2026-27 Summit League Basketball Preview: Unbeaten South Dakota State Fends Off St. Thomas in an Eight-Team Gauntlet

With ninety seconds remaining on the road clock and the home crowd roaring, South Dakota State senior guard Kalen Garry calmly waves his teammates into a wide slot alignment before burying a dagger pull-up from the right elbow. Two games into Bryan Petersen's tenure as head coach in Brookings, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits stand 2-0 overall — already banking both a home victory and a road win — looking every bit like the standard-bearer of the Great Plains.

Yet the 2026-27 Summit League race features zero hiding places across a streamlined, hyper-familiar eight-program double-round-robin. Johnny Tauer's surgical St. Thomas Tommies (1-2) enter March 2027 with full postseason sights set on their first NCAA Tournament ticket, Chris Crutchfield's physical Omaha Mavericks (2-2, 2-0 at home) bring grizzled senior toughness, Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (1-1) remain lethal from deep under Kory Barnett, and high-major veteran Mark Turgeon now patrols the sideline for the Kansas City Roos (1-2).

Bryan Petersen Keeps South Dakota State's Inside-Out Machine Purring at 2-0

Continuity of culture is the rarest currency in modern mid-major basketball, and Bryan Petersen has preserved Brookings' blueprint without skipping a beat. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits (2-0 overall, 1-0 home, 1-0 away) still play through one of the country's cleanest blend of post touches, paint-to-great kickouts, and disciplined defensive rebounding — refusing to grant opponents second-chance threes.

Everything starts with battle-tested 6-foot-3 senior guard Kalen Garry and rugged 6-foot-7 senior forward Myles Thompson, two upperclassmen who thrive through physical contact on both ends. Around them, junior guards Joe Sayler and EJ Ryans plus sophomore scoring guard Trey Buchanan supply perimeter burst, while 6-foot-10 sophomore center Alec Squires, 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Jon Mekonnen, and 6-foot-6 junior forward Jesse Van Kalsbeek give Petersen interior size and versatile rebounding.

In a compact 14-game Summit League regular season where every opponent scouts your primary sets twice by mid-February 2027, South Dakota State's ability to score efficiently inside the arc through Squires, Mekonnen, and Thompson prevents defenses from simply running shooters off the three-point line.

Johnny Tauer's Precision St. Thomas Offense vs. Omaha's Senior Physicality

The most cerebral offensive clinic in the Midwest resides in Saint Paul, where 11th-year head coach Johnny Tauer guides the St. Thomas Tommies (1-2 overall, already 1-1 on the road). Tauer's five-out motion system routinely ranks among the national leaders in offensive turnover percentage — giving the ball away on virtually a single-digit share of possessions — while generating layups and rhythm threes through constant back-cuts. Senior guard Kendall Blue (6-foot-6) and 6-foot-9 senior stretch forward Carter Bjerke headline an experienced core alongside 6-foot-8 junior Jeremy Lorenz, juniors Tommy Humphries Jr. and Austin Herro, and sophomore guard Brogan Madson.

Right alongside the Tommies sits Chris Crutchfield's Omaha Mavericks (2-2 overall, 2-0 at Baxter Arena). Crutchfield has assembled a grown-man rotation stacked with seven seniors: dynamic 6-foot-1 point guard Grant Stubblefield, physical 6-foot-6 wing Chris Dockery, bruising 6-foot-8 center Isaac Ondekane, guards Cahmai Crosby, Cory Curtis Jr., and Brandon Orgilbold, and 6-foot-8 forward Justin Bolis, reinforced by 6-foot-11 sophomore Heri Bukinga. Omaha attacks the free-throw stripe relentlessly and defends with physical edge.

While St. Thomas beats opponents with surgical spacing and zero self-inflicted mistakes, Omaha wins by turning games into physical downhill wars. Their contrasting clashes against South Dakota State in January and February 2027 will define the Summit League title race.

Mark Turgeon's Arrival at Kansas City, Oral Roberts' Shooting, and Dakota Rivalries

No offseason storyline in the Summit League generated louder national shockwaves than the Kansas City Roos (1-2 overall, 1-0 at home) luring veteran head coach Mark Turgeon back to the college sideline. Turgeon immediately stamps structure and half-court defensive accountability onto an international-flavored roster featuring senior guards Carl Daughtery Jr. and Jaylen Smith, 6-foot-9 senior forward Assane Diop, 6-foot-6 senior forward Sebastian Hartmann, 6-foot-9 junior Raivo Butirins, and 7-foot freshman forward Atuka Bakhtadze.

Down in Tulsa, Kory Barnett's Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (1-1 overall, 1-0 at the Mabee Center) remain capable of hanging ninety points on any defense that loses track of shooters in transition. Senior perimeter quartet Connor Dow (6-foot-6), Cam Haffner, Chase Martin, and Blake Smith stretch defenses twenty-eight feet from the basket, opening slip lanes for 6-foot-9 forwards Thomas Zorbas and Marko Pavlovic plus sophomore guard Martins Kilups.

Never dismiss David Richman's North Dakota State Bison (1-3 overall, 1-0 at home after three tough road tests), either. Richman's deliberate tempo control and post-out spacing revolve around senior guard Rob Diaz III, junior playmakers Andy Stefonowicz, Jack Robison, and Carson Smith, 6-foot-9 junior Andrew Nagy, 6-foot-8 junior Karl Poom, and 7-foot freshman Colin Stack. Rounded out by North Dakota Fighting Hawks (1-2) and South Dakota Coyotes (1-3), the eight-team loop guarantees intense regional rivalry atmospheres every Thursday and Saturday night.

2026-27 Summit League Winner Prediction: South Dakota State Reigns in Sioux Falls

Every March, the Summit League Championship at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls transforms into one of mid-major basketball's premier spectacles — and a virtual sixth-man advantage for the state's flagship programs. Johnny Tauer's St. Thomas Tommies possess the ball security and three-point precision to push anyone to the wire in March 2027, while Chris Crutchfield's senior-laden Omaha Mavericks have the physical guard play to bully opponents in tight late-game possessions.

Ultimately, however, Bryan Petersen's South Dakota State Jackrabbits (2-0) combine the best two-way balance in the eight-team field with an unmatched comfort level inside the Premier Center. Kalen Garry provides unflappable senior shot creation, Myles Thompson, Alec Squires, and Jon Mekonnen control the paint without sacrificing spacing, and Brookings' defensive rebounding discipline limits the second-chance daggers that swing March brackets.

Prediction: The South Dakota State Jackrabbits win the 2026-27 Summit League regular-season championship and defeat St. Thomas in Sioux Falls in March 2027 to claim the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.