SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Opening day for the college basketball season is upon us with eight of nine Summit League men's basketball teams set to take the hardwood Monday.

A top-10 showdown of teams in the CollegeInsider.com Top 25 Mid-Major poll highlights the opening-day slate as No. 4 Akron pays a visit to Frost Arena to play Summit League preseason favorite and 10th-ranked South Dakota State. The Jackrabbits and Zips, who played on opening day last season as well with Akron emerging with an 81-80 overtime win in that contest, can be seen on the Summit League Network along with three other home-openers around the league (Avila at Kansas City, Doane at Omaha and Mount Marty at South Dakota).

Reigning regular season and tournament champion Oral Roberts opens the Russell Springmann era with a road tilt at Texas-Arlington. North Dakota State travels to Western Michigan to open the campaign, while Denver (at UC San Diego) and St. Thomas (at Cal) will open their respective seasons in the Golden State.

North Dakota is the lone league team not playing Monday but the Fighting Hawks only have to wait one more day as they open the campaign against Big Ten-foe Iowa.

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TEAM TRACKER
*Records are from 2022-23 season
DENVER PIONEERS (15-17; 6-12 SL) | @DU_MensHoops
Next Up: at UC San Diego (11/6; 7:30 p.m. PT); vs. Cal Poly (11/9; 7 p.m. MT)
Previous Game:  vs. North Dakota State (L, 83-68; Summit League first round)
The Pioneers are coming off a 15-win season in head coach Jeff Wilbrun’s second with the program ... DU returns Tommy Bruner, who earned All-Newcomer Team honors after averaging a team-best 15.9 ppg and 4.2 apg in his first season with the Pioneers ... Bruner was named to the Preseason All-League second team ... Touko Tainamo is also back after scoring at a 10.6 ppg clip as a sophomore ... The 6-foot-9 forward played for his native Finland at the 2023 FISU World University Games in China this past summer where he averaged 10.4 ppg and 8.4 rpg for his country ... Utah transfer Jaxon Brenchley is spending his final collegiate season at DU after appearing in 96 games for the Utes over the past four seasons ... The 6-foot-5 guard scored a season-high 10 points off the bench last season in a win at Cal ... Duquesne transfer Devin Carney, a 6-foot-1 gaurd, scored more than 2,000 career points in high school and redshirted a season ago for the Dukes.  

