Feb. 21 College Hoops Summit: Tommies Slim Title Chances on the Line at Denver

[SelectionSunday]

(all rankings NET, all times Central)
ST. THOMAS (21-7 overall, 12-13 ATS)
NET: Tommies move up 1 spot to #108
Torvik (T-Rank): Tommies drop 1 spot to #118

#108 St. Thomas (21-7, 10-3 Summit) @ #227 Denver (14-15, 7-7 Summit)
Time (TV): 5 p.m. (SLN)

Place: Hamilton Gymnasium, Denver, CO

The Spread: St. Thomas -4.5

Series Record since St. Thomas move to D1: St. Thomas leads, 7-3 (Tommies have won 5 straight)

Earlier This Season: St. Thomas 92, Denver 88 -- Nick Janowski scored 31 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Tommies in both categories. Ben Oosterbaan added 16 points and four treys. Zane Nelson led the Pioneers with 24 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. ... The Pioneers were 26-of-30 (86.7%) from the free-throw line, while the Tommies shot just 17-of-29 (58.6%) from the stripe.

The Skinny: With a win and a North Dakota loss at South Dakota State, the Tommies can clinch no worse than the #2 seed for the Summit League Tournament (March 4-8 in Sioux Falls, SD). North Dakota State can clinch the Summit outright regular season championship with a win over Kansas City and a Tommies loss. ... Still no word on the status of Tommies starting point guard Austin Herro, out the last four games due to a lower-body injury. Starting to wonder if the injury might be season ending.

Friday Summit League Results/Highlights
No games

Saturday Summit League Slate
#355 Kansas City @ #119 North Dakota State, 1 (SLN)
#275 North Dakota @ #206 South Dakota State, 2 (SLN)
#108 St. Thomas @ #227 Denver, 5 (SLN)
#284 South Dakota @ #335 Oral Roberts, 7 (SLN)

Saturday Reach the Summit Selections (43-17, 71.7%, 3 exactas)
North Dakota State over Kansas City by 23
South Dakota State over North Dakota by 5
Denver over St. Thomas by 2
South Dakota over Oral Roberts by 3

Versus the Top 5 (NDSU/UST/UND/Omaha/Denver) Head-to-Head
Keeping tabs on how the (current) top five teams are faring head-to-head. The league's regular season champion(s) likely finishes with the best record in this group.

Head-to-Head
1. North Dakota State (5-1)
2. Omaha (4-3)
3. North Dakota (3-4)
4. St. Thomas (2-3)
5. Denver (2-5)

PROJECTED Final Summit League Standings/Seeding (updated through Feb. 20)
1 North Dakota State (14-2)
2 St. Thomas (12-4)
3 North Dakota (10-6)
4 Omaha (9-7) -- win tiebreaker with sweep of Denver
5 Denver (9-7)
6 South Dakota State (8-8)
7 South Dakota (7-9)
8 Oral Roberts (2-14)
9 Kansas City (1-15)

Summit League Best NET (St. Thomas) Resume Snapshot
NET: #108
Torvik (T-Rank): #118
Record vs. DI Opponents: 18-7, 10-3 Summit
True Road Record: 8-5
Projected NCAA Tournament Seed: n/a
Strength of Record: #115
Wins Above Bubble: #106
Overall SOS: #319
Non-Conference SOS: #290
Record/Winning% vs. Quad 1: 0-1 (0%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1 & 2 Combined: 0-3 (0%)
Record/Winning % vs. Quads 1-3 Combined: 5-5 (50%)
Quad 4 (Awful) Losses: 2 (@ #245 Omaha, #275 North Dakota)
Record vs. Projected NCAA Qualifiers: 0-2

Friday Bubblicious Board Results (updated bubble status)
Purdue 93, #37 Indiana 64 (Hoosiers remain on the bubble)
Saint Louis 88, #45 VCU 75 (Rams drop to longshot)
#48 Miami U 91, Bowling Green 77 (RedHawks remain MAC auto bid placeholder)

Saturday Bubblicious Board Slate
Wake Forest @ #56 Virginia Tech, 11 (ACCN)
#36 Miami (FL) @ Virginia, 1 (ESPN2)
#35 Texas @ #39 Georgia, 2:30 (SECN)
#59 Missouri @ Arkansas, 3 (ESPN)
Oregon @ #52 USC, 3 (FS1)
Boston College @ #31 SMU, 3 (ACCN)
West Virginia @ #47 TCU, 4 (NBCSN/Peacock)
#44 San Diego State @ Colorado State, 5 (CBSSN)
Georgetown @ #51 Seton Hall, 5 (FS1)
#71 Stanford @ #61 Cal, 5 (ACCN)
Illinois @ #41 UCLA, 7 (FOX)
#42 New Mexico @ Fresno State, 7 (CBSSN)
#43 Texas A&M @ Oklahoma, 7:30 (SECN)
Kentucky @ #33 Auburn, 7:30 (ESPN)
#46 UCF @ Utah, 8 (ESPN+)
#40 Santa Clara @ San Francisco, 9 (CBSSN)
#27 Saint Mary's @ Washington State, 9 (ESPN2)

