2022–23 Summit League men's basketball season

The 2022-23 Summit League men's basketball season started non-conference play on November 7, 2022, and began conference play on December 19, 2022. The regular season will end on February 25, 2023, and will set up the 2023 Summit League men's basketball tournament from March 3 to March 7, 2023.
Oral Roberts finished league play with a perfect 18-0 record, the second time that has happened in the Summit League's history and second year in a row a team has finished with a perfect league record (South Dakota State). In the postseason, Oral Roberts made the 2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a 12 seed. They lost to Duke in the first round.

2022–23 Summit League men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
Regular season
Regular season champion	Oral Roberts
Season MVP	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Summit League tournament
Champions	Oral Roberts
Runners-up	North Dakota State
Tournament MVP	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Seasons
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

2022–23 Summit League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Oral Roberts †	18	–	0		1.000			30	–	5		.857
South Dakota State	13	–	5		.722			19	–	13		.594
North Dakota State	11	–	7		.611			16	–	17		.485
Western Illinois	9	–	9		.500			16	–	14		.533
St. Thomas*	9	–	9		.500			19	–	14		.576
South Dakota	7	–	11		.389			12	–	19		.387
Kansas City	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
Denver	6	–	12		.333			15	–	17		.469
North Dakota	6	–	12		.333			13	–	20		.394
Omaha	4	–	14		.222			9	–	23		.281
* Ineligible for the 2023 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division III
† 2023 Summit League Tournament winner

Conference Changes

Following last year's postseason tournament, the Summit League announced they would be expanding the tournament in future years to include all 10 teams. It will consist of an added day to the tournament with the 7 through 10 seeds competing for the typical 7 and 8 seed slots.^[1]

Head Coaches

Coaching Changes

South Dakota

On March 16, 2022, Eric Peterson was announced as the new head coach of the Coyotes,^[2] after former coach Todd Lee was let go.^[3]

Omaha

On March 18, 2022, Chris Crutchfield was named head coach of the Mavericks,^[4] after longtime coach Derrin Hansen was fired.^[5]

Kansas City

On April 21, 2022, three-year Roos coach Billy Donlon left the program to be an associate head coach at Clemson.^[6] Then on April 26, 2022, Marvin Menzies was announced to be the new head coach for Kansas City.^[7]

Coaches

Team	Head Coach	Previous Job	Years At School	Record at School	Summit League Record	Summit League Titles	NCAA tournaments	NCAA Sweet 16's
Denver	Jeff Wulbrun	Stanford (Assistant)	2	11–21	7–11	0	0	0
Kansas City	Marvin Menzies	Grand Canyon (Associate HC)	1	0–0	0–0	0	5	0
Omaha	Chris Crutchfield	Oregon (Assistant)	1	0–0	0–0	0	0	0
North Dakota	Paul Sather	Northern State (Assistant)	4	30–60	17–33	0	0	0
North Dakota State	David Richman	North Dakota State (Assistant)	9	159–97	82–46	3	2	0
Oral Roberts	Paul Mills	Baylor (Assistant)	6	76–79	43–36	1	1	1
St. Thomas	John Tauer	St. Thomas (Assistant)	12	228–70^	4–14	0	0^^	0^^^
South Dakota	Eric Peterson	Utah (Assistant)	1	0–0	0–0	0	0	0
South Dakota State	Eric Henderson	South Dakota State (Assistant)	4	68–22	40–6	1	1	0
Western Illinois	Rob Jeter	Minnesota (Assistant)	3	23–31	12–20	0	0	0

Notes:

• Year at school includes 2022-23 season.
• Overall and Summit League records are from the time at their current school and are through the end of the 2021-22.
• NCAA tournament appearances are from the time at current school only.

^218 wins and 50 losses at the Division III level

^^8 NCAA Division III Tournaments

^^^4 NCAA Division III Sweet 16s, 2 NCAA Division III Final Fours, and 1 NCAA Division III National Championship

Preseason Awards

The Preseason Summit League men's basketball polls were released on October 11, 2022.^[8]

Preseason men's basketball polls

First Place Votes in Parentheses

1. Oral Roberts (28) - 731
2. South Dakota State (11) - 668
3. South Dakota (1) - 602
4. North Dakota State - 549
5. Denver - 432
6. Kansas City - 310
7. Western Illinois - 294
8. St. Thomas - 289
9. Omaha - 279
10. North Dakota - 174

