McFeely: Jackrabbits show grit along with talent to survive Bison, earn Summit League title

ORU's run was so much fun that coach Paul Mills stopped being condescending to the media once he was granted a national stage.

But was ORU the best Summit League tournament champion make the NCAAs in the 14 years North Dakota State has been eligible for the postseason in Division I? There are those at NDSU who might contest that point. The Bison's 2013-14 squad, its best in the school's Division I era, beat Oklahoma in overtime in Spokane, Wash., in the first round of the tournament. It was the game that made Carlin Dupree a hero forever to Bison fans.

That Bison team entered the NCAAs as a No. 12 seed with a 25-6 record. They went 12-2 in the conference. The team of Lawrence Alexander, Taylor Braun, Marshall Bjorklund, TrayVonn Wright and Kory Brown was the most well-rounded, balanced team to go to the tournament.

That title may have traveled 190 miles south Tuesday.

South Dakota State beat NDSU 75-69 at a rip-roaring Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, topping off a historic season with an impressive victory in what was basically a home game for the Jackrabbits.

That's not a complaint. The atmosphere was wonderful. Bison fans should try it sometime.

"This is a team because of their talent, their experience, their versatility ... if you make a mistake they are going to make you pay," NDSU head coach Dave Richman said before the game Tuesday.

The Jacks earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA by surviving the Bison meat-grinder. Douglas Wilson was his usual magnificent self, doing the hard work in the paint and offensive glass. Unsung Charlie Easley made key 3-point baskets. Baylor Scheierman, the league's player of the year, made a massive 3-pointer with 1:54 left to give SDSU a four-point lead. Freshman Zeke Mayo made a clutch runner from the baseline with 51 seconds left. He made two free throws with 11 seconds left.

Just. So. Many. Weapons.

SDSU will go to the tournament with a 30-4 record, including a historic unbeaten turn through the conference schedule at 18-0. The Jacks haven't lost since Dec. 15. They enter the NCAAs with 21 straight wins.

The top bracketologists yes, it's a job title and industry have the Jackrabbits as a likely 12th seed for this year's tourney.

Sound familiar?

The loss was a bitter one for NDSU, particularly the three senior leaders Rocky Kreuser, Tyree Eady and Sam Griesel. This group was part of the team that won the Summit League tournament in March 2020, only to see the NCAAs canceled because of COVID.

The Bison lost in the Summit League title game a year in an empty Pentagon in Sioux Falls, again thanks to COVID. NDSU fell behind by 25 points at halftime in that one, rallied for the tie late in the game, only to lose late 75-72.

This was to be the trio's redemption tour, but SDSU was just too good. Nobody from the Summit League could nick the Jacks in 23 tries.

Asked Tuesday before the game to summarize what Kreuser, Griesel and Eady meant to the Bison program in 50 words or less, Richman said he couldn't.

"I can't in 50 words. Thank you is the simple one. I guess the louder and clearer message to ... anybody out there listening is that they are the exact reflection of what I want this program to be about," he said.

The cupboard isn't bare for the Bison with Grant Nelson, Jarius Cook and Grant Morgan returning. But this was an opportunity that might not present itself again. Getting three talented seniors on one Summit League team is hard.

"I talk to them the whole time about leading, leading, leading. Leaving it better than you found it. Again, you're starting to see how special Grant Nelson is going to be. You're starting to see some of the pieces that Andrew Morgan is. Jarius Cook showed some things. But the smartest thing anybody in our program is doing is listening and paying attention to and walking along in the same footsteps as those three," Richman said.