Summit League men's basketball tournament

Summit League men's basketball tournament
Conference basketball championship
The Summit League Conference tournament logo (2008–present)
Sport	College basketball
Conference	Summit League
Number of teams	All 9 conference teams
Format	Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium	Denny Sanford Premier Center
Current location	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Played	1984–present
Last contest	2025
Current champion	Omaha (1)
Most championships	Valparaiso (8)
TV partner(s)	Midco Sports, CBS Sports Network
Official website	TheSummitLeague.org Men's Basketball

The Summit League men's basketball tournament, popularly known as The Summit League at the Falls, is the post-season tournament for NCAA Division I conference Summit League. The winner of the tournament receives the Summit League's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The tournament was first played in 1984, when the league was known as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU). The league was also known as the Mid-Continent Conference from 1989 to 2007, after which it was renamed to The Summit League.

Format

Currently, all 9 men's basketball teams ^{[1] [2]} in the Summit League receive a berth in the conference tournament (barring NCAA sanctions). Before the 2022-23 season, only the top 8 conference teams (by conference record) made the tournament. After the 16-game conference season, teams are seeded by conference record with the following tie-breakers:

• Head-to-head competition
• Winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (starting with #1 and moving down until the tie is broken)
• NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET)
• Coin flip

Tournament champions

Year	Champion	Score	Runner-up	Tournament MVP	Venue	Location	Notes
1984	Western Illinois	73–64	Cleveland State	Todd Hutcheson, WIU	Hammons Student Center	Springfield, Missouri
1985	Eastern Illinois	75–64	Southwest Missouri State [a]	None chosen			First rounds at campus sites
1986	Cleveland State	70–66	Eastern Illinois	Kevin Duckworth, EIU
1987	Southwest Missouri State [a]	90–87	Cleveland State	Winston Garland, SMS
1988	Not held
1989	Southwest Missouri State [a]	73–67	Illinois-Chicago [b]	Hubert Henderson, SMS	Hammons Student Center	Springfield, Missouri
1990	Northern Iowa	53–45	Green Bay	Jason Reese, UNI	UNI-Dome	Cedar Falls, Iowa
1991	Green Bay	56–39	Northern Illinois	Tony Bennett, UWGB	Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena	Green Bay, Wisconsin
1992	Eastern Illinois	83–68	Illinois-Chicago [b]	Steve Rowe, EIU	CSU Convocation Center	Cleveland, Ohio
1993	Wright State	94–88	Illinois-Chicago [b]	Bill Edwards, WSU	Nutter Center	Dayton, Ohio
1994	Green Bay	61–56	Illinois-Chicago [b]	Sherell Ford, UIC	Rosemont Horizon	Rosemont, Illinois
1995	Valparaiso	88–85 (3OT)	Western Illinois	Bryce Drew, VU	Athletics-Recreation Center	Valparaiso, Indiana	First rounds at campus sites
1996	Valparaiso	75–52	Western Illinois	Bryce Drew, VU	The MARK of the Quad Cities	Moline, Illinois
1997	Valparaiso	63–59	Western Illinois	Janthony Joseph, WIU
1998	Valparaiso	67–48	Youngstown State	Bryce Drew, VU
1999	Valparaiso	73–69	Oral Roberts	Milo Stovall, VU
2000	Valparaiso	71–62	Southern Utah	Luboš Bartoň, VU	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	Fort Wayne, Indiana
2001	Southern Utah	62–59	Valparaiso	Fred House, SUU
2002	Valparaiso	88–55	IUPUI [c]	Milo Stovall, VU
2003	IUPUI [c]	66–64	Valparaiso	Josh Murray, IUPUI	Kemper Arena	Kansas City, Missouri
2004	Valparaiso	75–70	IUPUI [c]	Odell Bradley, IUPUI
2005	Oakland	61–60	Oral Roberts	Rawle Marshall, OU	Union Multipurpose Activity Center	Tulsa, Oklahoma
2006	Oral Roberts	85–72	Chicago State	Ken Tutt, ORU
2007	Oral Roberts	71–67	Oakland	Ken Tutt, ORU
2008	Oral Roberts	71–64	IUPUI [c]	Moses Ehambe, ORU
2009	North Dakota State	66–64	Oakland	Ben Woodside, NDSU	Sioux Falls Arena	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
2010	Oakland	76–64	IUPUI [c]	Derick Nelson, OU
2011	Oakland	90–76	Oral Roberts	Keith Benson, OU
2012	South Dakota State	52–50 (OT)	Western Illinois	Nate Wolters, SDSU
2013	South Dakota State	73–67	North Dakota State
2014	North Dakota State	60–57	IPFW [d]	Taylor Braun, NDSU
2015	North Dakota State	57–56	South Dakota State	Lawrence Alexander, NDSU	Denny Sanford Premier Center
2016	South Dakota State	67–59	North Dakota State	Mike Daum, SDSU
2017	South Dakota State	79–77	Omaha				& Individual session attendance record (11,235) [3]
2018	South Dakota State	97–87	South Dakota
2019	North Dakota State	73–63	Omaha	Vinnie Shahid, NDSU
2020	North Dakota State	89–53	North Dakota
2021	Oral Roberts	75–72	North Dakota State	Max Abmas, ORU	Sanford Pentagon		Tournament held without fans
2022	South Dakota State	75–69	North Dakota State	Douglas Wilson, SDSU	Denny Sanford Premier Center
2023	Oral Roberts	92–58	North Dakota State	Max Abmas, ORU
2024	South Dakota State	76–68	Denver	William Kyle III, SDSU			First Final on CBSSN
2025	Omaha	85–75	St. Thomas	Marquel Sutton, UNO			First Semifinals on CBSSN