Saturday Game of the Day
Arizona @ Houston, 2 (ABC)

Bubblicious Snapshots (#41/#50/#52/#68)
A daily look at the bubble and watching it evolve & shrink leading up to Selection Sunday:

#41 (UCLA) NCAA Tournament Resume (best NET left out of '25 field)
NET: #41
Torvik (T-Rank): #42
Record vs. DI Opponents: 17-9, 9-6 Big Ten
True Road Record: 3-5
Strength of Record: #45
Wins Above Bubble: #46
Overall SOS: #48
Non-Conference SOS: #136
Record/Winning% vs. Quad 1: 2-7 (22.2%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1 & 2 Combined: 6-9 (40%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1-3 Combined: 10-9 (52.6%)
Quad 4 (Awful) Losses: 0
Record vs. Projected NCAA Qualifiers: 1-7 (win #7 Purdue)

#50 (Washington) NCAA Tournament Resume (mythical bubble cutline)
NET: #50
Torvik (T-Rank): #46
Record vs. DI Opponents: 13-13, 5-10 Big Ten
True Road Record: 3-7
Strength of Record: #78
Wins Above Bubble: #74
Overall SOS: #21
Non-Conference SOS: #237
Record/Winning% vs. Quad 1: 1-9 (10%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1 & 2 Combined: 5-12 (29.4%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1-3 Combined: 8-13 (38.1%)
Quad 4 (Awful) Losses: 0
Record vs. Projected NCAA Qualifiers: 1-9 (win @ #52 USC)

#52 (USC) NCAA Tournament Resume (worst at-large NET to make '25 field)
NET: #52
Torvik (T-Rank): #50
Record vs. DI Opponents: 17-8, 7-8 Big Ten
True Road Record: 5-4
Strength of Record: #39
Wins Above Bubble: #37
Overall SOS: #38
Non-Conference SOS: #239
Record/Winning% vs. Quad 1: 1-6 (14.3%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1 & 2 Combined: 9-7 (56.3%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1-3 Combined: 14-8 (63.6%)
Quad 4 (Awful) Losses: 0
Record vs. Projected NCAA Qualifiers: 2-5 (wins @ #34 Wisconsin, #37 Indiana)

#68 (Grand Canyon) NCAA Tournament Resume (if field was best NET 68)
NET: #68
Torvik (T-Rank): #48
Record vs. DI Opponents: 17-9, 10-5 Mountain West
True Road Record: 5-4
Strength of Record: #77
Wins Above Bubble: #65
Overall SOS: #84
Non-Conference SOS: #200
Record/Winning% vs. Quad 1: 3-4 (42.9%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1 & 2 Combined: 6-7 (46.2%)
Record/Winning% vs. Quads 1-3 Combined: 8-8 (50%)
Quad 4 (Awful) Losses: 1 (#203 Youngstown State)
Record vs. Projected NCAA Qualifiers: 3-2 (wins #22 Utah State, @ #44 San Diego State, #44 San Diego State)

Saturday Pick to Click (60-46, 56.6%, W-2 streak) (post-Super Bowl 6-6, 50%)
@ North Dakota State -18.5 over Kansas City

Saturday Outright +7.5 or More ‘Dog (22-84, 20.8%, L-2 streak)
Rutgers (+8.5) outright @ Minnesota

Deep Thoughts, by Buzz Studley
We’ll have to plug our noses if/when Indiana, Ohio State, and/or UCLA receive at-large bids.

 

[Roland Brooks]

Tough one today.. taking the home dog seems so easy …

 

[SelectionSunday]

Tough one today.. taking the home dog seems so easy …

Free throws, free throws, free throws.

Tommies 8 for 20
Denver 17 for 20

That's pretty much the difference right there.

4 league losses by a total of 10 points. Haven't lost back to back games all season. Don't start now.

I like how the bracket is shaping up. Sure looks like North Dakota will have #4 Omaha/#5 Denver winner to deal with in the semifinals. In a perfect scenario Tommies get #7 South Dakota. That seems very possible right now, at least 50-50.