10 team Summit League tourney

[98Jackfarmer]

Just got a email stating that in 2023 the SLT will go to a 10 team format. With the 7/10 and 8/9 teams playing Friday.

[poppa1]

Is St. Thomas eligible?

[98Jackfarmer]

Is St. Thomas eligible?

It said all 10 teams are eligable. I assume something has been worked out with the NCAA if a St. Thomas squad would win during their transition period.

[DieselJacks]

I like this for the fact it hurts the 7th and 8th seeded teams, but don’t like it for the fact that there will be some horrible teams playing in the tourney with a chance to win it all.

[goon]

I like this for the fact it hurts the 7th and 8th seeded teams, but don’t like it for the fact that there will be some horrible teams playing in the tourney with a chance to win it all.

If they can run the gauntlet and win the whole thing, then frankly they deserve it. It would stink if that would happen, but it would be impressive. They would have to win 4 games in 5 days correct?

I just wish I could keep going to the tournament.....Every year now gets harder and harder to make it work with kids and taking time off from work etc. If they still had the fan fest, that would honestly help. That was such a nice benefit having younger kids. Maybe the league didnt find it worth the value or effort. But as a parent with kids at the tournament. It made the tournament much more tolerable for little kids to be there all day.

[SUPERBUNNY]

This is starting to sound like SD HS Football and all of the classes. In AA everyone makes it and every year the bottom few teams get absolutely kerblastified (for your filbert) by scores of 50+ to 0. I agree that there is a greater chance of getting an upset in this is far greater but still unlikely.

Bottom line is this is simply a cash grab by the Summit League to separate us from more of our money for all-session passes.

Thumbs down on this for this guy. AND I LOVE the Summit Tourney.

SUPERBUNNY

[bigticket1]

I can't think of one good reason (other than $) why a team who would not be eligible to play in the NCAA tournament if they win, should be playing in the conference tournament to begin with.

[OldHare]

This is starting to sound like SD HS Football and all of the classes. In AA everyone makes it and every year the bottom few teams get absolutely kerblastified (for your filbert) by scores of 50+ to 0. I agree that there is a greater chance of getting an upset in this is far greater but still unlikely.

Bottom line is this is simply a cash grab by the Summit League to separate us from more of our money for all-session passes.

Thumbs down on this for this guy. AND I LOVE the Summit Tourney.

SUPERBUNNY

It appears the all session pass is still $120. It could be a way for everyone to get a participation ribbon. It is not likely to see a big increase in attendance with 7-10 playing on Friday. Some Jackrabbit/Yote fans may get another night in SF. It may increase the food and drink numbers by a few dollars. It is an add for the 9 & 10 seed only.

[Southeast]

I don’t see much problem long term. The St Thomas thing is weird, but only in the short term. The addition does several things I like:

- Provides more do-or-die basketball March games for fans. I might not travel to Sioux Falls until Saturday but I’d definitely watch at least part of the Friday games.

- Makes avoiding the 7/8 slots much more important than it currently is, which makes the overall Summit race more interesting.

- Decreases the odds that a 7 or 8 seed upsets a 1 or 2 on Saturday which (rightly) rewards the best teams a little more for their regular season work.

I like it.

[Jacks-02]

I don't have any issue with it. Keeps all schools engaged and rewards student-athletes with a positive end-of-year experience.

Probably will increase revenues a bit with another 4 games worth of fans attending games, which I'm sure is attractive to both the Summit League and the Premier Center.

The only possible downside is if a 9 or 10 seed wins the tourney, but the chances of that are near zero. Frankly, if a team can win 4 straight games against higher seeds, they deserve to go.

[SUPERBUNNY]

It appears the all session pass is still $120. It could be a way for everyone to get a participation ribbon. It is not likely to see a big increase in attendance with 7-10 playing on Friday. Some Jackrabbit/Yote fans may get another night in SF. It may increase the food and drink numbers by a few dollars. It is an add for the 9 & 10 seed only.

Glad to see pricing the same.

I do think the extra game decreases the chances of a 7 or higher seed winning it all. That probably isn't a bad thing.

SUPERBUNNY

[poppa1]

It says pricing starting at$120, wobder where those tickets are at

[SteelSD]

This change just really seems to make the advantage of being the 1/2 seed even greater. Not only do they play a bottom seed, they play one that had to win a game the previous day. Follow that up with the benefit of getting the day off the following day just seems to really reward the top 2 teams. And hey, more March basketball is not a bad thing IMO. Means I will have to take an extra day off to hopefully watch more BB that doesn't involve the Jacks and have more cocktails with Mitchell!

[jackdaniel]

It said all 10 teams are eligable. I assume something has been worked out with the NCAA if a St. Thomas squad would win during their transition period.

We weren't granted that kind of deal when we were in our last year of transition in 2007-2008, we had 5 yrs of transition from Div 2 to Div 1. Like I've said before, in 2007-2008, we won the reg season Summit title and won it pretty easily, we were the best in the Summit while still transitioning. If not being held back by the transition, we would have been the arguably odds on favorite to win the SLT and our first trip to the NCAA tournament. I wouldn't hope they couldn't participate, but then again, we had to wait another year to prove we were the best Summit team.
Not wishing them bad, but wishing we could of had that deal back then if they do indeed get to participate in the SLT. It really irritated me knowing we were a better team than the team that actually went to the NCAA tournament as the Automatic Qualifier. Just pointing out some facts along with my personal speculation on the final outcome of who'd be representing the Summit League in the NCAA Tournament if we had been allowed to participate in the SLT one year earlier.

I read back a few posts and didn't know that apparently, if i'm reading it correctly, that the deal would be St Thomas could play in the SLT, but if they won it, they couldn't go on to the NCAA Tournament? That would be a raw deal if it happened that way, but at least they could know that they were the best team in the Summit League and if they weren't in transition , they'd of went to the NCAA Tournament in their first year of transition, that would be quite the accomplishment for them I'd think. At least they would get to try, we didn't even get that in 2007-2008. I'd be for that 100%.

[bigticket1]

Summit League announces that if St. Thomas wins the tournament prior to when they can advance to the Big Dance (2026), that the regular season champs will get the auto-bid.