SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Oral Roberts was selected to win the Summit League Men’s Basketball regular season title after leading the 2022-23 preseason poll, while Golden Eagle senior Max Abmas was named the Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, league officials announced Tuesday.
Abmas, who was the 2020-21 Summit League Player of the Year, was the only repeat honoree among the 11 selected to the preseason all-league first and second teams. Those teams along with the preseason poll were voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches, sports information directors and select media members.
The Golden Eagles topped the poll for the first time since the 2011-12 season, receiving 731 points and 28 first-place votes. ORU won the 2021 Summit League tournament title as No. 4 seed and reached the semifinals in 2022 as the No. 3 seed.
Reigning regular season and tournament champion South Dakota State was picked to finish second with 668 points. The Jackrabbits, who posted the first undefeated regular season in league history in 2021-22, received 11 first-place votes.
SDSU was the only squad with a pair of players named to the first team. 2022 Sixth Man of the Year Luke Appel was joined by All-Newcomer Team honoree Zeke Mayo.
South Dakota garnered the remaining first-place vote and took third in the poll with 602 points. The Coyotes are under the direction of head coach Eric Peterson, who is among three first-year head coaches in the league.
The Coyotes had a trio of guards named to the preseason all-league second team, including 2021 Newcomer of the Year A.J. Plitzuweit, who returns after missing the 2021-22 campaign with an injury. He was joined by 2022 All-Summit League second team honorees Mason Archambault and Kruz Perrott-Hunt. USD’s three total selections were the most by any league team.
North Dakota State was picked fourth with 549 points and was followed by Denver, who rounded out the top five with 432 points. The Bison were represented on the preseason all-league first team by 2021 Sixth Man of the Year Grant Nelson.
The teams ranked sixth through ninth were separated by a total of 31 points in the poll. Kansas City led that quartet, earning the sixth spot with 310 points. The Roos will be led by first-year head coach Marvin Menzies, who has previous Division I head-coaching experience at New Mexico State and UNLV.
Western Illinois held the No. 7 spot with 294 points, while St. Thomas was just behind the Leathernecks in eighth with 289 points. WIU guard Trenton Massner rounds out the preseason all-league first team.
Massner earned all-league second team, all-newcomer team and all-defensive team honors in his first season with the Leathernecks a year ago.
Omaha was picked ninth with 279 points. Chris Crutchfield, the Mavericks new head coach, will get to work with preseason all-league first team honoree Frankie Fidler, who was named to the All-Newcomer Team as a rookie in 2021-22.
North Dakota rounded out the poll in tenth with 174 points.
Joining the trio of Coyotes on the preseason all-league second team were ORU guard Issac McBride and Denver guard Tevin Smith. Both players were on the 2022 All-Newcomer Team.
Points for the preseason poll were compiled on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, while all-league teams were compiled on an 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The top six vote-getters earned first-team honors and the next five were selected to the second team. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes or team.
