and 50% from the field, but lost by 7, giving up 95 points. They’ve proven that they can hang with the best teams in the conference, also beating second place South Dakota State, but since that game and the ORU game were both at home, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to get the same results, though they definitely have the potential to.

Bracket Prediction