2026 Summit League Men’s Tournament: Schedule, Bracket, Recent History, TV/Streaming Info
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2026 Summit League Men’s Basketball Tournament Basics
Format
Bracket with split quarterfinal doubleheaders, giving the top two seeds a day off before the semifinals (should they win).
Site
The Summit League Tournament has been a Sioux Falls, South Dakota fixture since 2009, with Sioux Falls Arena hosting up until 2015, when the event moved to the Denny Sanford Premier Center (except for the fan-less COVID-impacted 2021 edition held at the Sanford Pentagon).
Participants
All nine teams are heading to Sioux Falls, and all of them are eligible for the NCAA and NIT, as St. Thomas was able to accelerate their reclassification to end at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
This will be Denver’s final Summit League Tournament, as the Pioneers are off the WCC for the 2026-27 season.
Schedule
Downloadable PDF Bracket
TV/Streaming Info
Midco Sports will air and Summit League Network ($) will stream all games up to the semifinals.
First Round (Wed. 3/4)
Gm. 1: (9) Kansas City (4-27, 1-15) 62, (8) Oral Roberts 84
Quarterfinals (Thurs. 3/5)
Gm. 2: (8) Oral Roberts (10-22, 4-12) vs. (1) North Dakota State (24-7, 14-2), 7
The Bison swept: 79-77 (2OT) (home) on 1/3 and 86-58 (away) on 1/24.
Gm. 3: (7) South Dakota State (14-17, 7-9) vs. (2) St. Thomas (23-8, 12-4), 9:30*
The Tommies swept: 74-69 (home) on 1/22 and 77-62 (away) on 2/4.
Quarterfinals (Fri. 3/6)
Gm. 4: (5) Omaha (15-16, 8-8) vs. (4) South Dakota (16-15, 8-8), 7
The Coyotes swept: 68-64 (away) on 1/21 and 89-72 (home) on 2/25.
Gm. 5: (6) Denver (15-16, 8-8) vs. (3) North Dakota (16-16, 10-6), 9:30*
Road split: Fighting Hawks 93-86 on 1/24 and Pioneers 98-79 on 2/7.
Semifinals (Sat. 3/7)
CBSSN will air both games.
Gm. 6: Gm. 2 winner vs. Gm. 4 winner, 8
Gm. 7: Gm. 3 winner vs. Gm. 5 winner, 10:30*
Championship (Sun. 3/8)
Gm. 8: Semifinal winners, 9 (CBSSN)
Mayhem Potential
Data originally posted by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitterin 2020 with my own additions for the seasons beyond.
Since 2011, one of the Summit League’s top two seeds has won the automatic bid 12 times. Nine of those titles have gone to the No. 1, including the last four. That’s good news for North Dakota State.
- 1 seed (9): 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- 2 seed (3): 2012, 2015, 2016
- 4 seed (3): 2017, 2019, 2021
NCAA Seeding Record In The 68-Team Era
Years with an NCAA win are in bold.
- 12 seed (4):2014, 2016, 2018, 2023
- 13 seed (3): 2011, 2013, 2022
- 14 seed (1): 2012
- 15 seed (4): 2015, 2021, 2024, 2025
- 16 seed (2): 2017, 2019 (First Four)
For many recent seasons, the Summit League alternated between a 12 or 13 seed then a 15 or 16. But that ended in 2025, with Omaha earning the conference’s second consecutive 15 seed. St. Thomas is the highest-ranked team in the NET in its first season of eligibility at 104, with NDSU currently 13 spots behind at 117. Those two teams are the conference’s best chance of avoiding a 15 or 16 seed, as everyone else is outside of the NET Top 200.
Note that the conference has won games out of the 12, 15, and 16 slots since the field expanded to 68, with 15th-seeded Oral Roberts winning two in 2021.
Last NCAA Tournament Appearances
Omaha: 2025 (15 seed, 1st Round)
South Dakota State: 2024 (15 seed, 1st Round)
Oral Roberts: 2023 (12 seed, 1st Round)
North Dakota State: 2019 (16 seed, 1st Round)—2020 Summit League Tournament Champion
North Dakota: 2017 (15 seed, 1st Round, Big Sky member)
In 2021, Oral Roberts ended a run that saw either NDSU or SDSU win the Summit League Tournament for nine consecutive years. Meanwhile, Oakland, now in the Horizon League, represented the conference in both 2010 and 2011. When you consider NDSU also qualified in 2009, Oral Roberts’ three bids (2008, 2021, and 2023) were the only times a current Summit member not nicknamed “Bison” or “Jackrabbits” represented the conference in the field of 68.
The Summit League’s four members—Denver, Kansas City, newly-eligible St. Thomas, and South Dakota are all searching for their first bid at the D1 level.
