On the heels of a pair of thoroughly one sided Basketball games by the Bison men's and women's teams against SDSU, while also being on the verge of the halfway point of the conference season, it's time to look at how the seasons have gone for both teams up to this point.
On the women's side, the season started as poorly as it could have with a loss to D2 Duluth. It would seem though that that loss was their rock bottom because they've managed to improve from there. Non-conference wins against New Hampshire & Valparaiso were good but they also managed to be competitive against Wisconsin, in Madison. There were more losses than wins in that part of the season but it gave some reason for slight optimism. I think the Summit slate has bolstered that. It would be easy to be negative after a 53 point loss but did anyone actually think that the Jacks weren't heads & tails above the rest of the teams in the league? I didn't. So while it's a discouraging outcome, it came right after their best win of the season and SDSU is the best we have.
I prefer to focus on the preceding game and the bigger picture of the team. North Dakota may not be a tournament contender this year, but they're still the other in state D1. They go after many of the same players and had the Bison's number for years. Getting the win, in the fashion that they did, may have contributed to the let down a few days later. I think it may have been a sign of things to come this year. They've got one more run in with SoDak St. that will be tough to win, even in the SHAC & USD have shown they aren't slouches but that's only two of their final 10 games before Sioux Falls. Managing a split of the nine Summit games would get them into a great position for the tournament. It's been a decade since they had a victory at the Falls so getting a middle seed with all but one of their players returning next year would bode well for the immediate future. With some of the negativity & uncertainty surrounding the team, it would be a great step in the right direction.
It all starts with the squad sitting right above them in the standings - Oral Roberts. They pull them twice along with a trip to bottom feeders Fort Wayne & a home visit by Omaha. That could be four wins right there. Even a split with ORU would help in the standing. USD & SDSU are the two toughest games, the rest are winnable.
On the guy's side, it's a similar story. The team is built to make a push in the first year after Daum. O Roberts is just ahead of them in the standings and is played twice the rest of the way. They will have to battle the Coyotes but the outcomes against ORU will almost singularly determine whether they can move into the top half of the bracket or not. No pressure.
The good news is that none of the teams they'll face the rest of the way are as good as one's they played before the new year. Granted, they didn't win against the best of the early season teams but they competed and managed a couple wins over potential NIT teams. That's not nearly as glamorous as making the 68 team field but has included many good teams over the years.
UND seems like it'll be in the toilet this year but the same external factors apply & made for a good game with the better team coming out on top. The wins over Missouri State & Eastern Washington were good and I think the best win of the season remains in front of the Bison but for now I'd give the nod to the win over the Sioux, at least as far as on the court wins go.
The biggest win of all may be that the team has seemed to replenish itself well with guys who will be here for at least one more season & many for several more years - barring more transfers. That, in conjunction with an apparent change in offensive philosophy, has been great to see, whether they come out on top of the scoreboard or not.
These are not the days of Woodside & Winkleman. It's not even the days of Braun & Alexander but the present & future of the Bison men looks good. Along the same lines, the days of division two dominance are a distant memory for the women but they may have finally found a way to be competitive in the conference. More should be expected of each but looking at things rationally can be tough as a fan. If you see it like I do then gear up to survive the cold & head up to the North side to cheer the teams on down the stretch run. Then take a couple days & head down to Sioux Falls for more because I think that each team will manage a victory this March. The guys could even make the championship game. Could, I'm not predicting they will just yet but the odds are better for them than they are for some of the others.