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I went to the Sunday session of the Summit tourney for the games between IUPUI vs S Utah and IPFW vs Oakland.
Met Filbert and JackJD and both were tolerable considering my reputation here and nice people. I didn't catch too much flack for wearing my USD garb from anyone, at least not directly. It was pretty funny that the big screen had to catch a shot of me sitting with primarily SDSU fans. I went with an old work friend that also happens to be a passionate SDSU fan.
Now to the competitiveness. The teams are good but they aren't out of this world good. I noticed that fundamental basketball is still very important at the Summit Level. There were some very bone headed turnovers. IUPUI was a team I felt did not play up to their talent level. They had some very athletic guys, moreso than S Utah but didn't take advantage of it and ended up losing the game. Oakland was the most impressive team that I saw. I think NDSU was a bit lucky to beat them in the final as I felt Oakland was the better team through most of the game, but that was from my television perspective. In the games I saw in person there wasn't quite the level of urgency being displayed that I thought considering it was play for your lives basketball. I think the stale arena atmosphere might have contributed. I have noticed in NCC post season tourneys the same sort of ho hum basketball gets played because of an somewhat empty gym atmosphere. It was probably much different in the NDSU and SDSU sessions because the buzz level would have been different.
As far as USD, I personally think they would finish somewhere between 4th and 9th. I don't think they would win the conference but don't think they would finish last either. Where they would finish I think is up to interpretation but it's probably somewhere in the middle. Tyler Cain IMO would be a top 5-10 player in the Summit after that the falloff happens a bit but that is natural since he is a very good player. USD would probably be a bit on the slow side but their size would fit in well. They would be ok in a half court game but if a team up tempoed the game USD would probably not be able to keep up athletically or depthwise. I didn't really see a team that really ran up and down the court. It appears the Summit is mostly a half court conference. I kind of thought by past comments about Oakland that they were an up and down the court team but I really didn't see it a whole lot. They are just big and athletic everywhere. Generally what I saw from the tourney is exactly what I expected to see a nice brand of basketball at a low/mid major level but at a place where people cared about the tournament. It is nice to see the Summit lifted up in Sioux Falls
I liked the decor displayed at the Arena with the school logos on the floor and pillars in the arena entryway. It would be nice to have a better arena in Sioux Falls but I think peoples ire towards the arena is a bit overblow. I thought it was a respectable event. The Big screen sandwiching the top of the scoreboard helped the look inside. Hopefully the Summit will come back to Sioux Falls in a few years after USD's hopefull inclusion happens. I would like to see how well the Coyote fans could draw. Based on the 2,500 of them down in Kearney last year for the Womens title game I would think at minimum 4-5K would show up for a conference tourney game for the Men in Sioux Falls.
I went to the Sunday session of the Summit tourney for the games between IUPUI vs S Utah and IPFW vs Oakland.
Met Filbert and JackJD and both were tolerable considering my reputation here and nice people. I didn't catch too much flack for wearing my USD garb from anyone, at least not directly. It was pretty funny that the big screen had to catch a shot of me sitting with primarily SDSU fans. I went with an old work friend that also happens to be a passionate SDSU fan.
Now to the competitiveness. The teams are good but they aren't out of this world good. I noticed that fundamental basketball is still very important at the Summit Level. There were some very bone headed turnovers. IUPUI was a team I felt did not play up to their talent level. They had some very athletic guys, moreso than S Utah but didn't take advantage of it and ended up losing the game. Oakland was the most impressive team that I saw. I think NDSU was a bit lucky to beat them in the final as I felt Oakland was the better team through most of the game, but that was from my television perspective. In the games I saw in person there wasn't quite the level of urgency being displayed that I thought considering it was play for your lives basketball. I think the stale arena atmosphere might have contributed. I have noticed in NCC post season tourneys the same sort of ho hum basketball gets played because of an somewhat empty gym atmosphere. It was probably much different in the NDSU and SDSU sessions because the buzz level would have been different.
As far as USD, I personally think they would finish somewhere between 4th and 9th. I don't think they would win the conference but don't think they would finish last either. Where they would finish I think is up to interpretation but it's probably somewhere in the middle. Tyler Cain IMO would be a top 5-10 player in the Summit after that the falloff happens a bit but that is natural since he is a very good player. USD would probably be a bit on the slow side but their size would fit in well. They would be ok in a half court game but if a team up tempoed the game USD would probably not be able to keep up athletically or depthwise. I didn't really see a team that really ran up and down the court. It appears the Summit is mostly a half court conference. I kind of thought by past comments about Oakland that they were an up and down the court team but I really didn't see it a whole lot. They are just big and athletic everywhere. Generally what I saw from the tourney is exactly what I expected to see a nice brand of basketball at a low/mid major level but at a place where people cared about the tournament. It is nice to see the Summit lifted up in Sioux Falls
I liked the decor displayed at the Arena with the school logos on the floor and pillars in the arena entryway. It would be nice to have a better arena in Sioux Falls but I think peoples ire towards the arena is a bit overblow. I thought it was a respectable event. The Big screen sandwiching the top of the scoreboard helped the look inside. Hopefully the Summit will come back to Sioux Falls in a few years after USD's hopefull inclusion happens. I would like to see how well the Coyote fans could draw. Based on the 2,500 of them down in Kearney last year for the Womens title game I would think at minimum 4-5K would show up for a conference tourney game for the Men in Sioux Falls.
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