1. Known as Missouri State since 2005.
2. Now branded as UIC.
3. IUPUI was dissolved in 2024 and replaced by separate institutions affiliated with the Indiana University and Purdue University systems. The new Indiana University Indianapolis inherited the athletic program, which is now known as IU Indy.
4. Now Purdue Fort Wayne.

Performance by school

School	Championships	Championship Years
Valparaiso	8	1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004
South Dakota State	7	2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024
North Dakota State	5	2009, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020
Oral Roberts	5	2006, 2007, 2008, 2021, 2023
Oakland	3	2005, 2010, 2011
Eastern Illinois	2	1985, 1992
Southwest Missouri State	2	1987, 1989
Wisconsin-Green Bay	2	1991, 1994
Cleveland State	1	1986
Northern Iowa	1	1990
IUPUI	1	2003
Omaha	1	2025
Southern Utah	1	2001
Western Illinois	1	1984
Wright State	1	1993
TOTAL	41

• Teams in bold are currently in the Summit League. Oral Roberts left for the Southland Conference after the 2011–12 season, but returned for 2014–15.
• Among current Summit League members, Denver, North Dakota, St. Thomas and South Dakota have reached the tournament final but failed to win the championship, while Kansas City has yet to advance to the tournament final. Kansas City, which rejoined in 2020–21, had competed under its academic identity of UMKC during its previous Summit tenure (1994–95 to 2012–13).

Television coverage

Year	Network	Play-by-play	Analyst	Sideline
2025	CBSSN	Jordan Kent	Tim Doyle	Emily Proud
2024		John Sadak
2023	ESPN2	Clay Matvick	Kevin Lehman
2022
2021		Kevin Fitzgerald	Dalen Cuff
2020		Clay Matvick	Bryce Drew	Elaina Lanson
2019			Sean Harrington
2018
2017
2016		Bob Wischusen
2015		Clay Matvick
2014			Darrin Horn
2013			Bob Valvano
2012
2011 [4]	ESPN	Lou Cannellis	Mike Kelley
2010 [5]	ESPN2
2009 [6]		Dave Barnett	Tim Welsh
2008 [7]	ESPN	Ron Franklin	Fran Fraschilla
2007 [8]

See also

• Summit League women's basketball tournament

References

1. "2022-23 Summit League Basketball Schedules Released". thesummitleague.org. The Summit League. August 3, 2022. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
2. "Summit League announces Championship dates for 2023-24". thesummitleague.org. The Summit League. July 27, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
3. "#SummitMBB Year End Notebook". The Summit League. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
4. Humes, Michael (2011-02-28). "Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods Schedule". Archived from the original on 2012-06-12.
5. "Championship Week Begins Thursday, March 4 | ESPN MediaZone". Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
6. "20090226_ChampionshipWeekBeginsMarch5". Archived from the original on 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
7. "ESPN Press Room". ESPN Press Room U.S.
8. "What to Watch: College basketball lovers rejoice". Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-03-01.