2025 Summit League Conference Tournament

The 2025 Summit League Conference Tournament will be held at its usual home, the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, SD. Even though there are two conference members in South Dakota, this is a neutral-site venue, as neither team plays home games there. This has been the home of this tourney since 2015 in every year but one, as the 2021 version was held without fans at the Sanford Pentagon.

All nine teams qualify for the Summit League Tournament with one NCAA Tournament berth on the line. St. Thomas is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to their transition status, so if they win, the highest-seeded postseason-eligible team gets the bid, which would be Omaha.

 

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How to Watch the Summit League Conference Tournament

When: March 5-9

Where: Denny Sanford Center in Sioux Falls, SD

Format: No. 8 and No. 9 seeds play in the first round; No. 1 and No. 2 play in the Quarterfinals on Thursday, No. 3 and No. 4 play in the Friday Quarterfinals; Semifinals on Saturday

Watch: MidcoSN, Summit League Network, CBS Sports Network; Championship Game on CBSSN on Mar. 9 at 9 p.m. ET

College Basketball Odds | College Basketball Betting Splits | Greg Peterson’s Daily Lines | Steve Makinen’s Power Ratings

Summit League Conference Tournament Bracket

Coming soon.

Summit League Conference Tournament Seeds, Teams and Odds

1. Omaha (+450)

2. St. Thomas (+225)

3. South Dakota State (+300)

4. North Dakota State (+260)

5. South Dakota (+2200)

6. North Dakota (+3500)

7. Denver (+5500)

8. UMKC (+4000)

9. Oral Roberts (+20000)

(odds from DraftKings Sportsbook accurate at time of publish)

Favorite To Win Summit League Conference Tournament

This is the NCAA Tournament for St. Thomas because they cannot qualify for the Big Dance due to their transitional status, as I mentioned above. The rankings sites have a difference of opinion on the Summit League, as Bart Torvik has the Tommies as the highest-rated team, but both KenPom and Erik Haslam of Haslametrics have South Dakota State as the top dog.

We’re staring at a likely matchup between St. Thomas and South Dakota State in the Semifinals, which makes top seed Omaha more interesting at +450. That said, North Dakota State, the likely Semifinal opponent for the Mavericks, is the third favorite to win the tourney. Torvik actually has Omaha as the fourth-ranked team in this conference, while KenPom has them a distant fourth and Haslametrics splits the difference, but still has them ranked fourth as well.

Summit League Conference Tournament Darkhorse

To be honest, I don’t see one. This is a very top-heavy league, as the odds for the tournament imply. One of the top four seeds is extremely likely to cut down the nets in Sioux Falls.

I guess South Dakota is the most interesting one because they play at one of the fastest tempos in the country and there isn’t a lot of defense played in this conference. Also, as the odds show with Omaha at the longest odds of any No. 1 seed in these early tournaments, the Mavericks are somewhat vulnerable. South Dakota did beat them and St. Thomas during the regular season.
A moneyline rollover would do significantly better than 22/1 if you wanted to look at the Coyotes.

Players to Watch in Summit League Conference Tournament

Defense is mostly optional in the Summit, as there are 27 players averaging double figures, led by Jacksen Moni from North Dakota State with 20.6 PPG. Teammate Jacari White has averaged 17.1 PPG, making the Bison one of two teams with multiple players in the top 10. The other is South Dakota, with Marquel Sutton (18.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG) and Isaac Bruns (14.8 PPG).

The conferences’ top all-around player may very well be South Dakota State’s Oscar Cluff with 17.3 PPG and 12.2 RPG to easily lead the conference in rebounding. Sutton’s 7.5 RPG are third behind Cluff and UMKC’s Jamar Brown with 7.6 to go along with 16.4 PPG.
The leading assist man is JJ White from Omaha with 3.8. Moni is second with 3.7. This is a conference where teams share the ball a lot and take a lot of jump shots in their half-court sets. Only one player, Nolan Minessale from St. Thomas, is averaging over 0.8 blocks per game. Regarding the Tommies, as good as they are, they only have one player in the top 10 in PPG, Miles Barnstable, but do have three in the top 20.

Betting Pick to Win The Summit League Conference Tournament

This is a very tough conference tournament to pick. Any of the top four teams could win it, with ample motivation all the way around with just one bid up for grabs. Like I said, this is St. Thomas’s NCAA Tournament since they can’t play in the actual one. If chalk holds up in the Quarterfinals, we’ll get two awesome Semifinal games with Omaha vs. North Dakota State and St. Thomas vs. South Dakota State.

It would seem like NDSU gets the better draw by getting Omaha, but they lost to the Mavericks twice during the regular season, so I’m a little wary of them and that could be some fuel for Omaha at +450. Ultimately, I’ll take St. Thomas. South Dakota State isn’t super deep and Oscar Cluff’s minutes have really been monitored. By virtue of being the No. 2 seed, St. Thomas’s Quarterfinal is Thursday and they have Friday off, whereas SDSU plays a back-to-back. I think that’s a big edge for a deeper team.

Pick: St. Thomas +225

Makinen Power Ratings for Summit League

Coming soon.

  • All eight games of the 2024 Summit League tournament went Under the total (100%)
  • Historically, the most extreme of totals in the Summit League tournament of late have trended Under as well, with totals >=153.5 at 13-4 Under (76.5%) since 2016 and totals <=130 at 9-2 Under (81.8%) since 2014.
  • Favorites in the Summit League have had a strong run over the last five years, going 31-7 SU and 21-15 ATS (58.3%) overall.

More Steve Makinen Conference Tournament Betting Trends.

Check out the other previews in our 2025 College Basketball Conference Tournament Betting Guide.

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