Preseason Honors

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Preseason All-Summit League First Team	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
	Luke Appel, South Dakota State
	Frankie Fidler, Omaha
	Trenton Massner, Western Illinois
	Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State
	Grant Nelson, North Dakota State
Preseason All-Summit League Second Team	Mason Archambault, South Dakota
	Issac McBride, Oral Roberts
	Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota
	A.J. Plitzuweit, South Dakota
	Tevin Smith, Denver

Regular season

Conference standings

Current as of February 25, 2023^[9]

		Conference		Overall
Rank	Team	Record	Percent	Record	Percent	Tiebreaker
1	Oral Roberts	18–0	1.000	27–4	0.871
2	South Dakota State	13–5	0.722	18–12	0.600
3	North Dakota State	11–7	0.611	14–16	0.467
4	Western Illinois	9–9	0.500	16–13	0.552	1–1 vs South Dakota
5	St. Thomas	9–9	0.500	18–13	0.581	0–2 vs South Dakota
7	South Dakota	7–11	0.389	12–18	0.400	2–0 vs St. Thomas
6	Kansas City	7–11	0.389	11–20	0.355	1–1 vs St. Thomas
8	Denver	6–12	0.333	15–16	0.484	1–1 vs Western Illinois
9	North Dakota	6–12	0.333	12–19	0.387	0–2 vs Western Illinois
10	Omaha	4–14	0.222	8–22	0.267

Conference Matrix

	Denver	Kansas City	North Dakota	North Dakota State	Omaha	Oral Roberts	St. Thomas	South Dakota	South Dakota State	Western Illinois
vs. Denver	–	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1
vs. Kansas City	1–1	–	2–0	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1
vs. North Dakota	1–1	0–2	–	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0
vs. North Dakota State	0–2	1–1	0–2	–	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. Omaha	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	–	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1
vs. Oral Roberts	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	–	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2
vs. St. Thomas	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	–	2–0	1–1	1–1
vs. South Dakota	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–2	–	2–0	1–1
vs. South Dakota State	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	–	1–1
vs. Western Illinois	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	–
Total	6–12	7–11	6–12	11–7	4–14	18–0	9–9	7–11	13–5	9–9

Through February 25, 2023

Players of the Week

Week^[10]	Player(s) of the Week	School
Nov. 14	A.J. Plitzuweit	South Dakota
Nov. 21	Riley Miller	St. Thomas
Nov. 28	Rayquawndis Mitchell	Kansas City
Dec. 5	Trenton Massner	Western Illinois
Dec. 12	Boden Skunberg	North Dakota State
Dec. 19	Max Abmas	Oral Roberts
Dec. 26	Parker Bjorklund	St. Thomas (2)
Jan. 2	Zeke Mayo	South Dakota State
Jan. 9	Max Abmas (2)	Oral Roberts (2)
Jan. 16	Max Abmas (3)	Oral Roberts (3)
Jan. 23	Zeke Mayo (2)	South Dakota State (2)
Jan. 30	Trenton Massner (2)	Western Illinois (2)
Feb. 6	Zeke Mayo (3)	South Dakota State (3)
Feb. 13	Max Abmas (4)	Oral Roberts (4)
Feb. 20	Grant Nelson	North Dakota State (2)
Feb. 27	Trenton Massner (3)	Western Illinois (3)

Records against other conferences

As of January 10, 2023:

Major 7 Conferences	Record	Major 7 Conferences	Record
ACC	None	American	1-2
Big East	0-3	Big Ten	0-4
Big 12	0-4	Pac-12	0-2
SEC	1-5	Major 7 Total	2-19
Other Division I Conferences	Record	Other Division I Conferences	Record
Atlantic 10	1-0	ASUN	1-2
America East	None	Big Sky	3-6
Big South	None	Big West	1-0
Colonial	1-0	Conference USA	0-1
Horizon League	2-2	Ivy League	None
MAAC	None	MAC	1-4
MEAC	None	MVC	4-1
MWC	1-3	NEC	3-0
OVC	2-0	Patriot League	None
SoCon	1-0	Southland	4-0
SWAC	2-0	Sun Belt	2-2
WAC	3-3	WCC	2-3
Other Division I Total			34-26
NCAA Division I Total			36-45
NCAA Division II Total			4-1
NCAA Division III Total			7-0
NAIA Total			3-0
NCCAA Total			1-0
Total Non-Conference Record			50-46