2022-23 Preseason Summit League Player of the Year
Max Abmas – Oral Roberts
Preseason All-Summit League First Team
Max Abmas, Oral Roberts, Jr., G (24.1 ppg/3.6 rpg/3.9 apg)*
Luke Appel, South Dakota State, Gr, F (11.1 ppg/4.2 rpg)
Frankie Fidler, Omaha, So., F (15.2 ppg/4.1 rpg)
Trenton Massner, Western Illinois, Sr., G (17.9 ppg/6.7 rpg/4.1 apg)
Zeke Mayo, South Dakota State, So., G (10.6 ppg/2.7 rpg/2.1 apg)
Grant Nelson, North Dakota State, Jr., F (10.5 ppg/4.4 rpg/1.7 bpg)
Preseason All-Summit League Second Team
Mason Archambault, South Dakota, Sr., G (15.6 ppg/2.8 rpg/2.2 apg)
Issac McBride, Oral Roberts, Jr., G (13.9 ppg/2.8 rpg/1.9 apg)
Kruz Perrott-Hunt, South Dakota, Jr., G (15.8 ppg/4.6 rpg/2.2 apg)
A.J. Plitzuweit, South Dakota, Jr., G (22.1 ppg/4.2 rpg/3.9 apg; 2020-21 stats)
Tevin Smith, Denver, So., G (12.3 ppg/3.1 rpg)
*Preseason Player of the Year automatically earns a spot on first team
2022-23 Summit League Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll
| Rank |
School |
Points (1st) |
2021-22 Record (SL) |
| 1. |
Oral Roberts |
731 (28) |
19-12 (12-6) |
| 2. |
South Dakota State |
668 (11) |
30-5 (18-0) |
| 3. |
South Dakota |
602 (1) |
19-12 (11-7) |
| 4. |
North Dakota State |
549 |
23-10 (13-5) |
| 5. |
Denver |
432 |
11-21 (7-11) |
| 6. |
Kansas City |
310 |
19-12 (12-6) |
| 7. |
Western Illinois |
294 |
16-16 (7-11) |
| 8. |
St. Thomas |
289 |
10-20 (4-14) |
| 9. |
Omaha |
279 |
5-25 (4-14) |
| 10. |
North Dakota |
174 |
6-25 (2-16) |
Preseason Summit League Notes
- Oral Roberts topped the preseason poll for the first time since 2011-12, which was also the last regular season title the program won.
- Abmas returns for his senior season and has been an all-league first team performer each of the last two seasons. He averaged 27.2 ppg as a sophomore en route to 2020-21 Player of the Year honors and posted a 24.1 ppg clip as a junior in 2021-22.
- His backcourt mate, Issac McBride, was the top scoring reserve in league play, averaging 13.9 ppg in his first season as a Golden Eagle.
- SDSU has won at least a share of eight of the last nine regular season titles, including six straight after becoming the first program in league history to post an undefeated record in league play at 18-0 in 2021-22.
- The South Dakota all-league duo of Kruz Perrott-Hunt (15.8 ppg) and Mason Archambault (15.6 ppg) each averaged better than 15.0-plus in league action a season ago.
- Those two will be joined in the backcourt by A.J. Plitzuweit, who missed last season with an injury, for head coach Eric Peterson’s first season at the helm of the Coyotes. Plitzuweit was the 2020-21 Newcomer of the Year after ranking second in the league in scoring in Summit action at 22.1 ppg as a sophomore.
- NDSU will count on junior Grant Nelson to help replace the departures of their top three scorers. Nelson averaged 10.5 ppg and was the league’s top shot blocker in Summit action (1.7 bpg).
- Denver won seven league games under first-hear head coach Jeff Wulbrun, matching the Pioneers total from their previous three league campaigns. Sophomore Tevin Smith was an integral part of that improvement, averaging 12.3 ppg as a rookie in league play.
- Kansas City is under new leadership as veteran coach Marvin Menzies takes over a program that finished 12-6 and tied for third in the league standings a season ago. His first Roos’ roster will look a lot different, however, as Anderson Kopp is the lone returning starter and one of three current players that saw extensive action in 2021-22.
- Senior Trenton Massner put together an impressive first season as a Leatherneck, averaging 16.4 ppg in overall games and upping that to 17.9 ppg in league tilts. He is WIU’s top returning scorer and only one among the top eight head coach Rob Jeter has back for the 2022-23 season.
- St. Thomas won four league contests in its debut season at the Division I level. Head coach Johnny Tauer has two of his three double-digits scorers back from year one in Riley Miller (13.9 ppg) and Parker Bjorklund (12.2 ppg).
- Omaha’s Frankie Fidler showed some serious scoring prowess a year ago, netting 37 in a road tilt at North Dakota that was the highest-scoring output by a Division I freshman a season ago.
- Fidler, who averaged 15.2 ppg in league play, will be under the guidance of first-year head coach Chris Crutchfield. The former Maverick returns to his alma mater after spending 2021-22 as an assistant at Oregon.
- North Dakota will be boosted by the return of graduate student Mitchell Sueker, who missed the second half of the season with an injury. Sueker is the Fighting Hawks’ top returning scorer at 9.9 ppg.
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