2021–22 Summit League men's basketball season

The 2021–22 Summit League Conference men's basketball season started non-conference play on November 9, 2021, and began conference play on December 20, 2021. The regular season ended on February 26, 2022, setting up the 2022 Summit League men's basketball tournament from March 5 to March 8.
South Dakota State was the regular season champion, finishing with a perfect 18-0 conference record for the first time in conference and team history. The Jacks would go on to win the Summit League tournament as well, beating North Dakota State to reach their first NCAA tournament berth in four years.

2021-22 Summit League men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	10
Regular Season
Regular season champion	South Dakota State
Season MVP	Baylor Scheierman, South Dakota State
Summit League tournament
Champions	South Dakota State
Runners-up	North Dakota State

2021–22 Summit League men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
South Dakota State †	18	–	0		1.000			30	–	5		.857
North Dakota State	13	–	5		.722			23	–	10		.697
Kansas City	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
Oral Roberts	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
South Dakota	11	–	7		.611			19	–	12		.613
Western Illinois	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
Denver	7	–	11		.389			11	–	21		.344
St. Thomas *	4	–	14		.222			10	–	20		.333
Omaha	4	–	14		.222			5	–	25		.167
North Dakota	2	–	16		.111			6	–	25		.194
† 2022 Summit League tournament winner * Ineligible for the 2022 NCAA tournament due to transition from Division III

Conference Changes

Due to the addition of St. Thomas (MN), the conference schedule was expanded to 18 games. Each team played every team twice, once at home and once on the road.

Head Coaches

Coaching Changes

Denver hired Jeff Wulbrun after Rodney Billups was let go.

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)	1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Kansas City	Billy Donlon	Northwestern (Assistant)	3	27-27	7-7	0	0	0
Omaha	Derrin Hansen	Omaha (Assistant)	17	246-233*	64-74	0	0**	0***
North Dakota	Paul Sather	Northern State (Assistant)	3	24-35	15-17	0	0	0
North Dakota State	David Richman	North Dakota State (Assistant)	8	136-87	69-41	3	2	0
Oral Roberts	Paul Mills	Baylor (Assistant)	5	57-66	31-30	1	1	1
St. Thomas	John Tauer	St. Thomas (Assistant)	11	224-57^	0-0	0	0^^	0^^^
South Dakota	Todd Lee	Grand Canyon (Assistant)	4	47-40	28-19	0	0	0
South Dakota State	Eric Henderson	South Dakota State (Assistant)	3	38-17	22-6	1	1	0
Western Illinois	Rob Jeter	Minnesota (Assistant)	2	7-15	5-9	0	0	0

Notes:

• Year at school includes 2021–22 season.
• Overall and Summit League records are from the time at current school and are through the end of the 2020–21 season.
• NCAA Tournament appearances are from the time at current school only.

*110 Wins and 68 Losses at Division II level

**2 NCAA Division II Tournaments

***1 NCAA Division II Sweet 16's and 1 NCAA Division II Elite 8

^All wins and losses at Division III level

^^8 NCAA Division III Tournaments

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

Preseason Awards

The Preseason Summit League men's basketball polls was released on October 12, 2021.^[1]

Preseason men's basketball polls

First Place Votes in Parentheses

1. South Dakota State (23) - 636
2. North Dakota State (7) - 606
3. Oral Roberts (6) - 545
4. South Dakota - 480
5. Western Illinois - 356
6. Kansas City - 341
7. North Dakota - 279
8. Omaha - 255
9. Denver - 217
10. St. Thomas 120

Preseason Honors

Honor	Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
Preseason All-Summit League First Team	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
	Josiah Allick, Kansas City
	Sam Griesel, North Dakota State
	Rocky Kreuser, North Dakota State
	Baylor Scheierman, South Dakota State
	Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
Preseason All-Summit League Second Team	Will Carius, Western Illinois
	Tyree Eady, North Dakota State
	Noah Freidel, South Dakota State
	Xavier Fuller, South Dakota
	Tasos Kamateros, South Dakota