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

Summit League record against ranked teams (rankings from AP Poll):

Summit League teams in Bold

Date	Visitor	Home	Site	Gamename	Score	Conference record	Reference
Nov 7	Omaha	No. 5 Kansas	Allen Fieldhouse • Lawrence, KS		64-89	0-1	^[11]
Nov 7	St. Thomas	No. 9 Creighton	CHI Health Center Omaha • Omaha, NE		60-72	0-2	^[12]
Nov 7	North Dakota State	No. 10 Arkansas	Bud Walton Arena • Fayetteville, AR		58-76	0-3	^[13]
Nov 10	North Dakota	No. 9 Creighton	CHI Health Center Omaha • Omaha, NE		61-96	0-4	^[14]
Nov 10	North Dakota State	No. 5 Kansas	Allen Fieldhouse • Lawrence, KS		59-82	0-5	^[15]
Nov 14	Oral Roberts	No. 3 Houston	Fertitta Center • Houston, TX	Cougar Classic	45-83	0-6	^[16]
Nov 16	South Dakota State	No. 9 Arkansas	Bud Walton Arena • Fayetteville, AR		56-71	0-7	^[17]
Nov 21	Omaha	No. 25 Iowa	Carver-Hawkeye Arena • Iowa City, IA	Emerald Coast Classic - Campus Game	64-100	0-8	^[18]
Nov 30	North Dakota	No. 23 Iowa State	James H. Hilton Coliseum • Ames, IA		44-63	0-9	^[19]
Dec 3	South Dakota State	No. 11 Alabama	Coleman Coliseum • Tuscaloosa, AL		65-78	0-10	^[20]
Dec 10	Denver	No. 19 UCLA	Pauley Pavilion • Los Angeles, CA		64-87	0-11	^[21]

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking

† denotes games was played on neutral site

Points scored

Team	For	Against	Difference
Denver	2185	2258	-73
Kansas City	1901	1971	-70
North Dakota	2065	2119	-54
North Dakota State	2043	2042	+1
Omaha	2003	2242	-239
Oral Roberts	2455	2046	+409
St. Thomas	2177	2031	+146
South Dakota	1929	2082	-153
South Dakota State	1990	1970	+20
Western Illinois	1981	1963	+18

Through February 18, 2023^[22]

Home attendance

Team	Arena	Capacity	Total Games	Average Attendance	Attendance High	Total Attendance	% of Capacity
Denver	Hamilton Gymnasium	2,500	14	1,001	1,335 Feb. 25 vs. Omaha	14,024	40.1%
Kansas City	Swinney Recreation Center	1,500	14	936	1,532 Feb. 18 vs. North Dakota	13,108	62.4%
North Dakota	Betty Engelstad Sioux Center	3,300	16	1,449	2,458 Dec. 30 vs. North Dakota St	23,187	43.9%
North Dakota State	Scheels Center	5,460	13	1,952	3,867 Jan. 27 vs. North Dakota	25,388	35.8%
Omaha	Baxter Arena	7,898	12	2,227	4,316 Dec. 13 vs. Midland	26,734	28.2%
Oral Roberts	Mabee Center	10,154	16	5,314	8,012 Feb. 18 vs. North Dakota St	85,030	52.3%
St. Thomas	Schoenecker Arena	1,800	14	1,264	2,013 Feb. 9 vs. Oral Roberts	17,696	70.2%
South Dakota	Sanford Coyote Sports Center	6,000	13	2,024	4,605 Jan. 14 vs. South Dakota St	26,324	33.7%
South Dakota State	Frost Arena	6,500	12	2,288	4,421 Feb. 11 vs. South Dakota	27,464	35.2%
Western Illinois	Western Hall	5,139	14	716	1,681 Feb. 11 vs. Oral Roberts	10,036	13.9%

