3MW’s All Conference Team:
Player of the Year: Max Abmas, So., Oral Roberts
Coach of the Year: Todd Lee, South Dakota
Newcomer of the Year: AJ Plitzuweit, R So., South Dakota
Freshman of the Year: Tyree Ihenacho, North Dakota
Season Storylines:
Okay, so South Dakota State did not dominate the way we anticipated, but the Jackrabbits did ultimately capture the Summit crown. They looked sharp in the season-opening Crossover Classic and won early at Bradley and Iowa State, but injuries, COVID issues, and Noah Friedel’s leave of absence from the team ended up draining the Jacks’ potency, making the league title race a much more heated one than expected.
That opened the door for South Dakota, which (until the season’s final day) shockingly rose to the top of the league with an entirely new cast of characters around star forward Stanley Umude. The task gets tougher in the tournament without AJ Plitzuweit, though, as the prolific D-II transfer suffered a gruesome knee injury on the season’s final weekend. For orchestrating that rise with so many new parts, Todd Lee should win Coach of the Year, though North Dakota State’s Dave Richman has a strong argument as well. Key JUCO transfer Donald Carter never got healthy, leaving the Bison to figure out an offense sans a true point guard, but they perservered into the league’s top three regardless.
Despite a few shaky performances during the year, Oral Roberts is a terrifying candidate in postseason play thanks to its duo of Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor. Both players are matchup nightmares, and Abmas is the kind of nuclear scoring threat that can carry a team through a tournament. North Dakota holds four wins over the bracket’s top four teams, so the Hawks are a threat, and Kansas City’s league-leading defense could also strangle its way all the way to a tourney title.
I cannot muster a case for Western Illinois or Omaha at this point, unfortunately (the Mavericks in particular have been gutted by injuries), and Denver did not even make the postseason field. The Pioneers’ administration unsurprisingly moved on from Rodney Billups; his 7-39 record in Summit play over the last three seasons basically demanded it.
Tournament Preview
Tournament Predictions
(1) South Dakota St. over (8) Omaha
(4) Oral Roberts over (5) North Dakota
(6) Kansas City over (3) North Dakota St.
(2) South Dakota over (7) Western Illinois
(1) South Dakota St. over (4) Oral Roberts
(6) Kansas City over (2) South Dakota
(1) South Dakota St. over (6) Kansas City