Summit Conference Tournament Odds: Oral Roberts Overwhelming Favorite

Defending  Champion South Dakota State Could Pull Off The Surprise

Oral Roberts ended the domination of North Dakota State and South Dakota State when Golden Eagles soared to the 2021 Summit League title. That ended a run of nine straight Summit League titles by either North Dakota State or South Dakota State. South Dakota State returned to the winner’s circle in 2022. The Summit Conference tournament odds list Oral Roberts as the front-runner this time around.

The biggest question is what will happen if Oral Roberts doesn’t win the conference tournament and receive the automatic spot in the NCAA tournament. The Golden Eagles are 44th in the NCAA NET rankings so the selection committee will have a decision to make. This is feeling more like a one-big league and Oral Roberts would be well advised to consider the league tournament as a must-win event to be a part of the March Madness bracket.

The tournament starts on Friday with North Dakota playing Denver as well as Omaha meeting Kansas City. The winners of those games get to face the favored Oral Roberts and South Dakota State teams in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The college basketball scores and predictions will have Oral Roberts and South Dakota State as heavy favorites in the quarterfinals.

The Summit League comes in 25th out of 32 leagues according to the Sagarin conference ratings. That ranking would drop a few spots if not for the presence of Oral Roberts. If Oral Roberts does get through the Summit League tournament, the Golden Eagles could be a popular pick to pull off an early upset by those who take part in the March Madness bracket contest.

Favorites

Oral Roberts heads into the conference tournament with 27 wins and the Golden Eagles have won 14 games in a row. It is no surprise to see Oral Roberts priced at -250 to win according to the Summit Conference tournament odds.

Much of the nation might not know much about Max Abrams. However, the 6-foot senior guard is 13 points shy of 2,500 in his career for Oral Roberts. In the transfer portal era, the Texas native has been with the Golden Eagles for the long haul. He has scored more than 22 points per game in each of the last three seasons. He has 18 straight double-digit scoring games as he is putting up 22.3 points per game as a senior.

The Golden Eagles are the only Division I men’s team to go undefeated in conference play this season. Five of the last six games have been decided by single digits, so there have been tense moments.

Two of the losses by Oral Roberts this season have come against top-ranked Houston and West Coast Conference regular season co-champion Saint Mary’s so the Golden Eagles have done more than just dominate in league play.

Defending champion South Dakota State was within two points or Oral Roberts with 20 seconds to play when the teams met in the final game of the regular season. The Jackrabbits are priced at +450 to win the title.

The Jackrabbits come in at No. 149 in the NET rankings so the only way they are making the NCAA tournament is by winning the league tournament.

Outsiders

North Dakota State has won four of the last nine titles. However, the Summit Conference tournament odds have the Bison at +800 to win the Summit League tourney for the first time since 2020.

North Dakota State has won five of its last six games. However, the Bison has lost to Oral Roberts and South Dakota State recently.

North Dakota State and St. Thomas are both coming in at +800 in the title odds.

St. Thomas is just 9-9 in league play and has lost its last two games. Sunday’s quarterfinal against Western Illinois will be no sure thing for the Tommies. Western Illinois is priced at +4000 with South Dakota at +5000 so not much is expected from either one of those teams.

When looking at the NCAA basketball spreads, St. Thomas leads the Summit League with an 18-10-1 record against the spread.

Projected Championship Matchup

Oral Roberts and South Dakota State have been the class of the league all season long. Both could face challenges in the semifinals.

It could be quite the championship matchup to see the defending champions facing the overwhelming favorite to dethrone them. The tournament being held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota could help the Jackrabbits as well.

With the large gap in their March Madness resumes, the seed of the tournament champion could vary quite a bit depending on who wins the Mar. 7 title game.

Oral Roberts is showing up as a No. 12 seed in some of the projected brackets. If another team wins the tournament, a No. 15 or 16 seed is more than likely.

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