Hoops Habit
Fansided

NCAA Tournament: Updating Conference Tournament Brackets & Who’s Dancing

By Nathan Giese

Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
Dec 5, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; IPFW Mastodons huddle during an official time out during the second half against the Utah Utes at Jon M. Huntsman Center. Utah Utes won the game 96-79. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; IPFW Mastodons huddle during an official time out during the second half against the Utah Utes at Jon M. Huntsman Center. Utah Utes won the game 96-79. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports /

Summit League

Projected Champ: South Dakota State Jackrabbits

Actual Champ: South Dakota State & IPFW Mastodons (co-champs)

Bracket 

#1 IPFW vs. #8 South Dakota
 #4 IUPUI vs. #5 North Dakota State
 #2 South Dakota State vs. #7 Oral Roberts
 #3 Omaha vs. #6 Denver

I won’t be picking a favorite here, though I probably could, but given the weird, unexpectedly great season the Summit League has had, anything’s possible. But here are some things you need to know.

As mentioned in this piece Saturday, the winner of this conference is going to be a tough out in the NCAA tournament regardless of who it is. The top three seeds — IPFW, South Dakota State and Omaha — all present very different challenges to major conference teams and could be that Cinderella everyone’s looking for.

Except only one of these teams will get that chance.

In the top half of the bracket, look out for a potential third meeting between the Mastodons and IUPUI. The fourth-seeded Jaguars topped IPFW on Saturday, sweeping the season series and keeping them away from an outright regular season title.

IUPUI head coach David Gardner does not like IPFW, apparently, and showed so after Saturday’s game. Should they meet for a third time, the result could be the same but there could also be some blood.

On the bottom, SDSU swept Oral Roberts during the regular season and they finished the regular season against each other. Denver and Omaha split the regular season series.

All games will be played in Sioux Falls, S.D., just a hour south of SDSU and an hour north of South Dakota.

Next: CAA