Regular season

Conference standings

		Conference		Overall
Rank	Team	Record	Percent	Record	Percent	Tiebreaker
1	South Dakota State	18–0	1.000	30–5	.857
2	North Dakota State	13–5	.722	23–10	.697
3	Kansas City	12–6	.667	19–12	.613
4	Oral Roberts	12–6	.667	19–12	.613
5	South Dakota	11–7	.611	19–12	.613
6	Western Illinois	7–11	.389	16–16	.500
7	Denver	7–11	.389	11–21	.344
8	St. Thomas	4–14	.222	10–20	.333
9	Omaha	4–14	.222	5–25	.167
10	North Dakota	2–16	.111	6–25	.194

Conference Matrix

	Denver	Kansas City	Omaha	North Dakota	North Dakota State	Oral Roberts	St. Thomas	South Dakota	South Dakota State	Western Illinois
vs. Denver	–	1-1	1-1	0-2	2-0	2-0	0-2	2-0	2-0	1-1
vs. Kansas City	1-1	–	1-1	0-2	0-2	2-0	0-2	0-2	2-0	2-0
vs. Omaha	1-1	1-1	–	1-1	2-0	2-0	2-0	2-0	2-0	1-1
vs. North Dakota	2-0	2-0	1-1	–	2-0	2-0	1-1	2-0	2-0	2-0
vs. North Dakota State	0-2	2-0	0-2	0-2	–	0-2	0-2	0-2	2-0	1-1
vs. Oral Roberts	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	2-0	–	0-2	1-1	2-0	1-1
vs. St. Thomas	2-0	2-0	0-2	1-1	2-0	2-0	–	2-0	2-0	1-1
vs. South Dakota	0-2	2-0	0-2	0-2	2-0	1-1	0-2	–	2-0	0-2
vs. South Dakota State	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	0-2	–	0-2
vs. Western Illinois	1-1	2-0	1-1	0-2	1-1	1-1	1-1	2-0	1-0	–

Players of the Week

Week[2]	Player(s) of the Week	School
Nov. 15	Baylor Scheierman	South Dakota State
Nov. 22	Evan Gilyard II	Kansas City
Nov. 29	Noah Freidel	South Dakota State (2)
Dec. 6	Colton Sandage	Western Illinois
Dec. 13	Baylor Scheierman (2)	South Dakota State (3)
Dec. 20	Francis Lacis	Oral Roberts
Dec. 27	Trent Massner	Western Illinois (2)
Jan. 3	Max Abmas	Oral Roberts (2)
Jan. 10	Max Abmas (2)	Oral Roberts (3)
Jan. 17	Trent Massner (2)	Western Illinois (3)
Jan. 24	Tevin Smith	Denver
Jan. 31	Max Abmas (3)	Oral Roberts (3)
Feb. 7	Marvin Nesbitt Jr. Baylor Scheierman (3)	Kansas City (2) South Dakota State (4)
Feb. 14	Sam Griesel	North Dakota State
Feb. 21	Evan Gilyard II (2)	Kansas City (3)
Feb. 28	Luke Appel	South Dakota State (5)

Records against other conferences

Power 7 Conferences	Record	Power 7 Conferences	Record
ACC	None	American	1-0
Big East	0-2	Big Ten	1-5
Big 12	0-5	Pac-12	1-2
SEC	1-1	Power 7 Total	4-15
Other Division I Conferences	Record	Other Division I Conferences	Record
Atlantic 10	1-1	ASUN	1-1
America East	None	Big Sky	5-7
Big South	None	Big West	3-0
Colonial	None	Conference USA	0-3
Horizon League	3-2	Ivy League	None
MAAC	1-0	MAC	3-0
MEAC	None	MVC	2-5
MWC	2-8	NEC	1-0
OVC	3-4	Patriot League	None
SoCon	None	Southland	2-2
SWAC	2-0	Sun Belt	3-2
WAC	2-6	WCC	2-0
Other Division I Total			40-41
NCAA Division I Total			40-56
NCAA Division II Total			2-0
NCAA Division III Total			7-0
NAIA Total			9-1
NCCAA Total			4-0
Total Non-Conference Record			62-57

Points scored

Team	For	Against	Difference
Denver	2257	2380	-123
Kansas City	2311	2085	+226
North Dakota	2178	2444	-266
North Dakota State	2469	2267	+202
Omaha	2088	2505	-417
Oral Roberts	2582	2306	+276
St. Thomas	2241	2260	-19
South Dakota	2329	2198	+131
South Dakota State	3005	2561	+444
Western Illinois	2493	2470	+23