KANSAS CITY ROOS (11-21; 7-11 SL) | @KCRoosMBB
Next Up: vs. Avila (11/6; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Saint Mary (Kan.) (11/11; 7 p.m. CT)   
Previous Game: vs. Omaha (L, 73-61; Summit League first round)
The Roos have to replace their top two scorers from a season ago, but second-year head coach Marvin Menzies should have a healthy Anderson Kopp back to help fill that void ... Kopp was averaging 13.0 ppg in only four games before an injury derailed his season ... He averaged 8.3 ppg and shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range in 26 starts as a junior in 2021-22 ... JUCO transfer Jamar Brown should also help in the scoring department ... The 6-foot-5 guard was the NJCAA Division II Player of the Year and a second team NJCAA All-American after averaging 22.8 ppg and 9.8 rpg for Phoenix College last season ... Sophomore Jeff Ngandu was one of three Roos to appear in all 32 games last season, starting 28  as the 6-foot-9 forward averaged 5.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg in his first collegiate season ... Junior Allen Mukeba gives the Roos another solid inside presence ... The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 9.4 ppg and 7.5 rpg in 22 contests before missing the last month of the season.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (13-20; 6-12 SL) | @UNDMBasketball
Next Up: at Iowa (11/7; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Elon (11/112; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. Oral Roberts (L, 96-80; Summit League semifinals)  
The Fighting Hawks improved their overall win total by seven (6 to 13) and league win total by four (2 to 6) a season ago and picked up a win in the 8-9 matchup at the Summit Tournament, knocking off Denver 83-68 ... Head coach Paul Sather enters his fourth year with the program and has three starters back from a squad that won six of its last nine overall games ... Sophomore B.J. Omot, who led the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg, and junior Tsotne Tsartsidze, who added 10.9 ppg, both started all 33 games for the Fighting Hawks ... Omot landed on the Preseason All-Summit League second team, while classmate Treysen Eaglestaff earned 11 starts during his rookie season and averaged 9.5 ppg in league play ... The anchor of the Fighting Hawks is fifth-year senior Brady Danielson, who has appeared in 121 games over the last four seasons and averaged a career-best 7.8 ppg ... Iowa State transfer Eli King highlights a grou of nine newcomers for the Fighting Hawks that includes the return of Tyree Ihenacho, who was named the Summit League Freshman of the Year during Sather’s first season in 2020-21 ... Ihenacho spent the past two seasons at James Madison.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (16-17; 11-7 SL) | @NDSUMBB 
Next Up:  at Western Michigan (11/6; 7 p.m. ET); vs. Mount Marty (11/8; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. Oral Roberts (L, 92-58; Summit League championship game)  
Head coach Dave Richman led his Bison to their fifth straight appearance in the #SummitMBB  Championship title game and seventh in his nine seasons at the helm of the program ... NDSU has won three of those title tilts ... Senior Boden Skunburg is the team’s top returning scorer and was a Preseason All-Summit League first team selection after averaging 15.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg in league play last season as a junior ... Andrew Morgan is the other Bison returner that averaged double figures a season ago and he earned a nod on the Preseason All-League second team ... Morgan averaged 10.1 ppg and 5.1 rpg in 18 league contests ... The sophomore backcourt of Tajavis Miller and Damari Wheeler-Thomas both had productive first seasons for the Bison ... Miller started 20 games and averaged 7.9 ppg, while Wheeler-Thomas made 28 starts and scored 7.1 ppg ...Wheeler-Thomas equaled his season-high with 17 points in a semifinal-victory over South Dakota State in Sioux Falls.

OMAHA MAVERICKS (9-23; 4-14 SL) | @OmahaMBB 
Next Up:  vs. Doane (11/6; 7:30 p.m. CT); at TCU (11/9; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. South Dakota State (L, 63-55; Summit League quarterfinals)  
The Mavericks are led by junior Frankie Fidler, who was an All-League second team selection as a sophomore and earned a spot on the Preseason All-League first team ... He averaged a team-best 14.7 ppg in overall games and upped that to 16.8 ppg in 18 league starts ... Fidler is one of three starters head coach Chris Crutchfield has back for his second season leading his alma mater ... Junior forward Marquel Sutton averaged 10.3 ppg in 31 starts during his first season with the Mavericks, while sophomore guard J.J. White chipped in 9.5 ppg in 30 starts in his first run with Omaha ... Senior Nick Davis should provide some size inside for the Mavericks after playing his first four collegiate seasons at Southern Nazarene at the Division II level ... The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 12.3 ppg and 7.2 rpg a season ago in 31 starts and shot 63.5 percent from the field during his career.

ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (30-5; 18-0 SL) | @ORUMBB 
Next Up:  at UT Arlington (11/6; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Mid-American Christian (11/10; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game:  vs. Duke (L, 74-51; NCAA Tournament first round) 
First-year head coach Russell Springmann takes over an Oral Roberts squad that won both the Summit League regular season and tournament titles for the first time since the 2011-12 season a year ago  ... An assistant on that squad, Springmann has two players back that earned Preseason All-Summit League recognition in gaurds Issac McBride (first team) and Kareem Thompson (second team) ... McBride is the team’s top returning scorer (11.8 ppg) from a squad that averaged 83.3 ppg, which led the Summit League and ranked third nationally ... Thompson has started 94 of 95 games in his ORU career and posted averages of 8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg and 3.0 apg, while ranking fourth in the league with 46 steals ... A reserve on ORU’s NCAA Tournament squad a season ago, Weaver averaged 6.4 ppg after appearing in all 35 games and has 929 career points in four seasons withe Golden Eagles ... He has made 171 career 3-pointers, including 31 last season for a team that ranked second nationally with 10.7 makes per game.   

ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (19-14; 9-9 SL) | @TommieMBBall
Next Up:  at Cal (11/6; 6 p.m. PT); vs. Idaho State (11/10; 7:30 p.m. CT)
Previous Games:  vs. Oral Roberts (L, 70-65; Summit League semifinals) 
In year two of its Division I transtion, St. Thomas reeled off 19 wins, which was a nine-game improvement from year one - best among Summit League teams ... The Tommies won their first Summit League Tournament game in program history as well, knocking off No. 4 seed Western Illinois 67-60 in their tournament debut ... Graduate student Parker Bjorklund went for 22 points and 10 rebounds in the win over the Leathernecks and was a 2023-24 preseason All-League first team selection ... Bjorklund averaged 15.1 ppg overall and increased that to 15.9 ppg in 18 league tilts ... He has averaged double figures in both of his DI seasons for the Tommies ... Classmate Brooks Allen and sophomore Kendall Blue also return as starters for Johnny Tauer from that 19-win squad ... Allen averaged 8.3 ppg, while Blue chipped in 7.4 ppg ... St. Thomas made 297 3-pointers in 2022-23 but will have to replace their top two threats in Riley Miller (85) Andrew Rohde (56) ... The Tommies were picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll after tying for fourth a season ago with a 9-9 record. 
 
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (12-19; 7-11 SL) | @SDCoyotesMBB 
Next Up: vs. Mount Marty (11/6; 8 p.m. CT); vs. UTRGV (11/10; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. North Dakota State (L, 70-68; Summit League quarterfinals) 
Second-year head coach Eric Peterson’s roster will look completely different as only five players return that saw action a season ago and all five starters from 2022-23 are no longer with the program ... Junior Paul Bruns is the team’s top returning scorer after he scored 8.9 ppg in 31 contests during his first season with the Coyotes ... Max Burchill, who was another key reserve along with Bruns, averaged 18.9 mpg and connected on 43.2 percent of his 3-point attempts ... Peterson welcomed a familiar face to Vermillion with the addition of UCF transfer Lahat Thioune ... The 6-foot-10 forward played two seasons at Utah when Peterson was an assistant coach before playing for the Golden Knights in 2022-23 ... Thioune had a career-high 13 points off the bench in a home loss to Temple and also had a pair of double-digit rebounding performances a season ago ... Louisiana Tech transfer Kaleb Stewart also brings a couple of seasons of DI experience to the Coyotes ... The 6-foot-3 guard played in 49 games for the Bulldogs and was a member of the 2020-21 Conference USA All-Freshman Team. 

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (30-5; 18-0 SL) | @GoJacksMBB 
Next Up: vs Akron (11/6; 8:15 p.m. CT); vs. Dakota Wesleyan (11/8; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. North Dakota State (L, 89-79; Summit League semifinals)  
Preseason favorite South Dakota State is under the direction of fifth-year head coach Eric Henderson ... The Jackrabbits finished second in the regular season last year, snapping a run of five consecutive years where they had won or shared the regular season title ... SDSU was the only team with three players selected to the Summit League Preseason All-League Teams ... Summit League Preseason Player of the Year Zeke Mayo was joined on the first team by Luke Appel,  who returns after missing all but five games a season ago ... Appel was the Summit League Sixth Man of the Year in 2021-22, while Mayo was an All-League First Team performer last season as a sophomore ... Mayo had four 30-point scoring outings a season ago and set a career-high with 41 points in a home win over NDSU to highlight his campaign ... Sophomore William Kyle III rounds out the trio after he was named to second team following a rookie season where he was named to the All-Newcomer Team after averaging 9.3 ppg and 5.6 rpg in 18 league contests.  

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