College basketball conference standings are finalizing as the calendar turns to March with the tip-off of March Madness only weeks away.
For mid-major North Dakota State, the Bison pulled a perfect sweep of the Summit League on Saturday at home as both the men’s and women’s teams beat archrival North Dakota for their conference championships. The Bison men’s program seeks a fifth NCAA tournament appearance, and the first since 2019. The NDSU women’s program, winning a first-ever Summit League title, will also seek a first-time appearance in the Big Dance.
NDSU’s men’s team throttled UND 96-63 with 16 three-pointers at the Scheels Center in Fargo. The Bison women’s team blew out the Fighting Hawks 95-70 to win a conference title for the first time since 1995-1996, when the five-time national champions were a Division II program. Both Summit League tournaments tip-off on Wednesday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“It’s a great time to be a Bison, our fans today were terrific, and the students were engaged,” NDSU men’s head coach Dave Richman told reporters afterward.
The Bison men’s team (24-7) is projected to make the NCAA tournament as a No. 13 or No. 14 seed. NDSU has a 2-4 record all-time in the Big Dance, and the Bison pulled an upset of then-No. 4 seed Oklahoma in 2014.
As for the women’s team, the Bison (26-3) are projected to make the women’s Big Dance as a No. 10 or No. 11 seed.
Bison Men Bounce Back Big
NDSU came into Saturday’s game ready to shake rust off from a tough loss to St. Thomas, 84-62, in St. Paul, but it wasn’t stubbing a toe against a mid-major cupcake in conference play.
UST (23-8) looked like an NCAA tournament team last season despite ineligibility, due a major move up from Division III to Division I, and The Athletic featured the upstart program last year. The Tommies haven’t missed a beat this season and will have the No. 2 in the tournament, and a rematch with the Bison could occur on March 8 in the championship game.
NDSU shot 36% from the field and 6-25 from three-point range against the Tommies and gave up 32 points in the paint and 11 points off of turnovers. Richman made the Bison work extra ahead of the UND showdown because of it.
“Yeah, we did because we weren’t very good Thursday,” Richman said. “It’s my job to give these guys some love, and love comes in a lot of shapes and forms and they needed some tough love. They got it. Our guys responded terrifically.”
NDSU shot 57% from the field and held the Hawks to 31% shooting. The Bison also out-rebounded UND 36-27 and tallied 15 points off of turnovers.
“It was a big rebound game to let us know we still got it,” Bison guard Damari Wheeler-Thomas told reporters afterward.
NDSU Women End 20-Year Drought
When NDSU athletics moved up to Division I in 2004, it was anticipated that the women’s basketball program could mirror similar success of the Division II days.
Instead, the Bison were mired in mediocrity with a nine-year streak of losing seasons, no conference championships, and no NCAA tournament births. NDSU once hosted Division II Elite Eight tournaments regularly — five times between 1988 and 1996 — let alone make the tournament.
Current Bison head coach Jory Collins understands the tradition, having previously coached in Division II at Emporia State when his former team made the tournament in 2017. Collins took the Bison job in 2019 after one season as an assistant with Kansas.
“I wanted to do that with this group, wanted to share it with a special group of players. A lot of joy, a lot of appreciation for our group. Just all the time we put into it and it’s great to see the fruits of your labor,” Collins told reporters afterward via the Fargo Forum.
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