Through March 8, 2022^[3]

Home attendance

Team	Arena	Capacity	Total Games	Average Attendance	Attendance High	Total Attendance	% of Capacity
Denver	Hamilton Gymnasium	2,500	13	792	1,607 Nov. 7 vs. Regis	10,305	31.7%
Kansas City	Swinney Recreation Center	1,500	13†	749	1,558 Feb. 26 vs. South Dakota St	9,738	50.0%
North Dakota	Betty Engelstad Sioux Center	3,300	15	1,380	2,541 Feb. 26 vs. North Dakota St	20,712	41.8%
North Dakota State	Scheels Center	5,460	15	1,913	3,510 Dec. 22 vs. North Dakota	28,700	35.0%
Omaha	Baxter Arena	7,898	10†	1,348	1,957 Jan. 29 vs. Kansas City	13,480	17.0%
Oral Roberts	Mabee Center	10,154	15	4,047	6,094 Nov. 26 vs. Oklahoma St	60,714	39.9%
St. Thomas	Schoenecker Arena	1,800	13	947	1,405 Feb. 12 vs. North Dakota St	12,323	52.7%
South Dakota	Sanford Coyote Sports Center	6,000	15	1,658	4,224 Feb. 5 vs. South Dakota St	24,883	27.6%
South Dakota State	Frost Arena	6,500	14	2,298	3,821 Jan. 29 vs. North Dakota St	32,180	35.4%
Western Illinois	Western Hall	5,139	12†	886	1,500 Nov. 16 vs. Iowa Wesleyan	10,635	17.2%

Bold - Exceed capacity
† - Does not include games where an attendance figure was not given
As of February 27, 2022
Does not include exhibition games

All-League Honors

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Baylor Scheierman, South Dakota State
Defensive Player of the Year	Marvin Nesbitt Jr., Kansas City
Sixth Man of the Year	Luke Appel, South Dakota State
Freshman of the Year	Paul Bruns, North Dakota
Newcomer of the Year	Evan Gilyard II, Kansas City
Coach of the Year	Eric Henderson, South Dakota State
All-Summit League First Team	Max Abmas, Oral Roberts
	Evan Gilyard II, Kansas City
	Sam Griesel, North Dakota State
	Rocky Kreuser, North Dakota State
	Baylor Scheierman, South Dakota State
	Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
All-Summit League Second Team	Mason Archambault, South Dakota
	Trenton Massner, Western Illinois
	Marvin Nesbitt Jr., Kansas City
	Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota
	Arkel Lamar, Kansas City
All-Summit League Honorable Mention	Luke Barisic, Western Illinois
	Paul Bruns, North Dakota
	K.J. Hunt, Denver
	Tasos Kamateros, South Dakota
	Issac McBride, Oral Roberts
All-Defensive Team	Boogie Anderson, South Dakota
	Tyree Eady, North Dakota State
	Trenton Massner, Western Illinois
	Marvin Nesbitt Jr., Kansas City
	Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
All-Newcomer Team	Luka Barisic, Western Illinois
	Evan Gilyard II, Kansas City
	K.J. Hunt, Denver
	Trenton Massner, Western Illinois
	Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State

Source:^[4]

Postseason

Conference Tournament

The top 8 teams from the Summit League qualify for the conference tournament. The tournament is at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

	Quarterfinals March 5 & 6 ESPN+					Semifinals March 7 ESPN+					Championship March 8 ESPN2
	1	South Dakota State	87
	8	Omaha	79
						1	South Dakota State	83
						5	South Dakota	60
	4	Kansas City	61
	5	South Dakota	74
											1	South Dakota State	75
											2	North Dakota State	69
	2	North Dakota State	82
	7	Denver	62
						2	North Dakota State	92
						3	Oral Roberts	72
	3	Oral Roberts	80
	6	Western Illinois	68

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

Only South Dakota State was selected to participate in the tournament as the conference's automatic bid.

Seed	Region	School	First Round	Second Round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
No. 13	Buffalo Regional	South Dakota State	No. 4 Providence	—	—	—	—	—
	1 Bid	W-L (%):	0–1 (.000)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–1 (.000)