Bold - Exceed capacity
As of February 25, 2023
Does not include exhibition games

All-League Honors

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Defensive Player of the Year	Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts
Sixth Man of the Year	Matt Norman, North Dakota
Freshman of the Year	Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas
Newcomer of the Year	Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts
Coach of the Year	Paul Mills, Oral Roberts
All-Summit League First Team	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
	Trenton Massner, Western Illinois
	Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State
	Grant Nelson, North Dakota State
	Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas
	Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts
All-Summit League Second Team	Shemarri Allen, Kansas City
	Parker Byorklund, St. Thomas
	Matt Dentlinger, South Dakota State
	Issac McBride, Oral Roberts
	Rayquawndis Mitchell, Kansas City
All-Summit League Honorable Mention	Tommy Bruner, Denver
	Frankie Fidler, Omaha
	Tasos Kamateros, South Dakota
	Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota
	Boden Skunberg, North Dakota State
All-Defensive Team	Shemarri Allen, Kansas City
	Matt Mims, South Dakota State
	Grant Nelson, North Dakota State
	Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts
	Jesiah West, Western Illinois
All-Newcomer Team	Tommy Bruner, Denver
	William Kyle III, South Dakota State
	Rayquawndis Mitchell, Kansas City
	Andrew Rohde, St. Thomas
	Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts

Source:^[23]

Postseason

Conference Tournament

All 10 teams qualify for the Summit League tournament. The tournament is held at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It will be held this season from March 3 to March 7, 2023.

	First Round March 3 ESPN+					Quarterfinals March 4 & 5 ESPN+					Semifinals March 6 ESPN+					Championship March 7 ESPN2
						1	Oral Roberts	96
	8	Denver	68			9	North Dakota	80
	9	North Dakota	83								1	Oral Roberts	70
											5	St. Thomas	65
						4	Western Illinois	60
						5	St. Thomas	67
																1	Oral Roberts	92
																3	North Dakota State	58
						2	South Dakota State	63
	7	Kansas City	61			10	Omaha	55
	10	Omaha	73								2	South Dakota State	79
											3	North Dakota State	89
						3	North Dakota State	70
						6	South Dakota	68

NCAA tournament

Seed	Region	School	First Round	Second Round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
No. 12	Orlando Regional	Oral Roberts	lost to No. 5 Duke 51–74	—	—	—	—	—
	1 Bid	W-L (%):	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–1 (.000)

References

1. "On-sale date for 2023 Summit League Basketball Championships tickets set for Oct. 18". thesummitleague.org. The Summit League. August 22, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
2. "Peterson Introduced as Coyotes' 19th Head Men's Basketball Coach". goyotes.com. University of South Dakota Athletics. March 16, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
3. "USD Athletics Announces Men's Basketball Coaching Change". goyotes.com. University of South Dakota Athletics. March 10, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
4. "Crutchfield Named Omaha Men's Basketball Head Coach". omavs.com. University of Nebraska-Omaha Athletics. March 18, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
5. "Omaha Athletics Announces Leadership Change for the Men's Basketball Program". omavs.com. University of Nebraska-Omaha Athletics. March 6, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
6. "Kansas City Men's Basketball Head Coach Donlon to Pursue Other Opportunities". kcroos.com. Kansas City Roos Athletics. April 21, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
7. "Marvin Menzies Tabbed as Roos' Men's Basketball Coach". kcroos.com. Kansas City Roos Athletics. April 26, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
8. "Golden Eagles top #SummitMBB preseason poll". The Summit League. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
9. "2022 Men's Basketball Standings". The Summit League. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
10. "2022-23 TicketSmarter Men's Basketball Peak Performers of the Week". thesummitleague.org.
11. "Omaha Mavericks vs Kansas Jayhawks". ESPN. November 7, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
12. "St. Thomas - Minnesota Tommies vs Creighton Bluejays". ESPN. November 7, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
13. "North Dakota State Bison vs Arkansas Razorbacks". ESPN. November 7, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
14. "North Dakota Fighting Hawks vs Creighton Bluejays". ESPN. November 10, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
15. "North Dakota State Bison vs Kansas Jayhawks". ESPN. November 10, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
16. "Oral Roberts Golden Eagles vs Houston Cougars". ESPN. November 14, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
17. "South Dakota State Jackrabbits vs Arkansas Razorbacks". ESPN. November 16, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
18. "Omaha Mavericks vs Iowa Hawkeyes". ESPN. November 21, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
19. "North Dakota Fighting Hawks vs Iowa State Cyclones". ESPN. November 30, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
20. "South Dakota State Jackrabbits vs Alabama Crimson Tide". ESPN. December 3, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
21. "Denver Pioneers vs UCLA Bruins". ESPN. December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
22. "Sortable Team Stats". Retrieved February 18, 2023.
23. "ORU's Abmas nets second #SummitMBB Player of the Year Award". thesummitleague.org. The Summit League. March 2, 2023. Retrieved March 2, 2023.