NCAA Tournament March Madness

#284 South Dakota

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

South Dakota’s profile reads like a team that will have to claim the Summit League’s automatic berth because the few solid moments on the résumé are outweighed by damaging losses to higher-tier opponents and shaky road results. The resume is built on wins such as the home victory over Western Michigan, the neutral-site success against Air Force, and a road scalp at Omaha, yet those brighten a sheet that also includes blowout defeats at Creighton, Missouri, Kansas State and Wyoming and discouraging losses at North Dakota and North Dakota State that reveal real defensive vulnerabilities. With a stretch of conference games remaining that includes meaningful home dates against North Dakota and Oral Roberts, a pair of meetings with South Dakota State and a road trip to Missouri Kansas City, the squad still has clear paths to add quality wins, but unless it cleans up its road performance and avoids more bad losses the surest route to the NCAA field will be winning the conference tournament.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Utah Tech216L81-79
11/5@Creighton53L92-76
11/12Southern Indiana325W89-74
11/16W Michigan253W83-78
11/20@Missouri55L102-68
11/23S Carolina St360W82-81
11/29(N)Air Force340W80-63
12/3Portland St157L77-71
12/6@N Colorado175L89-87
12/9@Wyoming102L106-79
12/13Prairie View305W97-85
12/20@Kansas St84L106-76
12/31@N Dakota St140L84-61
1/7@St Thomas MN130L99-86
1/10Denver259W82-72
1/15Missouri KC346W99-83
1/17@North Dakota308L96-80
1/21@NE Omaha269W68-64
1/24St Thomas MN13029%
1/29Oral Roberts31067%
1/31N Dakota St14031%
2/4@Missouri KC34660%
2/7@S Dakota St18922%
2/11North Dakota30866%
2/19@Denver25934%
2/21@Oral Roberts31045%
2/25NE Omaha26958%
2/28S Dakota St18942%