It's time for the 2019 Summit League men's basketball tournament! UNO is the 2 seed in the tournament, with a 19-10 overall record and a 13-3 conference record both of which are Division 1 school records. Despite being the 2 seed, UNO and everyone else in the Summit League are heavy underdogs against 1 seed South Dakota State. 

I believe all first and second round games will be on ESPN+ / Midco Sports Network. The championship game will be 8 PM on ESPN2. 

The Bracket

Players to Watch:

Mike Daum, South Dakota State

David Jenkins, South Dakota State

Zach Jackson, UNO

Mitch Hahn, UNO

Jon Konchar, Purdue Fort Wayne

Vinnie Shahid, North Dakota State

Trey Burch-Manning, South Dakota

Emanual Nzekwesi, Oral Roberts

Connor Avants, North Dakota

End of Day 1 update:

#1 South Dakota State 76 #8 Western Illinois 79 Box Score

#2 Omaha 81 #7 North Dakota 76 Box Score

While UNO winning is great, the big story of the day is obviously Western Illinois, who had previously lost to SDSU by 42 and 20, beating them in front of what basically amounted to a home crowd. KenPom had SDSU as heavy favorites to win the tournament, and with them out it's now anybody's to win.

Wasn't the strongest of games from the Mavericks, it easily could've been a wider margin of victory just by doing better than 5-18 from 3. Backup forward Wanjang Tut got his biggest opportunity of the year to play and stepped up with Matt Pile in foul trouble, putting up 18 points on 7-10 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 1 block. Zack Jackson also led the way with 21 points of his own. 

The Mavs will get the winner of #3 Purdue Fort Wayne and #6 South Dakota on Monday at 8:30 PM. 

This one feels like it'll be first to 90 wins, especially the way Fort Wayne shot last night. I'm real nervous for this one.